15-01-24 KASIH, Bukan Larangan

Tuesday 2nd week in ordinary time "Mk 2:23-28" Jesus was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?" And he said to them, "Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him?...The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; so the Son of man is lord even of the sabbath." That was the Pharisees' motto: 'this can't be done', 'this is forbidden', 'this is prohibited', 'this is against the law'... always ready to point out what was banned. It's a very dark view of religion, isn't it? Yet, when Jesus had to summarise the whole law, He didn't say, "Thou shall not..."; He said instead, "Thou shall love..." The Pharisees weren't wrong regarding the Sabbath. Their mistake was that they said what SHOULDN'T be done but didn't help to do what SHOULD be done. Instead of letting the disciples starve, they could have proposed other options or provided something else to eat. The problem was the stiffness of the Pharisees. We could make the same mistake sometimes when we try to bring our friends closer to God. Consider the commandment of attending Mass on Sunday, for instance. Some people find it difficult to go to Mass for very different reasons. It doesn't seem very helpful to say, 'If you don't go to Mass you will go to hell!' It isn't very persuasive, is it? We can call that 'The Pharisees' Approach'. The Christian 'way' doesn't consist then in saying, 'You should go to Mass,' but in saying, 'Why don't you come to Mass with me?' Do you see the difference? Saints didn't just point out what was forbidden or wrong. They helped people to do the right thing. And those souls followed them to Heaven. It's like the child who was asked by his mother why he always did his English homework and never finished his Maths. "My English teacher helps us with instructions to do the homework;" said the boy, "the Maths teacher only gives us problems." And he added with indignation, "Besides, he never gives any solution!" The Pharisees were like the Maths teacher. We should be like the English one. Mary, Mother of Good Counsel, teach me not to lecture others but to help them do the right thing.