Thursday 4 October 2012

Wrath of God

Today’s Gospel Text: "Woe to you, Chora'zin! woe to you, Beth-sa'ida! for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it shall be more tolerable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Caper'na-um, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. 16 "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me." Luke 10:13-16


Reflection: “God is love and he will not bring sinners to judgment, he is not as cruel as you think he is, he loves every one and hence will save everyone”

If anyone thinks of God in these terms then they have only to read this message of Jesus wherein he proclaims woes on the inhabitants of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum.

God indeed is love and his love cannot be taken for granted by one person in order to score over the other.

It is a self-centered way of looking at sin, as something personal and not affecting others.

Whatever sin we commit by breaking the divine law, as revealed in Scripture, we invite a curse on ourselves and also on our families and on the society or community in which we live in.

My individual sin affects all and may even have an effect on the generations to follow.

If we tolerate a serial killer in our midst and would not allow the law enforcing agency to act against such a one then we are inviting him to keep at it, even allowing our own lives to be in peril.

Why do whole cities and nations get destroyed by calamities? Why do sicknesses, pains and accidents thrive in certain places and situation?

Many a time it is due to the judgment of God on account of our sinfulness; for reasons best known to God. As for humans, it could be the nice people and nice neighbors who faced destruction.

In such interpretations we are not sitting in judgment, as some would accuse us  but rather it is a call to plead to God for mercy and reaching out to them in love as God would still want us to, so that the individual may not be lost for all eternity. 

Nevertheless, the call to believe in his assuring word remains: God indeed is our protector and no harm shall befall us unless he has allowed it. 

In such interpretations we are not sitting in judgment as some would accuse us of but rather a moment of pleading to God for mercy and reaching out to them in love as God would still want us to, so that the individual may not be lost for all eternity.

Prayer:  Father of mercy and love, save humanity from the impending wrath on account of their rejection of the Gospel truths.

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