Sacred time serves the needs of human society

The gospel reading from Mark 2:23-28 prompts me to reflect upon sacred time. Is not all time sacred? Indeed. But still, the notion of sabbath, a time that is set apart, does have value. It does make sense when we consider the need to give time for God, to allow our bodies to rest from the toil of work, to contemplate the beauty of nature. Yes, we do set time apart. However, what the Pharisees did was to forget the contexts that gave rise to sabbat. This concept stresses connection to land and the demands for justice, a justice that ensure adequate distribution of the earth’s produce and our care for our planet – God’s creation. We can easily forget or overlook the Jubilee legislation which demands that every 50 years the land be left alone. Jubilee is closely connected to sabbath. It is not just that we rest from work in order to devote time to God. It is tied up also with the understanding that the land needs rest in order to recover its fertility and fruitfulness. Furthermore, the jubilee year of restoration is a time to recover our commitment to the common good, whereby land is restored to those who have had to temporarily forgo the rights of ownership in order to secure a loan or pay off debts. During this time of allowing the land to lie fallow, the poor could also freely gather the fruits of the land or the trees. In Jesus’ response to the Pharisees, when they complained about his disciples picking ears of corn, he recalled an example of King David’s men eating sacred food because they were hungry. Jesus then goes on to make a memorable statement, “The sabbath was made for humanity, not humanity for the sabbath.” The notion and practice or sabbath and jubilee were designed over time to be the basis of a just and caring society. Today we remember the young girl, St Agnes, who was executed in the year 304 at the age of 12 or 13 because she valued her Christian faith and her virginity. Let us pray for the many young people in our world today who are the victims of abuse and war. Let us also pray that we can also devote this Jubilee Year to the cause of justice, peace and the integrity of creation throughout our world.