Readings Jeremiah 26: 1-9; Psalm 69; Matt 13: 54-58
In today’s 1st reading we see the prophet Jeremiah rejected because he did not prophesy according to the peoples’ will. God told Jeremiah to proclaim: “If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you and to heed the words of my servants the prophets … I will make this house like Shiloh and will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth”. Because of these words the people menaced Jeremiah to death. Truth hurts!
In the Gospel of Matthew, the people of Nazareth felt that, since they knew Jesus as a fellow townsman, as an ordinary carpenter’s son, things they have heard about Him couldn’t be true. But this is lack of faith, they were unable to see what God was doing in Jesus Christ.
In our days, there is a tendency to belittle faith and accept only what can be understood or scientifically proven. Many think that they don’t need God or any help from above, as if they could solve everything through scientific ways. Imagine, could people stop the hurricanes, the floods, the earthquakes and now the “Coronavirus pandemic”? If not, human beings have but to rely on somebody of a higher power, God who is the creator of all. In fact, at this moment, our world is at its knees.
Human beings are not supreme. Our minds are limited. In all these centuries people have not figured out ways in which to avoid wars, how to feed the starving, how to bring harmony among nations. We certainly need God’s help, faith and divine wisdom and understanding as king Solomon asked God to give him: “an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil”.
Without deep and living faith we are blind; we can’t see the obvious solutions to our world and domestic problems. We need to ask God to give us clearer vision, enlighten our human knowledge, our mind with divine wisdom.
In the end, it is faith that will open the door to the wonders of God in the world around us, in our neighbors and in ourselves. God bless you.
Fr. Mussie