Bible
Study: Judges 2:11-19. / Matthew 19:16-22.
Today’s
readings call for a sincere examination of conscience on the part of each and every
one of us. What are my greatest aspirations in life? What is that which I treasure
most for which I am prepared even to die so that I do not lose it? Who or what do
I really worship and treat with the greatest degree of care and reverence?
In the
first reading, the book of Judges summarizes the life of the Israelites as a
nation soaked in idolatry. Very much like us Christians today, they only
pretended to be worshipping God when their hearts were very far from him. Each
time, they went after other gods, God’s anger blazed upon them and he allowed
them experience disaster. In the face of disaster, they would remember God
again but not long after they get some relief, they would relapse back into their
old ways again. God gave them judges but their spirituality only lasted while
the judge was still with them, it was a spirituality of “NOTICE-ME.”
In the
Gospel passage, we see a rich young man who felt he was a good person just like
most of us do, we can even beat our chest before Jesus to say we are not
sinners, we have been keeping the commandments since we were in our mothers’
wombs but we fail to realise that beneath our external show of religiosity, we
have made a god of our material possessions. We keep the commandments because
of the benefits contained therein but we are not prepared to allow God take
centre stage in our hearts.
How many
of us today still aspire only to become Saints? How many of us are prepared to
let go of all our possessions just to grow higher in our spiritual life? How
many of us would continue to serve God if it so happens that we stand to gain
nothing by so doing? How many of us pastors and ministers like me would still go
to Church if there were no more tithes and offerings, no more luxuries of any
sort, no more shows that promote self-aggrandizement or worship from our
people? Have you noticed how people stop attending meetings the moment they no
longer hold positions?
We have a
lot of gods that compete for our attention daily such as our priced possessions:
our bank accounts, houses, cars, clothes, even things as little as our looks,
or our phones. And we never know how much value we place on these things until
we lose them and we then begin to feel like our very life has been snuffed out.
Yet, we do not feel that way when we miss our prayers or devotions. We don’t feel
bad when we miss church or fail to say our rosary daily but we feel like our
world is crumbling down when we do not receive a particular alert we are
expecting. We are not concerned whether or not we have read the Bible in a day
but we are up to date with every single happening in the life of our
celebrities, actors, musicians, footballers etc. we want to know the latest
about them and even the most nasty things they do make headlines but we do not
care to know about the lives of the Saints! We complain that a homily like this
very one is too long, but we don’t mind finishing a romance novel of over 300
pages containing explicit scenes within a single seating.
It is sad
that we worship idols without even knowing. It is sad that we are holding on
too tightly to things that are not needed for eternal life. It is sad that we
do not even know what we want in life; while our lips claim we desire God most,
our actions reveal we desire luxury, abundant wealth and popularity.
The young
man went away sad! What is the cause of the widespread unhappiness in the world
today? Why are people even in developed nations committing suicide? Why are
people who you think have everything going well for them still suffer from
depression?
Why am I unhappy
despite all the things I have? Am I walking away from Jesus because of my
attachment to things forgetting that “Naked I came to this world, and naked I will
depart”? Am I unhappy because I still seek fulfilment and satisfaction in a god
I have created? Or am I unhappy because I have allowed the anger of God to fire
me with disaster because of my refusal to give him the due honour and respect
that rightfully belongs to him?
Let us
pray:
Lord
Jesus, it is you I need. Help me to realise that you alone are enough. Help me
to drop my self-created gods and worship you alone. Give me a heart of charity
to share with the poor and needy rather than hoard things I will never need.
Amen.
Good morning.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. Happy
new week.
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