Tuesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
January 18, 2022
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Mark 2:23-28
Still another squabble between Jesus and the Pharisees, this time about the observance of the Sabbath.
Jesus’ disciples seem to be disregarding the requirements of Sabbath observance by picking and eating grain–in effect harvesting–on the Sabbath. Jesus reminds the Pharisees that there is precedent from King David’s time for violating the technicalities of Sabbath observance when some human need was at issue. In any case Jesus says, what his followers are doing is acceptable because he himself–the Son of Man and the Lord of the Sabbath–says so.
Once more Jesus asserts his authority. This happens repeatedly in Mark’s second chapter. If Jesus was not what he claimed to be, he was the most arrogant man in the world.
