Readings:
1 Corinthians 4: 6-15
Luke 6: 1-5
Reflection:
Paul’s first letter to the community in Corinth gives us a better glimpse than anywhere else in the New Testament of the life of an early Christian community. Paul established the community in Corinth on his second missionary journey, just a generation after the resurrection of Jesus. Paul’s passion comes because he has received news of real divisions, where people are lining up behind leaders in opposition to one another. People say “I’m for Paul or I’m for Apollos or I’m for Cephas” (Peter). Unity is always hard-won. It needs quite a bit of self-emptying and humility and being willing to rejoice in the gifts of other leaders to build up the community. This passage is a healthy reminder of our need today to find a deeper source of unity in our following of Christ.
The Pharisees start an argument with Jesus as they see his disciples taking some ears of wheat to chew on, he reminds us that it is easy to be righteous when we see people doing things we think are not quite right. In this situation Jesus commonsense comes to the fore to guide us in how to act. In the concluding words from Jesus in this action we are invited to take our direction from him. He reminds us that it becomes a challenge to hold to the spirit and not to get caught up in just the letter of the law. Such an attitude can fairly easily turn us into hypocrites who proudly seem to think we know better than others. Jesus didn’t seem to be troubled that the disciples took some wheat grains to ease their hunger. Maybe I need to look to the Lord in ‘s behaviour in such situations of challenge so that I can more freely work out how I ought to act.
Fr. Kevin Dance CP is the vicar of the St.Brigid’s Retreat, Marrickville. He is very actively involved in ministries locally and at Passionist International where he served as the Executive Director for many years.