January 20, 2026
Tuesday of the Second Week in
Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 312
Reading
I
The LORD said to
Samuel:
“How long will you grieve for Saul,
whom I have rejected as king of Israel?
Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way.
I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem,
for I have chosen my king from among his sons.”
But Samuel replied:
“How can I go?
Saul will hear of it and kill me.”
To this the LORD answered:
“Take a heifer along and say,
‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’
Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I myself will tell you what to do;
you are to anoint for me the one I point out to you.”
Samuel did as the LORD had commanded him.
When he entered Bethlehem,
the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and inquired,
“Is your visit peaceful, O seer?”
He replied:
“Yes! I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.
So cleanse yourselves and join me today for the banquet.”
He also had Jesse and his sons cleanse themselves
and invited them to the sacrifice.
As they came, he looked at Eliab and thought,
“Surely the LORD’s anointed is here before him.”
But the LORD said to Samuel:
“Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature,
because I have rejected him.
Not as man sees does God see,
because he sees the appearance
but the LORD looks into the heart.”
Then Jesse called Abinadab and presented him before Samuel,
who said, “The LORD has not chosen him.”
Next Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said,
“The LORD has not chosen this one either.”
In the same way Jesse presented seven sons before Samuel,
but Samuel said to Jesse,
“The LORD has not chosen any one of these.”
Then Samuel asked Jesse,
“Are these all the sons you have?”
Jesse replied,
“There is still the youngest, who is tending the sheep.”
Samuel said to Jesse,
“Send for him;
we will not begin the sacrificial banquet until he arrives here.”
Jesse sent and had the young man brought to them.
He was ruddy, a youth handsome to behold
and making a splendid appearance.
The LORD said,
“There–anoint him, for this is he!”
Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand,
anointed him in the midst of his brothers;
and from that day on, the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David.
When Samuel took his leave, he went to Ramah.
Responsorial
Psalm
R. (21a) I have
found David, my servant.
Once you spoke in a vision,
and to
your faithful ones you said:
“On a champion I have placed a crown;
over
the people I have set a youth.”
R. I have found
David, my servant.
“I have found David, my servant;
with my
holy oil I have anointed him,
That my hand may be always with him,
and
that my arm may make him strong.”
R. I have found
David, my servant.
“He shall say of me, ‘You are my father,
my God,
the Rock, my savior.’
And I will make him the first-born,
highest
of the kings of the earth.”
R. I have found
David, my servant.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
enlighten the eyes of our hearts,
that we may know what is the hope
that belongs to our call.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
As Jesus was
passing through a field of grain on the sabbath,
his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain.
At this the Pharisees said to him,
“Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?”
He said to them,
“Have you never read what David did
when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry?
How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest
and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat,
and shared it with his companions?”
Then he said to them,
“The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.
That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012026.cfm
Commentary on 1
Samuel 16:1-13
With Saul rejected by God as king, Samuel is now told to
look for a successor, whom God has already chosen. The episode, as described
here, seems to come from the prophetic tradition and is not related to the
later narrative in which David is anointed as king at Hebron by the men of
Judah (2 Sam 2:4) and again by the elders of Israel (2 Sam 5:3); in contrast,
there is no mention of the anointing described in today’s reading. In fact, in
the next chapter (1 Sam 17:28), Eliab, David’s eldest brother, speaks to him as
if he were still just a shepherd boy who had no place being with the Israelite
army.
The reading today opens with the Lord scolding Samuel for
grieving over Saul’s rejection as king. Instead he is sent to Jesse, the father
of a large family of sons in Bethlehem. At first, Samuel is afraid to go
because Saul may hear of it and kill Samuel out of anger and jealousy. The road
from Ramah (where Samuel was) to Bethlehem passed through Gibeah, the region of
Saul. Saul already knew that the Lord had chosen someone to replace him as
king, and Samuel was afraid that jealousy would incite Saul to violence. Later
incidents would confirm that Samuel’s fears were well-founded. So Samuel is
told by God to tell Saul he is going to sacrifice a heifer to the Lord—which in
fact he does. It was the truth, but not the whole truth.
When Samuel arrived in Bethlehem, he was met by the elders
who asked if the prophet’s visit was a peaceful one. Samuel simply replied that
he had come to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. Again, the truth, but not the
whole truth about the real purpose of his visit. He orders them to make
themselves ceremonially clean for the sacrifice by washing and putting on clean
clothes, as required by the law.
