Kumawalon Simba ed Ordinarion Taon (B)
Say Panmutektekan tan Pandalepdepan
27 Pebrero 2000
Balon Alak ed Balon Pananginan
Sakey ed saray simbolo na Israelita et say ponsia ed kasal. Mangu-usar na makapalikliket a salita nipaakar ed say kasal so Daan na Sipan pian naibalikas so kipapasen na relasyon na Totooy Israel ed si Yahweh. Ed singa kasal, sayan relasyon so apanuy liket , irap tan no maminsan say ag pananisia. Manatawag si Propita Hosea ya dalepdepen so relasyon tayo ed si Yahweh tan say Totooy Dios. Say uusaren tonpangibalikas iya et say imahen na kasal.
Say toor ed relasyon ed Dios
Ed saray dakerakel na ley nipaakar ed say kasal, say sakey ya rason na pan-siyan na sanasawa et say pakabalang na toor. No say asawan bii et naerel ya mikakalugoran, say dusa et patey diad panamegley na pantopak na bato.
Kanian inpanengneng nen Propita Hosea ya saray amin ya gagaween na saray Israelita ya makakasumlang ed katunongan tan say ley, say panpapaolian da ed saray mairap bilay tan mankakaokolan ed komunidad, say pangiiter day galang ed arum iran dios-diosan, so mangibabalikas ya sikaray mankakalugoran – sikaray aliwan matoor ed say asawa ra.
Say Balon Gapo ed Si Jesus
Inusar met nen Jesus so imahen na kasal pian nibalikas toy balon kipapasen ya onggapo ed Sikato. Walay mantetepet ed si Jesus no akin et saray disipulo nen Jesus et ag da tutumboken so ley nipaakar ed panagayuno. Papalsaan dan agto iitday kanepegan ya kakanaan irayan ley. Ta lapud manisia ra ya sikato ya so mangipaneng-neng no antoy kipapasen na relasyon da ed Dios.
Tinepet nen Jesus ed sikara: “Napanayuno yo ra kasi ray mibabansal leleg a kaiba ra niy nobio?”
Antoy talus to iyan ibabaga nen Jesus? Ipapaneng-neng nen Jesus so balon pikakasakey ed say Dios – sakey ya relasyon a singa samay imbaga nen Hosea: inletneg ed liket na panangaro! Aliwan relasyon ya inletneg lapud ley tan ermen.
Say sankakanaan et say kiwawala nen Jesus ed komunidad tayo. Say manunaan komon et say pikakasakey tayo ed si Jesus. Diad pantumbok tayo na ley, agtayo lilingwanan ya mas makana nin kaiba tayo so Dios nen say pansumpal tayo tan ya ley ya agtayo lan lamang kaiba so Katawan.
Nen saman no say sakey et onlan miponsia ed kasal tan sikato so ag lanlamang mangan, say kabaliksan to nia et say kasal so makapuy. Say kabaliksan na panayuno peles na kasal so onya: say relasyon na satan a kasal et makasalanan.
Kanian, anggan kaiba tayo ni so Katawan, sikatayo so manliket! Agtayo komon mapalalon mangonigon tan manaburido.
Balet no agtayo la kaiba so nobio, insan tayo manayuno. Lapud kasalanan, lapud maminpiga tayon bebenegan so Katawan, say ermen so onlad sikatayo. Say panagbabawi tan panagayuno so makanan iter ed say Katawan lapud say “inkabalang na nobio ed kapegleyan tayo.”
Say Pandalepdep tayo ed Bilay
Ibabaga nen Jesus ya say pananisia tayo so ibilay tayo sililiket. Anto so pakaneng-neng tayo ed say makristianon inkasikatayo? Siak kasi so sobol na liket para arum? Maliket ak kasi ed say pikakasakey koy pananisia ed say Dios?
Kaibak so Dios ed kimey ko? Diad panutombok koy ley? Odino, mas makana soley nen say Dios tan say panangarok ed arum?
Say pananisia tayo kasi et sakay ya “balon pananginan na alak?” Panon kasi a say pananisia tayo et balo, tan aliwa labat ed saray sakey ed saray relihiyon?
Gospel - Mark 2:18-22
Last week we heard of Jesus' healing of the paralytic and in that miracle we saw indicators of Jesus' divine nature: He forgives sins, He can read the human heart, and He has the power to heal physical illness instantly. This week we hear Him answer the question of fasting. His answer tells us about the connection between the Old and New Testaments (Covenants). In the Old Covenant the bridegroom has not yet arrived; in the New, he is present in the person of Christ. With His coming begin the messianic times, a new era which is distinct from the previous one. The Jewish fasts, along with their system of religious observances were a way of preparing the people for the coming of the Messiah.
