In today's first reading, the citizens of Judah and Jerusalem are determined to destroy Jeremiah, saying: "Come, let us contrive a plot against Jeremiah....[L]et us destroy him by his own tongue; let us carefully note his every word." Jeremiah asks God: "Must good be repaid with evil that they should dig a pit to take my life? Remember that I stood before you to speak in their behalf, to turn away your wrath from them."
Like Jeremiah, Jesus, too, had people plotting to take his life. Pharisees and scribes "carefully [took] note of his every word," so as to trap Him and have something that they could use to demand his crucifixion. Jesus' life was not spared. By pouring out His blood for us and giving His life on our behalf he "stood before [our heavenly Father] to speak in [our] behalf, to turn away [God's] wrath from [us].
None of us will get through this life without, at some point, having someone plot against us, not necessarily to take our physical life, but to ruin our good name. We will go through periods of people speaking against us for whatever reason. Jesus shows us how to deal with such a situation, surrendering all to the Father and praying as He did on the cross for our persecutors: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing."
There will be times when we may ask: "Must good be repaid with evil?" At others times we will be tempted to repay evil with evil and not with good, as Jesus asks of us in the Gospel. "Do good," He says to us, "to those who hate you. Love your enemies!"
No comments:
Post a Comment