Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman

The Hebrews were in the beginning a no people, just a scattered few. Then God called them as Israel and made them a people. This He did through a relationship He forged through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Primarily it was a relationship that Yahweh sought amongst these people. Initially, the covenant He offered the Hebrews gathered at Sinai a relationship-covenant, i.e He would reside in each of their tents with them. But these people had lost the sense of who Yahweh was because of the conditioning of slavery, Egyptian culture, Egyptian faith and the torture they experienced in Egypt. And so when the saw a living God advancing to Sinai to make the covenant, they could not fathom this, and it was difficult for them to understand and accept Him, because He was unlike the gods of Egypt; i.e. idols, animals, inanimate or cruel (Pharoah who was also considered god). Because even as Yahweh advanced towards Sinai, there was a very loud fanfare, the earth trembled, trumpets blew and the skies thundered. So they rejected the offer of this covenant and it was substituted by a second class temporary covenant, that would be there till they grew out of the Egyptian Mindset and matured into Mature Israelites, formed by their relationship and knowledge of Yahweh. Let say it was school time for them, especially the 40 years in the desert. But the Israelites in general never really got it, except a few like David who emersed themselves in a relationship with Yahweh. And because of this general failure, they received many a setback, heaviest among this was the 2 exiles of the North and South Kingdoms of Israel. When the Southern Kingdom returned from Exile and introspected the reason for the Exile, their leaders concluded rightly, but the remedies they chose were based in fear, not out of love and understanding of Yahweh. They attributed Him as just and authoritarian – not as a Father who desires a relationship with His children. They decided to keep the Law in action, they did not wait to think what was it that the Law spoke of Who God Is, what He sought from them.

This brings us today’s Gospel. What is that God desires us to do? Live according to books, traditions and liturgies? Absolutely not! He invites us, come and see. Taste His goodness first-hand, desire to forge a relationship with Him, and remain in Him and with Him. In turn Jesus promises to come along with Our Father in Heaven and make His Home in us. All the other things like books, traditions and liturgies are good, but only to enrich our relationship with Jesus/God. If they become an end in themselves, they then tend to squeeze out God from our lives.