REFLECTION
Care for all living things is the theme for our reflection. Care means the provision of what is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone. Living things are things that have life, in order for something to be classified as a living thing, it must grow and develop, use energy, reproduce, be made of cells, respond to its environment, and adapt. Apart from human beings who are living things, animals are also considered as living things because they they share some basic characteristics such as breathing, reproduction, growth and adaption to environment with human beings.
Beloved in the Lord , the law of the Sabbath was fundamentally instituted to honour God and to give rest to the body. However, we also realize in Exodus 23:10-13 that the law of Sabbath is to ensure that the Israelites make provision for the poor on their farm lands and equally important, ensure that animals have enough to eat and ample time to rest before going back to the tedious farm work. To ensure that the poor have food to eat, the Israelites were commanded, ” “For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, 11 but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove. “(Exodus 23:10-11)In other words, the Sabbath law ensured that the poor and animals which are part of all living things are cared for.
The animals ought to be cared for because they play an important part in providing power for farm work and meat for food. Again, slaves were treated as property, yet the Israelites were instructed to treat them with dignity. Both the animals and the slaves deserve to be treated with care and dignity, hence the Israelites were commanded, ““Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.” (Exodus 23:12) Today, both domestic and international laws prohibit slavery. However, some people have domestic help. We are not to treat them as slaves or property, but care for them as our own family members. Again, some laws also prohibit the torture of animals in some countries. The most important care required by farm animals is proper feeding and rest to maximise their productivity. We derive health and economic benefits from caring for animals and domestic helpers. In essence, the Sabbath law ensures the sustainability of the ecosystem, care for the poor and animals. Humanity has been tasked by God in Genesis 1:28 that “….Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Let us be responsible for the proper care of the environment and other living creatures God has blessed us with. Shalom.
PRAYER
Dear Lord, help us to desist from animal cruelty as an essential part of our stewardship of the ecosystem. May we respect the dignity of all persons and other creatures even as we rely on them for food and economic growth. Amen.
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