Thank you for following Shalom Snail, which made its debut at The Victor’s Place in May 2020. With Fr. Victor’s blessing, Shalom Snail: Journey to Wholeness, was launched on October 7, 2021. Due to technical challenges, the site underwent a change of hosting in July 2022. With stable WordPress hosting now, all Shalom Snail posts will be permanently accessible on its home site. A link to Shalom Snail can be found on the sidebar of The Victor’s Place. Our blog posts have always been complementary as we follow the daily Scripture readings and saints, so may they continue to be a blessing to you.
The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.
What a rabble-rouser, this Jesus! Picking grain on the sabbath, and then healing a man with a withered hand—in the synagogue, of all places! How dare he lecture the authorities on “doing good on the sabbath”! Such were the thoughts fomenting among the Pharisees. Buried alive under the letter of the law, their hearts turned stone cold when confronted with their twisted ethic of prioritizing an animal on the sabbath over a human being (Matthew 12:11).
When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place.
There was no point in contending or debating. The hearts of the Pharisees were dead set against him. Another word from him would only add kindling to the fire.
Many people followed him, and he cured them all, but he warned them not to make him known.
People were suffering, and so the work of healing and mercy must go on. Jesus acted according to his nature; he could not do otherwise. Love must prevail over all obstacles, even the threat of death. The nature of divine love, however, is unassuming: it acts but seeks no credit. Goodness is as natural, abundant, pervasive, and invisible as the air everyone breathes. What need was there for any special recognition?
This was to fulfill what had been spoken through Isaiah the prophet: Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight; I shall place my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not contend or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory.
The Spirit-filled servant prophesied by Isaiah flowed as gently as water over hard and sharp rocks, but just as invincibly—smoothing them over time and conquering them by love. Uncontentious and without fanfare, the lamb of God came to lead the weak and frail to victory in the valley of humility.
Close-up view of wheat. Licensed by Bluemoose under CC BY-SA 3.0.
15th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday (Year II)
Matthew 12:1-8
Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.”
If the wheat plants in this story could speak, they might shake their heads in wonder and ask, “Who is picking on who?”
As Jesus and his disciples were picking their heads of grain, a bunch of busybody Pharisees with wandering eyes began to pick on the pickers.
A strange scenario! The wheat, for their part, joyfully welcomed the Lord of the sabbath to pick their heads and eat them. That is what they were made for. Never was a greater “honor” bestowed on wheat than to nourish their own Maker, though honor was not in their vocabulary.
The whole field pricked up their wheat ears as Jesus explained: “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry, how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat?”
Silent applause. A glorious day in the history of wheat was being recounted, when the youthful David, the great champion over Goliath and future king of Israel, nourished himself and his companions with the holy bread at the hands of the noble priest Ahimelech (I Samuel 21:1-6).
“Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath and are innocent?”
Deep silence. How were the Pharisees going to respond to that obvious incongruity in their charge against Jesus? If picking grain on the Sabbath was unlawful, why not the more laborious work of temple sacrifice and ritual?
All of this sounded like nonsense to the wheat, for whom nature was simple and straightforward. When a creature was hungry, it ate. When thirsty, it drank. Every day belonged to the Lord of creation; simply to exist was to give him praise. The rules and regulations of humankind were simply baffling, and not a little unnatural (in the humble opinion of the wheat).
“I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned these innocent men. For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.”
Thunderous silent applause from the acres of wheat surrounding the conversation. Mercy! What a novel idea! Didn’t the humans realize that to be was to be merciful? To live was to love? The wheat knew this and gave thanks continually for the sun and soil, water and air, and the diligent hands of the farmer who nurtured them day after day. The simplest things eluded the most intellectual of creatures.
As Jesus and his disciples departed, the Spirit of the Lord whispered to the wheat, “Today you have nourished your Maker and become his Body and Blood. In days to come you will work with me to divinize his brothers and sisters by feeding them his Body and Blood.”
The wheat entered into a silent alliance with the Spirit but did not consider it an honor. Their obedience was wholly spontaneous and unself-conscious.
Assyrian Relief Attack on Enemy Town from Kalhu (Nimrud) Central Palace during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III (British Museum). Licensed by Allan Gluck under CC-BY-4.0
15th Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday (Year II)
Isaiah 10:5-7, 13b-16; Matthew 11:25-27
Thus says the LORD: Woe to Assyria! My rod in anger, my staff in wrath. Against an impious nation I send him, and against a people under my wrath I order him To seize plunder, carry off loot, and tread them down like the mud of the streets. But this is not what he intends, nor does he have this in mind; Rather, it is in his heart to destroy, to make an end of nations not a few.
These are troubling passages for modern ears. Does God play off the nations like pieces on a chess board? Assyria was described by Isaiah as a “rod” and “staff” in the hand of God to deal justice to the nations. As with Pharaoh, Herod, Caiaphas, Pilate and others, egotistical and private ends reached their finality in a higher, divine purpose: to call nations and persons back to their divine origin and unity.
With great drama and flourish, Isaiah painted a portrait of the imperious ego:
For he says: “By my own power I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am shrewd. I have moved the boundaries of peoples, their treasures I have pillaged, and, like a giant, I have put down the enthroned. My hand has seized like a nest the riches of nations; As one takes eggs left alone, so I took in all the earth; No one fluttered a wing, or opened a mouth, or chirped!”
When the whole world revolves around the “I,” the ego loses all sense of proportion and balance. Pride distorts inner vision and creates the illusion of power and control.
Will the axe boast against him who hews with it? Will the saw exalt itself above him who wields it? As if a rod could sway him who lifts it, or a staff him who is not wood! Therefore the Lord, the LORD of hosts, will send among his fat ones leanness, And instead of his glory there will be kindling like the kindling of fire.
St. Paul, steeped in the Hebrew Scriptural tradition, similarly used the image of a Potter and clay to describe the Creator-creature relation (Romans 9:20-22).
What about human freedom? Where does that come into play?
Authentic freedom is found only by walking in accordance with divine truth, goodness and beauty. Egotism cages the “I” within itself by a voluntary imprisonment. Enslaved to the passions, the egotist is preeminently unfree. Prideful individuals wreak havoc within and without by failing to align themselves with the laws of reality. Every pull away from the Source is its own punishment. Clashing egos, such as the warring nations in Isaiah, punish one another as the natural consequence of living in illusion.
Those who are moved by the Spirit are free persons walking in sync with divine grace. In the hands of the Potter, one may even derive benefit from the “rods” and “axes” that oppress: “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Heroes like Joseph, the son of Jacob who turned his brothers’ treachery into profit for the entire world, is one of the greatest examples in Scripture.
With the simplicity of the dove and the wisdom of the serpent, may we learn how to transform calamities into blessings for others and ourselves.
“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.”
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