Today’s Scripture
readings, Is. 1: 10, 16-20 and Mt 23: 1-12, were, for me difficult readings,
especially trying to apply them to my life. Most of us are not a Sodom and Gomorrah. Each of us is created in God’s image, strive
to do God’s will, is redeemed by God’s Son and sanctified by God’s Spirit. From our mother’s womb, we have been taught
to do good and have striven for goodness all our lives, though, of course, we
have sinned and are prone to sin. Most
of us struggle with the “phylacteries” and “tassles” (cf. Mt. 23: 1-12) the
world insists we must “wear” in order to be trustworthy, attractive, “with it”
and competitive. Struggling to take today’s Scripture readings
into my heart and be transformed by them, I surrendered my heart, my mind, and
my spirit to the Lord just as I am. God
alone knows the depth of my sinfulness, my need for redemption, and my heart’s
desire to be transformed by grace. He also knows the hardness of my heart, the
deafness of my hearing, and the blindness of my seeing.
As disciples of Christ, our task is to keep our
focus on Jesus, to rest our heads on His chest, to seek God above all, to be servants
of all, to “make justice our aim: redress the wronged,” especially those we
have hurt, “hear the orphan’s plea , defend the widow,” as we are instructed to do by the prophet
Isaiah. Yes, we are to be about the work
of building right relationships with the Lord, with one another and with ourselves.
If we follow Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, we will “put away…[our]
misdeeds,” and learn to do good,” (Is. 1: 10, 16-20). Also, we will not get
stuck in the rut of collecting latest “phylacteries” or of attaching the latest
“tassels,” (today’s Gospel) to parade
our “greatness,” according to worldly standards. No, we will come to embrace the standard of the cross of Christ, the obedience of Christ to the Father.
I barely read this this morning. I was reading today's scripture and it really spoke to me. But before I read our daily readings, I often read one chapter of Proverbs. Chapter 27: verses 7 and 21 stood out. "Along with the previous one about do not boast, but let others praise you". One of my flaws is that I am a talker and so I often boast about my deeds. So this was directly telling me to focus on not doing that today. Verse seven told me about abusive relations and it was an ahh ha moment because now I understand why so many people get into abusive relationships. But the question I have is about 21. The crucible for silver, and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives. Can you give some insight on what that means? Meanwhile I will pray to God that he helps me see the understanding of it.
ReplyDeleteThank You
Yvonne