For the scripture readings for this reflection, go to: Friday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB
In our
gospel for today Jesus is expressing frustration at those people around him
that find it hard to accept him and his teachings. They were present for all
his various miracles and healings, and yet they find it hard to accept him for
who he is: the long-awaited Messiah.
Our Lord
says, “For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and
Sidon, they would have long ago repented…” I often wonder why it was so hard
for people, who witnessed the great things Jesus had done, would not have
become his followers? Were they so comfortable with their sinful lives that
they were unwilling to turn to the Lord in repentance and accept him as Messiah?
Human
nature being what it is, people find it easy to just to continue with their
familiar ways of living. Putting God first in their lives means work. It means realizing
that we need to repent from our sinfulness and to turn to God in love. It means
doing some extra work to become a person who loves God with our whole being and
to love others as we love ourselves. People tend to find it hard to turn away
from their comfortable lives. They find it hard to live a spiritual life with
God in the center of who they are. They prefer putting their self-interests
ahead of obeying God’s laws of love towards Him and towards others.
Let us
not fall into that way of living. We, as followers of Jesus Christ, are called
to listen to Jesus through His teachings in Scripture and His teachings as
understood in the Catholic Church. Let us repent of any sinfulness we may be
guilty of. Let us always keep an open ear, an open mind, and an open heart to
where the Lord is calling us to be: people who love God and are willing to
serve him in how we live out our lives as Christians.
From Arlene B. Muller
ReplyDeleteThese are all very good points, but I think that two other important factors that made it difficult for Jewish people, especially the very religious Jewish people, & especially religious people in positions of authority were 1.CONFUSION because some of what Our LORD JESUS said & did seemed to be contrary to what they learned regarding their history & Jewish law & tradition, and
2. PRIDE, because they were the Chosen People set apart from the Gentiles & the Samaritans & came to believe they were better than everyone else & they looked down at everyone else.
Throughout Jewish history the Jewish people fell into sins of idolatry & immorality because they intermingled with pagans & took on their pagan practices when GOD wanted them to be separate. FINALLY after being in exile they learned their lesson & stayed away from the Gentiles, the Samaritans & people who were living sinful lives, such as those who were sexually immoral & the tax collectors who were traitors earning a living collecting taxes on behalf of their enemy, Rome, & charging extra money to make a profit. So here comes JESUS eating with tax collectors & prostitutes! Unlike other human beings Our LORD JESUS is fully GOD & fully human & He would not be contaminated by associating with sinners & would not engage in their sins but came to show them mercy & forgiveness & lead them in the path of righteousness. But except for His healing people & performing miracles He looked very much like the other men of His day, so I can understand why they would be confused & think He was doing something wrong. The Pharisees started out trying to be so faithful to GOD that they added extra laws to prevent themselves from violating GOD'S laws. Unfortunately it made some of them self-righteous & judgemental. Some of these disobeyed the laws in secret while preaching to everyone else & appearing holy & were hypocritical. But I think some were sincerely trying to please GOD & do the right thing & gain GOD'S approval.
GOD DID call the Jewish people His own possession & a people set apart, but He also called them to be a LIGHT to the Gentiles. So the exclusive special relationship was eventually meant to result in the salvation of the whole world. But they didn't understand that & they became prideful, & sometimes we as Catholics need to be wary of pride in considering us better than anyone else.