Year A
1 Corinthians 5:1-8
Psalm 5:5-6.7.12 (R.9a)
Luke 6:6-11
Saving A Soul
How do we save someone from destruction? We are given two solutions from the two readings today, and the Psalms for today sum it up.
Beginning from the Psalms, we have two distinct Persons; the one who delights in evil and the one who takes refuge in God. For the one who delights in evil, we understand that he cannot be God's guest and cannot stand before the eyes of God, because God despises and detest that person.
On account of this Paul try to give a solution to the Corinthians regarding how to save their souls and the one who delights in evil who is among them. His approach is cleansing out the old leaven, because Christ our Paschal Lamb has been sacrificed. What does he mean by this?
We remember that when Jesus after his triumphant entry into Jerusalem he cleanses the temple (cf. Luke 19:45ff), well according to the rituals of the preparation of the Passover feast, on the first day every family must clean the leaven out of their house and anyone who eats leavened bread must be outlawed from among the people (cf.Exodus 12:15). So through out the feast they must have a their houses clean from leaven just as Jesus went to cleanse his Fathers house from the leaven of thieves who have infiltrated the temple (cf.Luke 19:46).
Paul therefore reminds us that since the Paschal Lamb has been sacrificed and his blood marked on our door post, we are not to allow any leaven to contaminate us; being it a person who delights in evil and will eventually draw us into doing evil ourselves or actions that are evil and are rooted in our concupiscence.
The Second solution is saving the one who takes refuge in no one else but God. Knowing the fact that Jesus is life and he conquered death so that rest can only be found in life and not in death is important. We all wants life, in fact I say we must all always run to life, for he is a person, he is Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God.
While the first solution is about cleansing the leaven of evil deeds and persons, the second is about cleansing the us from ignorance. Blinded by a whole lot of rituals and teachings, the Pharisees and Scribes became ignorant of what the Sabbath was for. If the Sabbath is about rest, is a person who is suffering whether in spiritual suffering like sin or physical suffering like sickness at rest? I think the answer is a big No!
No one can be at rest if he or she does not find refuge in God. In fact the Pharisees and Scribes were so blinded with their evil intentions to the extent that they who claimed to know Moses forgot that God has authority over the skin of humans because he made Moses' hand diseased and restored it (cf. Exodus 4:6).
There are a lot of judicial language in today's readings, and it points to the fact that the one who can Judge is with authority. Today Jesus Christ calls you;
"Come and stand here."
He wants to defend you in the face of your accusers who think you don't need saving, he wants to restore you. Make the move and stretch out your hand, do your part and receive restoration. He is the Lord of rest.
By Sylvester Amakye-Quayson
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