Jesse and his family are also invited to the sacrifice
during which Samuel is to choose the one who is to be anointed king. Samuel at
first presumes that Eliab, the eldest son, is the obvious candidate because his
appearance and height seem to indicate he is the one. These were the qualities
which had been a factor in Saul’s being chosen earlier.
But the Lord tells Samuel he is not to judge by external
appearances. The Lord is concerned more with a person’s inner disposition and
character:
…the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the
outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.
Eliab, then, is not the one.
The second son, Abinadab, and then the third, Shammah, come
forward, but are also turned down. After seven sons had been presented and
passed over, Samuel asks if there are any others.
Jesse says there is still one more, who was not present. He
was away in the fields taking care of sheep. This was David. As we saw earlier,
his role as one taking care of sheep is contrasted with Saul, who was earlier
pictured searching after wandering and disobedient donkeys. And of course, the
image of the shepherd is one that belongs to God. It is fitting that the king
of his people will also be a shepherd (and we still call those who serve the
community of the church ‘pastors’, i.e. shepherds).
Samuel says that the sacrificial meal cannot proceed until
the boy is brought in from the fields. David:
…was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome.
He is the one that God has chosen:
The Lord said, “Rise and anoint him, for this is the
one.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his
brothers…
This small circle of witnesses to David’s anointing assured
its confidentiality, but also would provide ample testimony for the future that
David had been anointed by Samuel and that he was not merely a usurper of
Saul’s office.
From that day on:
…the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David…
The spirit of God possesses David without any external
manifestation and in close association with the anointing—this is the grace
bestowed on one consecrated. The name ‘David’ is an ancient semitic word for
‘commander’, ‘military leader’.
David will become one of the outstanding and most human
characters of the Old Testament, as both sinner and saint. In a very special
way, he will be the ancestor, through Joseph, of Jesus. Jesus is the “root of
Jesse” who comes from Bethlehem, the “city of David”, and it is in the royal
city of his ancestor that he will be born.
A reading like this is an opportunity for us to reflect on
our own vocation, our being chosen by God for a special task. And we may well
wonder why God has chosen us, rather than others whom we might regard as far
more qualified, to do the work he has given us to do.
And within the vocation or way of life in which we already
find ourselves, we can still ask to what, in our present circumstances, God is
further calling us or whether he may even be calling us to serve him in a
different direction altogether. Let us listen to his call and ask him for the
strength and courage to say ‘Yes’.
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Commentary on Mark
2:23-28
Today we have a third confrontation between Jesus and the
Pharisees on the place of the Law in people’s lives. His disciples are accused
of violating the Sabbath by picking ears of corn (“heads of grain”) as they
walked through a field. Stealing was not involved, as ‘gleaning’, especially by
the hungry poor, was tolerated. But the Law forbade reaping on the Sabbath. One
could hardly call what the disciples were doing ‘reaping’, but with the casuistic
mind of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law, the bias was on the side of
safety. The perfect observer of the Law would not do anything that could even
be regarded in the slightest as a violation.
Jesus solves the issue by appealing to the Hebrew Testament,
which, of course, the Pharisees recognised as the word of God. He reminded them
how King David and his followers, because they were hungry, went into the house
of God and took the loaves of offering, even though only the priests were
allowed to eat them. Jesus then enunciates two principles. The first was:
The Sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for
the Sabbath…
The second was that:
…the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.
The first principle is a very important one, namely, that
all laws are for people and not vice versa. They are not ends in themselves,
and moral perfection is not in their literal observance. The hunger of David
and his men transcended a religious regulation (that only the priests could eat
the bread of offering). For the Jews of Jesus’ time, virtue was in perfect
observance of the Law. For Jesus, observance of the Law was only perfect when
it was for the good of others and oneself.
The second principle was that Jesus, as the Son of God, was
not bound by human laws, however lofty their motive. We would do well to
remember those principles in the living out of our Christian faith. It is
possible to lead rule-centred Christian lives rather than love- and
people-centred lives.
There is only one law in our faith:
Just as I have loved you, you also should love one
another. (John 13:34)
Even God will not violate that law because God is love.
