I love the widely popular, immensely inspiring series, The Chosen, because it fleshes out details in the life of Jesus we don’t get to see in other “Jesus movies.” Because they have more time to explore the back stories of the Messiah and His disciples, it depicts their chill times, their banter, their frustrations, and fears. 

Even if I’ve read in the Bible how the Pharisees opposed Jesus, seeing it on screen adds to my annoyance with them. How could they not see Jesus as the one they’ve been praying for? How can they be so self-righteous, even if it’s so obvious that they’re doing it for show and not for God? How could they claim to be holy yet live unholy lives? How could they claim to be law followers but are far from being loving?  

But what’s scarier is, I also see those things in myself! I claim to follow Jesus, but I’m also judgmental, cynical, and look down on “lawbreakers.” May I cease being a “Far I See” and start being more Christlike in the way I see and love people. Toh Relova (tohrelova@gmail.com) 

Reflect:

Check your heart. Do you look down on people who don’t follow Jesus the way you do? What would Jesus do? Would He lash at them or love them? 

Lord, teach me to see people like You do and love them like You do. 

Saints Justa and Rufina, pray for us.

Hezekiah was one of the few good kings of Israel. He had a heart for the Lord and His ways. Let us pray daily for our secular leaders that they may have a heart like God’s and enshrine good moral principles in the way they govern. It is never easy to lead a country. Our leaders need all the assistance they can get.

¹ When Hezekiah was mortally ill, the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came and said to him: “Thus says the Lord: Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you shall not recover.” ² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord: ³ “O Lord, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I conducted myself in your presence, doing what was pleasing to you!” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: ⁵ “Go, tell Hezekiah: Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you: in three days you shall go up to the Lord’s temple; I will add fifteen years to your life. ⁶ I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; I will be a shield to this city.” ²¹ Isaiah then ordered a poultice of figs to be taken and applied to the boil, that he might recover. ²² Then Hezekiah asked, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the temple of the Lord?” ⁷ Isaiah answered: “This will be the sign for you from the Lord that he will do what he has promised: ⁸ See, I will make the shadow cast by the sun on the stairway to the terrace of Ahaz go back the ten steps it has advanced.” So the sun came back the ten steps it had advanced.

Responsorial Psalm | Isaiah 38:10, 11, 12, 16

R: You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.

¹⁰ Once I said, “In the noontime of life I must depart! To the gates of the nether world I shall be consigned for the rest of my years.” (R) ¹¹ I said, “I shall see the Lord no more in the land of the living. No longer shall I behold my fellow men among those who dwell in the world.” (R) ¹² My dwelling, like a shepherd’s tent, is struck down and borne away from me; You have folded up my life, like a weaver who severs the last thread. (R) ¹⁶ Those live whom the Lord protects; yours is the life of my spirit. You have given me health and life. (R) 

Gospel | Matthew 12:1-8

What is wrong with the Pharisees? Why do they always pick a fight with Jesus? What is wrong with us? Why do we always try to defeat sin with our own strength? It is easy to point a finger at others, but when you do, the next three fingers point back at you. We are all sinners who are in need of God’s grace and forgiveness. 

Gospel Acclamation

My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me. 

¹ Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. ² When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.” ³ He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry, ⁴ how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat? ⁵ Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath and are innocent? ⁶ I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. ⁷ If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned these innocent men. ⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.” 

Read the Bible in one year! Read PSALMS 61 - 65 today.

The teachings and traditions of the Old Testament underline the great divide between God—sovereign and transcendent—and humanity, His creature.  The holiness of God sets Him apart. His Ark of the Covenant could not be touched by anyone, not even by any of the temple priests. His sanctuary was veiled as the Holy of Holies, where a priest who is drawn by lots could be the only one to enter on a designated day of the year. The seventh day of the week—the Sabbath—was sacred unto the memory of God, and so on this day, no work, except the work of worship, was allowed. Today’s Gospel tells us that there were things associated with the cult of God, like the showbread, that only the priests of God could consume.

The entire mystery of the Incarnation did not only make God visible in Jesus. It ushered in a big change. It made holiness the calling and the realm of humanity, and not just the domain of a few. Jesus broke the barrier, not just of sin, but the barrier of God’s being completely “other.” With Jesus, humanity can now see God face to face. With Jesus, God enters the finite world of humanity. 

This reality of “divine condescendence and immersion” through Jesus is the context with which we can understand God’s initiative to change certain s ipulations of the Old Covenant. The changes are done out of compassion, “commiseration,” and true knowledge coming from being exposed with the human situation. Hence, theologians say that even without sin, God the Father would still have Jesus come as a human being so that He could express concretely His love and passion for us.

For men and women of all times, the only change they can truly appreciate is the one that develops out of genuine camaraderie, solidarity, oneness. They understand change when they know that they are understood first by the one who brings change. Fr. Domie Guzman, SSP

Reflection Questions

How well do you know the lives and realities faced by persons you work with? What changes have you done to understand them?

Help me, Lord, to truly understand the people around me. May I share Your compassion to them. Amen.

Today, I pray for: _______________________________________________