Bible Study: Isaiah 48, 17 to 19 and Matthew 11, 16 to 19.
If you have ever been to a very busy airport and you needed to catch a connecting
flight, (of which you know that missing your plane would cost you so much money),
then you will appreciate the value of commands, signs and instructions. Of
course, when you have just five minutes to get to a particular terminal where
your plane is just about to complete boarding, you will not need anybody to
tell you to run notwithstanding the weight of your carry-on luggage. At this
point, even if it is a small child that is giving you command about where to go
or where not to go, you will say “Thank you” and obey.
Whenever we find ourselves having serious difficulties with following instructions, it
is always because we do not appreciate the value of what we stand to gain or we
do not believe there is anything to benefit from such instructions.
Our first reading this morning contains a cry from God not only to the people of Israel
but to us as well. “Oh that you had listened to my commandments! Then your
peace would have been like a river…”Often times, you hear people say keeping
God’s commandment is difficult or that it is a sacrifice to follow them. This attitude
represents an ignorance of what we stand to gain when we keep God’s
commandments. Until we begin to love these commandments, our search for peace
in sinful places will always be futile.
We want the good things of life yet we do not want to listen to God. In today’s Gospel
passage, Jesus is not happy with the people for the same reason. They did not
accept John the Baptist because of his style of spirituality; he was neither
eating nor drinking and they said he was not normal. Now, Jesus adopted a
different style of spirituality; he was involved in the everyday life of the people,
eating and drinking freely, yet they saw him as one of the sinners.
God desires our happiness even more than we do. He desires our perfect peace. God
wants the very best for us in life. Christmas is a clear proof that God would
stop at nothing to ensure our happiness. We just need to trust God and believe
that in the seemingly “difficult” commandments lies the key to our everlasting
joy. If we can obey human instructions just to catch a flight and things like
that, what stops us from obeying God’s instructions if we truly desire the best
of what life has to offer?
Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, deepen my trust in you. Amen.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you.
Fr. Abu.
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