Any law which, in a particular situation, does not serve this overriding law
can be set aside, and should be set aside. Positive laws are necessary for
smooth functioning in society, but they are never absolute.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o2023g/
Tuesday, January 20,
2026
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Father of heaven and earth, hear
our prayers, and show us the way to your peace in the world.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Mark 2: 23-28
It happened that on Sabbath day he
was taking a walk through the cornfields, and his disciples began to make a
path by plucking ears of corn.
And the Pharisees said to him, 'Look, why are they doing
something on the
Sabbath day that is forbidden?'
And he replied, 'Have you never read what David did in his time of need when he
and his followers were hungry - how he went into the house of God when Abiathar
was high priest, and ate the loaves of the offering which only the priests are
allowed to eat, and how he also gave some to the men with him?'
And he said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man
for the Sabbath; so the Son of man is master even of the Sabbath.'
Reflection
•
The Law exists for the good of persons. One day
on the Sabbath, the disciples passed by a cornfield, and they opened a path by
plucking ears of corn. In Matthew 12: 1 it is said that they were hungry.
Quoting the Bible, the Pharisees criticized the attitude of the disciples. It
would be a transgression of the law of the Sabbath (cf. Ex 20: 8-11). Jesus
responded quoting the Bible also to indicate that the arguments of the others
have no meaning, no reason for being. He recalls that David himself did
something which was prohibited, because he took the sacred bread of the temple and
gave it to the soldiers to eat because they were hungry (I Sam 21: 2-7). And
Jesus ends with two important phrases (a) the Sabbath is made for man and not
man for the Sabbath, (b)) The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath!
•
The Sabbath is made for man and not man for the
Sabbath. For more than five- hundred years, since the time of the Babylonian
captivity to the time of Jesus, the Jews had observed the law of the Sabbath.
This secular observance became for them a strong sign of identity. The Sabbath
was rigorously observed. At the time of the Maccabees, toward the end of the
second century before Christ, this observance had reached a critical point.
Attacked by the Greeks on Sabbath, the rebellious Maccabees preferred to allow
themselves to be killed rather than to transgress the law of the Sabbath using
arms to defend their own life. For this, one thousand persons died (I Mac
2: 32-38). Reflecting on the massacre
the Maccabee leaders concluded that they should resist and defend their own
life, even on the Sabbath (I Mac 2: 3941) Jesus used the same attitude: to
consider the law of the Sabbath in a relative way in favor of the human life,
because the law exists for the good of human life, and not vice- versa!
•
The Son of Man is also the Lord of the Sabbath!
The new experience of God as Father/Mother makes Jesus, the Son of Man, to have
the key to discover the intention of God who is at the origin of the Law of the
Old Testament. For this reason, the Son of Man is also the Lord of the Sabbath.
Living with the people of Galilee during thirty years and feeling in his own
person the oppression and the exclusion to which so many brothers and sisters
were condemned in the name of the Law of God, Jesus perceives that this could
not be the significance of that law. If God is Father, then he accepts all as
sons and daughters. If God is Father, then we should be brothers and sisters to
others. And this is what Jesus lived and preached, from the beginning to the
end. The Law of the Sabbath must be at the service of life and of fraternity.
If was precisely because of his fidelity to this message that Jesus was
condemned to death. He disturbed the system, he was uncomfortable for them, and
the system defended itself, using force against Jesus, because he wanted the
Law itself to be at the service of life and not vice-versa. • Jesus
and the Bible. The Pharisees criticized Jesus in the name of the Bible. Jesus
responds and criticizes the Pharisees using the Bible. He knew the Bible by
heart. At that time, there were no printed Bibles as we have today! In every
community there was only one Bible, handwritten which remained in the
Synagogue. If Jesus knew the Bible so well, it means that during 30 years of
his life in Nazareth, he participated intensely in the life of the community,
where the Scripture was read every Saturday. We still lack very much in order
to have the same familiarity with the Bible and the same participation in the
community!
Personal Questions
•
Saturday is for the human being and not
vice-versa. Which are the points in my life which I must change?
•
Even without having the Bible at home, Jesus
knew it by heart. And I?
Concluding Prayer
I give thanks to Yahweh with all my heart, in the
meeting-place of honest people, in the assembly. Great are the deeds of Yahweh,
to be pondered by all who delight in them. (Ps 111: 1-2)
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