January 12, 2015
Debates about the Sabbath
A reading from the Gospel of Saint Luke 6, 1 – 11:
While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a Sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it and shared it with his companions?” Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the Sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him. But he realized their intentions and said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up and stand before us.” And he rose and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do evil to save life rather than to destroy it?” Looking around at them all, he then said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so and his hand was restored. But they became enraged and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.
Today Sunday, January 11th, is the last day of the Christmas season. The feast of today is very important. It is the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus by Saint John the Baptist in the Jordan River. As soon as He came out of the water, the Holy Trinity was present. Jesus of course is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity as He is the Son of God. The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Blessed Trinity came upon Jesus as soon as he came out of the water. Then the Heavenly Father, the First Person of the Blessed Trinity, spoke about Jesus saying, “You are My Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.” So the Baptism of Jesus was very important because the Holy Trinity became present at that time. The Baptism of Jesus is important because it was His way to say “Yes” to His Father that He accepted to suffer and to die on the cross for our salvation as the Father had asked Him to do. He was very obedient to His Father and indeed the Father was well pleased.
Below you will find the message of Our Lord and Savior given to Father Melvin. Jesus spoke to him these words,
“For the Jews the Sabbath was a holy day and they were told not to work on that day. You know My brother Melvin and all My brothers and sisters that today the holy day is Sunday the first day of the week because that was the day I rose from the dead and it was the day that the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles and also the day that the Church was born. The Apostles used to meet on Sunday to celebrate the Holy Eucharist and it was the day that the Christians came together.
However, before My coming, the day of going to the synagogue and praying was the seventh day of the week in accordance with the work of Our Heavenly Father when He created the whole world. He worked for six days and on the seventh He rested and all the Jewish people did the same. They rested from work and went to the synagogue on the seventh day. When I was on earth I did different things on the Sabbath such as curing the sick and the Apostles ate grain on that day as the story goes. The Pharisees of course condemned when the Apostles did and what I did. I told them that I was the Lord of the Sabbath and that is accepted to do good on the Sabbath such as to heal a person with a withered hand. However, they did not accept what I said and they would have liked to arrest Me but nothing happened on that day.
It is the same for you, My friends. You can help the sick and take care of them even on Sunday. You can help those in trouble, for example: if a person gets stuck in the snow with his car on Sunday, you can go and help this person. However, you should not continue to work doing the same thing you have done the whole week. You can take the Sunday off and go and take part in the Holy Mass in your church. For some jobs one has to work even on Sunday like a nurse in a hospital. For the majority of people however they will not work on Sunday and they will come to church for the Holy Eucharist. I bless you all.”
Father Melvin
P.S. We had a beautiful sunny day on Sunday.