9th Week, Ordinary Time, Wednesday, June 7
Tobit 3:1-11, 16-17 / Mark 12:18-27
Tobit prays to God; God heard Tobit's Prayer.
Today's reading is like a play with three acts. In the first act, Tobit becomes so depressed that he asks God to save him from his troubles, even if it means death.
In the second act, a woman named Sarah suffers from a situation similar to Tobit's. One misfortune after another strikes her, leaving her depressed and ready to kill herself. In her anguish she does what Tobit does; she turns to God in prayer. This brings us to the third act. God hears the prayers of both Tobit and Sarah and sends the angel Raphael (the name means "God heals") to cure Tobit's blindness and to free Sarah from her deep depression.***
How do we handle trouble when it comes,
especially when we don't seem to deserve it? Jesus said, "Ask and you will
receive;
seek and you will find; knock and the door
will be opened to you." Luke 11:9
***
God is near to those who trust in him and cry
out their anguish to him in their hour of need. This is one of the several
lessons that the edifying romance of Tobit tries to convey.
With arguments that are a bit difficult to follow,
Jesus upholds the resurrection of the dead. God is a God of the living; his
promises are not given in vain. Jesus is harsh with those who are interested in
religion for the sake of arguing about doctrine but are not interested in
faith.
***
“To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.”
This response for the Psalm of the day
captures Tobit and Sara’s philosophy of life. In their tragedies, they lift
their souls in pain and hope to God. To whom else can they pour out their
deepest agonies? Anyone who trusts in God with such faith will not be
disappointed. God listens to their cry and reorders their lives so that seeming
tragedies become fertile grounds for a greater blessing. The stories of Tobit
and Sara testify to this truth. The woman in the gospel, who was married to
seven brothers, might have been as heartbroken as Sara. Jesus tells us that her
life in the resurrection would be very different from how it was for her on
earth. If the world truly understood the Scriptures and the power of God, there
would be no loss of hope among us. Let us pray for such understanding in human
hearts.
***
The Sadducees were what we would call today
the political party of the aristocrats. Most
members of the Sanhedrin, the high priests and the priests, belonged to it.
They did not believe in life after death. Here they show themselves as
superficial. They ridicule the religious belief of the resurrection. Jesus ignores
their mockery and explains three aspects of man's final destiny. There is a
life after death. Jesus tells them they know neither the scripture nor the
power of God. If they knew the power of God, they would understand scripture
too. Their idea of God is too small. If he is the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, those three patriarchs must be alive, otherwise he is the God only of
some dead men. This life after death is
different from the present life. It follows different biological laws. The
risen have but a spiritual body. They are like the angels. Marriage is only for
this earth. Human life on earth is only a preparation for heaven.
***
Every time when people say
"luckily" or "by chance" or "it so happened", it
is interesting to know what is in their minds when they say it. But we should
know that when people say "lucky" or "by chance" or it so
happened, that is when God chose to remain anonymous. God chose to remain
anonymous maybe because those people may not be ready to acknowledge that He is
in control of all things and that He has a plan for all things and for all
situations. In the 1st reading, we heard that "It chanced on the same day
that Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, also heard insults from one of her father's
maids". Tobit and Sarah were in distress over their predicament. Yet the
1st reading used the phrase "it chanced on the same day" to bring up
the point that God was going to bring them together through their prayer and
work His healing through them.
In the scriptures, we will read page after
page, how God works wonders and His plan is seen in the stories of the Bible. But
how God works His wonders in our present lives is often beyond our
comprehension.
Through faith, we will see God in all things
and give thanks to God for all things, for He is God, not of the dead, but of
the living.
***
Prayer
Living God, you are the God of the covenant of
life and loyal love. Keep us in your love and keep the promise of life which
you have given us through your Son, Jesus Christ. Let his life gush forth in
us, fully and richly, until it blooms forth into life without end. We ask this
in the name of Christ, our Lord. Amen