18 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to him and objected, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" 19 Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
Jesus' answer to the question is based on such Old Testament passages as Hosea 2:16-20 (our first reading); Isaiah 54:5-6; 62:45; Jeremiah 2:2; and Exodus 16 wherein God's covenant relationship with His people is portrayed as a marriage.
As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
Jesus refers to Himself as the bridegroom and this saying indicates that the wedding is still in progress (the wedding feast lasted for seven days). The apostles are the guests at the wedding, invited to share in the wedding feast with the bridegroom in the joy of the kingdom of heaven (see Matthew 22:1-14).
20 But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
Jesus announces that the bridegroom will be taken away from them; this is the first reference He makes in this gospel account to His passion and death.
21 No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.
The cloak may be symbolic of the universe, which Jesus does not merely patch, but creates anew.
22 Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins."
The wine may be a symbol of a new era which will not fit within the boundaries of the old. "He has prescribed for His new disciples of the New Testament a new form of prayer. For this it was fitting that new wine be stored in new wineskins and that a new patch be sewed upon a new garment. What had prevailed in days gone by was either abolished, like circumcision, or completed, like the rest of the Law, or fulfilled, like the prophecies, or bought to its perfection, like faith itself. Everything has been changed from carnal to spiritual by the new grace of God which, with the coming of the gospel, has wiped out the old era completely (Tertullian, On Prayer I).
Gospel Summary
People come to Jesus and ask why his disciples do not fast, while the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees do fast. Jesus responds: "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them... But the day will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day." Jesus comments that no one uses a new, unshrunken piece of cloth to repair an old coat, or pours new wine into old wineskins. If one does, the coat will be ruined; or the new wine will burst the old wineskins.
Life Implications
The first reading from the prophet Hosea provides the key for entering the profound mystery that Jesus alludes to in today's gospel. In the passage from Hosea, the Lord says that he will be husband to his people Israel: "I will espouse you to me forever...in love and in mercy...in fidelity, and you will know the Lord" (2:21-22). Portraying God as the husband in a marriage-covenant with his bride, the people Israel, is an astonishing image which runs like a golden thread throughout the Old Testament (Hosea, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Song of Songs) and continues in the New.
By the time of Jesus, the expectation was that the complete realization of the marriage-covenant with God would come with the final age. In his response to the question about fasting, Jesus proclaims that the long-awaited messianic age had arrived. Jesus is the bridegroom who brings the promised future reality into the present. Even though the present reality of Roman occupation, death and mourning seems to be the only reality, something new has come into being -- not from the human past , but from God's future. The new reality is a marriage feast, a time for celebration not a time for fasting.
Jesus lives in the circumstances of his historical life in the radical new way that will characterize life in the future marriage feast of God's kingdom. The Book of Revelation gives us sense of what that future reality is like. There will be a new heaven and a new earth; God will dwell with his people; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning; there will be rejoicing because the wedding day of the lamb has come (Rev 19:7 and 21:1-4). In a word, the future reality that Jesus makes present now is God's reign through a communion of love.
We can readily understand that for Jesus to live in that future reality as already present must have been disconcerting if not threatening to his contemporaries. Many of his radical teachings, such as the seemingly impossible command to love one's enemies or to live without fear, make sense only in that light. For Jesus even death, which can penetrate every aspect of life through fear, had lost its power to be the final word about his human existence.
The good news is that Jesus invites us to share his faith so that like him we can recognize and live the reality of the future kingdom now, in the circumstances of our own lives. It is a crucial moment of decision: the future is now -- or never. The Letter to the Hebrews alludes to the power of faith to bring the reality of the future into the present: "Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and the evidence of things not seen" (11:1).
Christ the bridegroom has been taken away in regard to his presence in a particular time and place in history. Mark and the hearers of his gospel were well aware, however, that the bridegroom is present in a new way through the Spirit beyond the limits of a particular time and place. Christ says to us now, particularly at his wedding-banquet of the Eucharist: "I will espouse you to me forever...in love and in mercy...in fidelity, and you will know the Lord." "Let us rejoice and be glad... For the wedding day of the Lamb has come, his bride has made herself ready" (Rev 19:7).
LOVE AND COMMITMENT
Frequently we celebrate Wedding Anniversaries at Mass. We're familiar with many wonderful couples standing before us and asking God's blessing. We can see the pride and love on their faces as they gather with their family members and friends. How wonderful it is to celebrate love and commitment!
This Sunday’s readings are about love and commitment. When couples gather to celebrate their commitment, they're only too familiar with the weaknesses and shortcomings of their spouses. They know their own weaknesses as well. Still, they have continued to love one another. Their witness helps give a human face to God's relationship with all of us.
God does not love us because of what we are or what we do. God's love embraces us totally and unconditionally. It is not true that God is not aware or indifferent to anything that happens to us.
