18 January 2022 Mark 2:23-28
Tuesday of the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time
RELIGIOUS SLAVERY
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:23-28).
Freedom or Free Will is an essential aspect of human dignity and identity. Anything that restricts one’s dignity/identity in one’s human experiences can be a forms of slavery. People become slave to people, things/substances and ideologies etc. Extreme and uncontrolled celebrity culture and hero-worship could be considered as slavery to persons. Human trafficking and forced labor are examples of individuals’ individual’s freedom being curtailed. Addiction to alcohol and drugs or luxurious things are examples of slavery to substances or things. Fanaticism and legalism are examples of people becoming slaves of ideologies.
Today’s gospel discussion on Sabbath observation prompts us to think of another form of slavery in religious sphere which can be called ‘religious slavery’. Pharisaic legalistic and slavish view of Sabbath is an example of ‘religious slavery’.
Religious slavery happens when people becomes committed to God not out of love, but out of fear or wrath of God or not out of convictions but out of superstitions and fanaticism. Amen.