Fields of green and gold at Great Chesterford, south of Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Patrick Comerford
We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church and this week began with the Seventh Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VII). The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today (19 September) remembers Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa (ca 394), and his sister Macrina, Deaconess (ca 379), Teachers of the Faith.
Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Walking through the fields near Cross in Hand Lane in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Matthew 12: 1-8 (NRSVA):
12 At that time Jesus went through the cornfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, ‘Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful 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 He entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests. 5 Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests in the temple break the sabbath and yet are guiltless? 6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 But if you had known what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice”, you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.’
The Bread of the Presence in the Temple depicted in the Kupa Synagogue in Kraków (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
This morning’s reflection:
Summer is a beautiful time of the year in the countryside, with ripe fields of green and yellow under blue skies. In past two weeks, I have passed through beautiful fields like this on the train between Cambridge and Broxbourne and between Lichfield and Tamworth.
As I read this morning’s Gospel passage, I imagine Christ and his disciples walking through fields of green and gold such as these when they are confronted with the bureaucratic rules of the day and are accused of breaking the Sabbath.
Christ responds by stating that plucking grain on the Sabbath does not profane sacred writ. In doing so he reinterprets the Torah and clarifies the true nature of sacred endeavour.
Matthew 12:1-8 may be a retelling of Mark 2: 23-27. An analysis of this passage shows:
• verses 3-4 are an historical analogy found in I Samuel 21: 1-6, where David’s hunger supersedes the Law;
• verse 5 is a reconfiguration of Numbers 28: 9-10 and Exodus 35: 3;
• verse 7 is a reworking Hosea 6: 6, ‘For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings’ (NRSVA).
The reference to David’s story (I Samuel 21: 1-6) associates the temple with the alleviation of hunger and makes the point that hunger supersedes form and tradition.
Hosea 6 :6 repeats the principle that human need is pre-eminent over tradition.
Christ presents his own teachings not as a replacement for Torah but as a guide to its fulfilment. Ultimately, the Torah is to reflect God’s character of love, mercy, and generosity, and human need has priority over religious observance. Mercy was, and is, more in line with God’s intentions for the Sabbath rather than the strict obedience of the Sabbath demanded at the time.
This morning’s Gospel reading offers an interesting challenge to oppressive bureaucracy and rule-making.
The current Kafka exhibition which I visited recently in Oxford is a reminder of how crushing and oppressive bureaucracy can be. This passage also offers insights into how Christ looks to a future beyond both Torah and Temple. It looks forward to a new era of mercy, beyond compliance to the narrow interpretations of religious laws and sacrifices.
Fresh bread in the window of Hindley’s bakery and café in Tamworth Street, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Today’s Prayers (Friday 19 July 2024):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Advocacy, human, environmental and territorial rights programme in Brazil.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by the Revd Dr Rodrigo Espiúca dos Anjos Siqueira, Diocesan Officer for human, environmental and territorial rights in the Anglican Diocese of Brasilia.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 19 July 2024) invites us to pray:
We pray for the Anglican Diocese of Brasília in Brazil. For all their work serving communities and for all they are doing for human rights. Let us pray too for the Rt Rev’d Maurício José Araújo de Andrade, Diocese of Brasilia.
The Collect:
Lord of eternity, creator of all things,
in your Son Jesus Christ you open for us the way to resurrection
that we may enjoy your bountiful goodness:
may we who celebrate your servants Gregory and Macrina
press onwards in faith to your boundless love
and ever wonder at the miracle of your presence among us;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post Communion Prayer:
God of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with Gregory and Macrina to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Setting out on a walk through the fields near Comberford Hall, between Tamworth and Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
No comments:
Post a Comment