1 Samuel 16: 1- 13; Psalm 89; Mark 2: 23-28
Although the psalm is usually chosen to respond to the first reading, today the choosing and anointing of David, the least of Jesse’s eight sons, returns in the gospel. Jesus likens his action of relativizing the law to David’s, who fed his hungry men with bread from God’s sanctuary. Not that the two who are anointed, David and Jesus, are above the Law, but as Jesus asserts about the Sabbath, so about the whole Law: “The Sabbath was made for the people, not people for the Sabbath.”
Check your own attitudes. Do you ever act “above the law,” for example, parking illegally in a handicapped spot? If so, where does that haughtiness come from? Ask Jesus to teach you wisdom in these everyday choices. If not, give thanks for God’s gift of humility, that you know you are not special, except to God.
Jesus, kind and humble of heart, take our hearts and make them yours. Give us the trust to accept what we cannot change, the courage to change what we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.