Breaking the Word

1^st Week in Ord. Time, Friday – 12^th January 2024 – 1 Sam 8,4-7.10-22; Mark 2,1-12

Edging God Out

The first reading relates how the people of Israel wanted to have a human king rule over them. All of the neighbouring nations and peoples had kings. They wanted to be like their surrounding tribes and peoples. Samuel, the judge and prophet of Israel, was saddened by the people’s request for a king. On the one hand, he felt that Israel was rejecting his leadership. He eventually found out that the rejection was deeper and that it was a rejection of God’s royal authority. The people wanted a king to lead them into battle and to lead them to material prosperity. God tells Samuel to grant them their request. Samuel does so and tries to warn them that they will lose some of their freedom and have to give a lot of their time, talent, and treasures to an earthly king. What Samuel said was that the king was going to fall into the threefold temptations of power, pleasure, and riches. In the end, the king would exploit the people for his own gain. Yet the people still insisted on having a king. God grants their request even though the people Edged God Out (EGO) and His royal authority from their lives. They compared themselves to pagan nations and were rejecting their vocation to be a light to other nations.

1^st Week in Ord. Time, Thursday – 11^th January 2024 – 1 Sam 4,1-11; Mark 1,40-45

Lack of Proper Faith

The first reading tells us about two battles Israel lost against the Philistines. After the first defeat, Israel attempted to use the Ark of the Covenant to bring them victory in the second battle. In the past, the Ark was a devastating weapon against Israel’s enemies. This time the Ark was captured and Eli’s two priest sons, Hophni and Phineas, were killed. The reason for their failure in battle is that Israel uses the Ark without consulting the Lord through Eli, the high priest. By taking the Ark into battle without God’s permission, Israel acted presumptuously. At the same, Israel places more trust in the holy object of God than in God. They are acting superstitiously in believing in a thing rather than the God whom it represents. The reason for the killing of two sons of Eli are, although they were of the priestly tribe, they lived lives that were not of the Lord. They were not faithful to God, probably worshiping the gods of neighbouring people. Because of this and because  Eli had not reprimanded his sons, God promised that the family of Eli would be punished (1 Sam 3,12-14).