Celebrations are a time to remember. We can think of when the couple first met, the growth of friendship, and the awakening of love. There were certainly moments that tried and tested the relationship. The children who were born embodied that love and brought joys and trials of their own. The joys and challenges, the victories and defeats, the fullness and failure are all part of lives lived together.
This weekend's readings help us see the full context of God's love. Hosea gives us a clear picture of God's relationship with Israel, a covenant likened to that of a marriage. God has never wavered in intimacy and fidelity. But Israel has been unfaithful to God, abandoning God for seemingly better alliances. Like an adulterous spouse, God's people lived in unfaithful, arrogant and careless ways. Yet God did not have any thought
of abandoning these unfaithful people. God sets out to lure her back! God' s faithfulness give Israel time to find her way back again, to relive the experience of being loved, to be forgiven and welcomed back into relationship with God.
In our second reading, Paul speaks to the people of Corinth. They are not identified as the chosen people of God. They haven't shared the history of Israel. They came to know Christ through the preaching and life of Paul and the Christian disciples. They experience the love of God through the lives of his Jesus' disciples. Mark, in our gospel, continues the images of the marriage relationship. Jesus is criticized because his followers do not
fast as others do. Jesus identifies himself as the bridegroom of the new Israel. His presence does not call forth hardship, but newness and promise of fulfillment. For Jesus, the covenant doesn't call for the patching of the mistakes of the past, but a constant moving forward into a life immersed in love. This life is grounded in the unconditional love of a God who is always faithful.
This week we can remember and be sure of the love God has for us. This love cannot be diminished or destroyed by any action on our part. God continues to seek us and call us back. As human beings we have learned to live together through joys and sorrows, through rejection and forgiveness. We look forward to experiencing God's love, too. As Paul says, we know love as we see it in the people who live it. We can appreciate God's love when we meet people who treat all persons with respect and dignity, who don't
hesitate to help others in any way they can. Jesus himself tells us to love one another as he has loved us. What a wonderful challenge! Jesus' disciples are meant to be persons who reflect this love by the way they live their lives.
Liberty in Non-Essentials
Suppose that you are a committed Catholic who abstains from meat on Fridays. You go with your friend, another good Catholic, to one of those "eat-all-you-want" restaurants for a Friday dinner. You pick some cold tuna and your friend goes to the barbecue and gets himself a big cut of hot sizzling steak. Can you resist the urge to ask him why he does not abstain from meat on Friday as you do? Do you feel somewhat cheated that your friend could eat all the beef he wants when you must abstain and make do with cold tuna?
The disciples of John and the Pharisees felt exactly that way in today's gospel. John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" (Mark 2:18). Actually the people that came to Jesus to complain could be the very disciples of John and the Pharisees because the Greek text says "they came" not "people came." Apparently they could not understand why the disciples of Jesus could feast when they themselves were fasting.
To get a better understanding of what is going on here we need to know that in the ancient Jewish religion fasting was both a necessary obligation as well as a free self-imposed discipline. Adults were required to fast only once a year, on the Day of Atonement. But people of greater devotion and piety, notably the Pharisees, fasted twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, from sunrise to sunset. The law did not require them to do this; it was a freely self-imposed discipline. The fasting they are arguing about in the gospel is not the annual fasting required of every Jewish adult but the weekly abstinence which one was totally free to take up or not. You can liken it, therefore, to the Friday Abstinence in those dioceses where it is left to the discretion of the individual to practise it or not. Do the faithful in such a diocese who decide to follow the ancient practise of abstaining from meet on Fridays have the right to criticize other Christians in the diocese who choose not to follow it? And yet that is precisely what we see in the gospel: the disciples of John and the Pharisees who voluntarily chose the discipline of weekly fasting criticising the disciples of Jesus who freely chose not to do the weekly fast.
Jesus, we know, is a man of prayer and fasting. Yet here we see him defending his disciples who choose not to fast. Is it because fasting is not good for them? No, fasting can be a very beneficial spiritual discipline. But the point Jesus is making is that for fasting or any other spiritual discipline to be beneficial to the person, it must be undertaken in freedom and conviction, not in fear of what people might say if we don't. In addition Jesus is saying that we have no right to treat a non-essential part of Christian life as if it were an essential requirement, even when that non-essential aspect is as spiritually beneficial as fasting is.
Religious freedom was not a very highly cherished value in many pre-Christian religions. It was often taken for granted that the individual should comply with the expectations of the community. But in Christianity Jesus has made it clear that a religious act has no value unless it is performed freely and willingly. Trying to live the freedom of the children of God which is characteristic of the Christian faith in an environment of external constraint and obligations would be tantamount to putting new wine in old wineskins. It is an exercise in futility.
If you are among those who take their faith seriously, and if you sometimes find yourself wondering why others don't seem to see the importance of certain devotions and spiritual practices which you find so beneficial, today is the day to listen to these words of wisdom attributed to St Augustine: "In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity."
