First Reading I Samuel 17:32-33.37, 40-51 Gospel Mark 3:1-6

Today’s first reading is the story of David and Goliath. Recall the Book of Judges. Take Gideon, for example. When God called him to save his people, Gideon proclaimed that he was the “meanest in Manasse,” meaning the lowest or weakest of the low. Other books of the bible tell of women who saved the people or the country: Esther and Judith, for example. Most of the prophets proclaim that they are weak and unable to proclaim God’s message. Amos says he was just a dirt farmer from the south. Isaiah says that he is a man of unclean lips. Jeremiah says that he is too young. By using those who are nobodies and those who are weak, God shows forth his power. It is by his grace and his strength that his mighty works are accomplished, and not by any natural power of ourselves. Thus the smaller, younger, weaker David defeats the mighty Goliath. Let us never protest that we can do nothing for God; his power can act even through our weakness. The condition, of course, is that we have humility and faith to offer ourselves as his instruments.
The gospel is only one example of the conflict between Jesus and the strict Pharisees. This group believed that man was created to fit into the Torah. Thus man was made for the Sabbath, and to violate the Sabbath was tantamount to blasphemy. Jesus teaches that the Sabbath was made for man. Because of this, two groups who hated each other (Pharisees and Herodians) joined together to rid themselves of Jesus.