WEDNESDAY 13TH WEEK IN ORDINARY
TIME
Amos 5:14-15,21-24, Matthew
8:28-34
In Leviticus 11:27, God told
Moses to instruct the people of Israel not to eat swine. Pure Jews therefore
adhere to the law so tenaciously that they can even give up their life if
forced to do so. We see a good example of it in 2 Maccabees 8, when King Anthiochus
Epiphanes IV tried to force a woman and her 7 sons to eat swine flesh, and when
they refused, he killed them one after the other.
In our various cultures and
traditions, there are things we also forbid to eat. Some do not eat snake,
snail, dog, cat, rabbit and the likes. I understand that there is a part of
India where they do not eat cow. It is the case therefore that what is
forbidden in one culture may be the best delicacy in another culture.
In the case of the Jews for
example, it was only their mix up with the Greeks during exile that made them
to test swine flesh under threat of torture and death. Some continued to eat it
even after the exile, thus we had people who reared them as their business just
as others reared goats, sheep and other animals. Nevertheless, swine was not a
common thing among the Jews and many did not regard it as worthwhile. Jesus as
a Jew must have heard and had his own experiences of swine not seen as
important among the Jews.
In the gospel reading of today,
we see how Jesus values the life of a human being more than that of an animal
by casting demons from them into the herds of swine. Human life is the
ultimate, and every other innanimate thing such as businessds can be sacrificed
for it.
In some places, animals are treated
better than human beings, forgetting that human life is irreplaceable. Though
we are not called to be cruel to animals, we are called to be conscious of the
sacredness of human life.
I remember a story of how a man
fought his neighbour and killed him because he had injured his goat that had
eaten the yam of his neighbour. The incessant killings of Fulani herdsmen in
various places due to misunderstanding between them and the owners of farmlands
which the cows destroy has already attracted international attention.
Let us therefore be more
compassionate to our brothers and sisters, knowing that human life is the most
important thing, not what we have or our businesses. God help us. Amen
Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie MSP
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