Ignorance of Isaiah

Choosing Old Testament saints for Hall of Fame

01/21/2020

Mark 2:23-28 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.”

If you could choose any figure from the Old Testament to be your hero, who would you vote for? Imagine an Old Testament Hall of Fame like that for pro football in Canton, Ohio. Perhaps it would be a priest like the mysterious Melchizedek we meet in Genesis 14. Indeed even the ancient Abraham offers him a tithe from his winnings after the war against five kings. By the way, Melchizedek received my vote in seminary for the Hall of Fame because I wrote my master’s thesis on him entitled: “Who the Heck is Melchizedek?” Or, maybe your vote would land on a royal kingly figure like David or Solomon, Hezekiah or Josiah. These men not only wielded great power but also great wisdom and even more importantly, great love. Shouldn’t all leaders exhibit those three qualities? Or, you may feel one of the prodigious prophets would win your vote. Certainly you cannot go wrong with Isaiah or Jeremiah, or Ezekiel or Elijah, or the greatest of all, Elisha, who doesn’t get much fanfare in the scriptures, even though Elisha performs 16 miracles while Elijah performed only 8. Surveying the Old Testament serves up a sweeping smorgasbord of priests, prophets and kings we might vote for as our favorite figures of the Chosen People.

Our scriptures today, however, suggest who God the Father and God the Son would choose as their favorite Old Testament figure, namely, David. In the first reading, the prophet Samuel is sent to the house of Jesse to anoint a new king, as successor to Saul. Jesse presents seven sons to Samuel, but God rejects them all. Why? God explains his divine strategy to Samuel: “Not as man sees does God see, because he sees the appearance, but the Lord looks into the heart.” Sadly, don’t we often judge by appearances? Finally, Jesse brings forward his youngest son, a shepherd boy named David, and God chooses him because he is a man after God’s own heart.

In the gospel, Jesus shows his predilection for David by citing David’s kingly and priestly behavior even though it offended the corrupt high priest Abiathar. In the same way, Jesus’ behavior would offend the corrupt high priests in his day. We might say that King David served as Jesus role model and perhaps even his royal mentor. If both the Father and the Son are fond of King David, then that certainly says a lot for him.

My friends, as you attend daily Mass and hear the stories of these Old Testament saints and sages, don’t ignore them or conclude they are of no consequence. Don’t let these stories go in one ear and out the other, impatient to get to the New Testament and Gospel readings, to the stuff that really matters. These priests, prophets and kings laid the foundations upon which Jesus would build his kingdom. Revelation 4:4 mentions 24 elders who sit on 24 thrones before the Lord. Who are they? 12 of them are the apostles Jesus chose in the New Testament, and 12 are the patriarchs of the tribes of Israel that God the Father chose in the Old Testament. In other words, they are all important in heaven, and therefore they should also be important on earth.

Create your own Old Testament Hall of Fame, and induct those who capture your imagination and give you inspiration to be a better bible Catholic. And by the way, don't forget the wonderful women of the Old Testament, like Sarah, Abraham’s wife, Ruth the Moabite, Deborah the great Judge, Esther the Queen who saved all the Jews, to name but a few. Why is it perilous to pass over the Old Testament like yesterday’s newspaper and focus exclusively on the New Testament? Well, St. Jerome famously admonished us in his introduction to the book of Isaiah: “Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ.” Since he said that in reference to Isaiah in the Old Testament, clearly he meant both Old and New Testaments are vital to know Christ, both are equally inspired word of God. No doubt Jerome would have added Isaiah to his own Hall of Fame.

Praised be Jesus Christ!