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Connections...
People came to Jesus and objected, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?"
Mark 2:18-22
Not on the Sabbath!
The little East European village was buzzing with the rumor: Abram, the village cobbler, had become an atheist. The whole town was shaken by the news -- but no one had actually seen or spoken with Abram.
But the next Friday evening, for the first time in 40 years, Abram the cobbler was not in his customary place in the synagogue. Was he sick? Or was it true that the ever faithful Abram had turned away from God? After Sabbath services, Abram's friend Yussel the tailor went to Abram's shop. There was Abram, the picture of health, repairing a pair of boots. "Abram, are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Abram replied.
"Then is the rumor true, that you have become an atheist?"
Abram looked quietly at Yussel and turned away without saying a word.
Everyone in the town was dumbfounded. Hurt, consternation, and shock overwhelmed the town. Clearly no work would be done until this matter was cleared up. The day after the Sabbath, the rabbi appointed a delegation, headed by Yussel the tailor, to go back to Abram and insist he answer once and for all.
Yussel and the villagers went to Abram's shop and confronted the cobbler. "Abram, we must have an answer. You cannot leave matters as they are. Are you now an atheist?
Abram looked up from the shoe he was mending and said quietly, "Yes, I am."
Astonished at his quick and unequivocal answer, Yussel said, "Then why didn't you say so when I asked you yesterday?"
Abram's eyes grew wide with horror. "You wanted me to say I was an atheist on the Sabbath!?"
CONNECTION: Like Abram, like the Pharisees in today's gospel, we sometimes tend to honor the practices and traditions of our faith while failing to grasp the deeper meanings expressed in those traditions. The Christmas decorations and shopping displaces the profound mystery of God's Word becoming human; we reverently received the Eucharist every Sunday but becoming the Christ we have received is the furthest things from our minds on Monday through Saturday. Religion often becomes a series of social milestones; acknowledging faith is relegated to certain major holidays. But rituals and prayer formulas mean little unless they express the faith of our spirits in the God who is the Author of love and our gratitude is to the God who is the upholder of life. Jesus comes to re-infuse the dusty legalisms and empty rituals of the Mosaic Law with the spirit of love and thanksgiving for all that God has done for us and promises to do.
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