2nd Week of OT 2020 - Tuesday - Faith in Jesus' Divinity

In yesterday’s Gospel, Jesus’ critics attacked him and his disciples for not living up to their standards of piety. Compared to the pharisees who fasted twice a week, Jesus and his disciples appeared not to fast. Jesus answered their criticism by hinting at his divine identity which his critics failed to grasp.

Today’s Gospel escalates things. The Lord’s critics accuse him, not simply of minimal piety, but downright sin—violating the sabbath, violating the third commandment by picking heads of grain from the field. Well, the Lord escalates things too. He doesn’t just hint at his divine identity, he equates himself with God. He is Lord of the Sabbath.

David was justified in eating the bread of offering on the Sabbath because David was the Lord’s anointed king and he was on a mission from God. How much more justified is Jesus who is the anointed king of kings on the ultimate divine mission to save us from our sins.

Again, his critics fail to understand his actions because they fail to understand his identity. St. Mark highlights many of these encounters throughout his Gospel. Jesus’ actions are criticized, and then the Lord explains that their criticism is rooted in their failure to believe that He is the Son of God.

This is why the two great moments in Mark’s Gospel occur at the halfway point and then at the end. Peter’s Confession, his proclamation of belief that Jesus is the Christ, the first person in the Gospel to vocalize faith. And then at the crucifixion, the Roman centurion vocalizing, proclaiming, “truly this man was the Son of God.”

Many people throughout the centuries have looked to Jesus’ teaching. Even non-believers can quote and even abide somewhat by the Lord’s teachings or parables. Sadly, though many of the baptized, while recognizing Jesus as a moral authority, fail to recognize him as God. This failure to believe is certainly the great cause of lukewarmness today and throughout the centuries.

We honor today, a saint of just 12 or 13 years old, who was anything but lukewarm. St. Agnes faced with the choice to forsake her faith or die, she exclaimed, “Such is Christ’s beauty that his brightness excels all the brightness of the sun and the stars; the heavens are ravished with his glory.  He is so powerful that all the forces of heaven and earth cannot conquer him.  I love him more than my soul and life and am willing to die for him.”

Again, if he were just some moral teacher, he may be worth admiring. But he is God, and his beauty and goodness exceeds all of the created universe. And that others may know that salvation comes through him, is worth dying for.

The 12 year old martyr reminds us, that children understand, often better than adults, that following jesus means to give him our whole hearts, minds, and souls, to testify with every ounce of our being that he is the Son of God, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - -
 
To God the Father Almighty we direct the prayers of our heart for the needs and salvation of humanity and the good of His faithful ones.
For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her.
For all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may grant them relief and move Christians to come to the aid of the suffering.
For the safety of all those traveling to the March for Life this week in Washington D.C., and that the witness to the dignity of human life may bring about greater protection for the unborn and conversion to the Gospel of Life.
For our beloved dead, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for X, for whom this Mass is offered.
O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.