Path of Perfection

Today’s Gospel Text: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matt 5:43-48

Reflection: Again and again we come across people who ask: If there is a God then why does he allow evil; murder, killing, mass destruction, terrorism, rape, incest, robbing the poor, corruption, etc.,

On the other hand you have hunger, disease, sickness, and untoward deaths; the pain of separation, someone losing their near and dear ones.

The hardness of human hearts towards their neighbor further adds to the complicated scenario.

Further, to add to the complications, there are the self-styled god-bashers who never lose an opportunity to bash-up God or even if they would want to acknowledge one then they prefer to create their own gods; a religion of humanism which ultimately is destructive of humanity.

Some even think that they can do better than God and historically speaking there is nothing new in these human assertions, based on pride.   

Jesus the revelation of God, who came to reveal to us the truth about God, gives us an understanding about God both in himself and his action and also in this passage of scripture above.

If God were what Jesus reveals then evil is bound to flourish and may even increase to a level which God can endure because his love tolerates and respects the freewill given to man. 

His endurance is seen at Calvary, when he endured the blasphemies of men, the physical and verbal tortures the wicked men subjected him to.

Yet, he put into practice what he also taught his beloved and dedicated disciples;

“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”  (vss. 44-45)

And he did put into practice what he taught, even at that moment when the greatest ever evil perpetuated by men, when they crucified the most innocent man in the history of humanity:

   

"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34

Prayer: Help me Lord to walk the path of perfection which you have taught through your own example.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Waiting to Trap

Today’s Gospel Text:  Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 And they watched him, to see whether he would heal him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man who had the withered hand, "Come here." 4 And he said to them, "Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?" But they were silent. 5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out, and immediately held counsel with the Hero'di-ans against him, how to destroy him. Mark 3:1-6

Reflection: This passage of the gospel brings out the great element of God’s nature and his love for us.

Here are a people who are waiting to accuse the innocent Jesus. The moment seems right:

It is the Sabbath and they know the weakness of Jesus (at least that’s how they looked at Jesus) to heal a person and Jesus is bound to exercise his weakness for showing off (this is how they may have perceived his actions).

And as expected; here there was a man with withered hand and Jesus invites him to come to him and stretch out his hand; and he is immediately  restored.

But what comes out still more strongly is the emotional reaction of Jesus over their hardness of hearts.

The hardness of the heart is seen not so much in the emphasis of the Pharisees on the law, instead at the root of it is the blindness to understand God’s priority when he gave the law.

This factor of applying the law irrationally without looking at the real human priority and purpose can be seen anywhere and in any society, as long as sinful humans exist.  This is unlike those who would deliberately misinterpret a law in order to beat someone out of vengeance.

Here the Pharisees were not merely misinterpreting the law as of priority but their greater aim seemed to be to indict Jesus.

Jesus' reaction is a righteous anger; if at the cross he cried out: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34), then here it must have been; "listen! see! believe! for you do not know what you are doing in the hardness of your hearts, where you are heading; the path of damnation.

As if it was not enough it made Jesus grieve at the hardness of their hearts; which was not a mere reaction for the sake of reaction but could best be surmised in a question: where are you heading (the path of hell fire)? Or what has happened to your humanity, that you don's seem to care about the suffering of your fellow human being?   

This can happen to anyone of us as we continue in a life of self-seeking, leaving out God and his saving help.

Prayer:  Lord, let me seek thee and by thy holy wisdom transform me and thy Holy Spirit guide me all through life’s journey, so that I may care of my brothers and sisters. 

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us