Tuesday 16th June 2020. Read 1st Kings 21:17-29,
Psalm 51:3-16, Matthew 5:43-46)_
“Have you
seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself
before me, I will not bring the evil in his days.” (1 Kings 21:29)
It appears there is a contradiction
between our first reading today and our Gospel passage. While God sends Elijah
to Ahab to deliver a message of curses for Naboth’s murder, Jesus is telling us
that it is in loving our enemies that we can be as perfect as God.
God hates evil. God does not
tolerate sin. God doesn’t just watch while innocent lives are being crushed by
those in power. Nonetheless, God loves the sinner and even when the sinner has
to suffer the consequences of their wrong choices, God never stops loving him
or her.
In other words, it is
possible to love a person without defining him or her by their sinful deeds. This
is the perfect love of God and the model of love Jesus recommends. Basically, Jesus
is telling us to treat the sinner like a person who does bad things, not like a
bad thing who just happens to be a person.
Jesus wants us to see the
good in others and love them by praying for their repentance rather than
develop hatred for them. It is only when we still recognize the good in others
that we can forgive them. God showed mercy to Ahab when he humbled himself and
repented because God saw something good in him.
On the other hand, when we
allow hatred overpower us, we stop seeing our offenders as human beings. We label
them by their deeds and start looking for ways to revenge. Even when they come
to ask for our forgiveness, we either turn it down or pretend to have forgiven
while we remain bitter within. Sadly, many years after, we continue to speak
about such persons in a very bad light.
As Jesus teaches us, if we
do not forgive sincerely, if we save our kindness only for those who are kind
to us, then we are no better than non-believers. We may be very active or even
hold positions in the church yet, we remain unbelievers. No wonder Jesus said: “The
gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it
are few.” (Matthew 7:14)
Let us pray: Lord Jesus, help
me walk the narrow path of forgiveness and mercy. Amen.
Happy new week. Be Happy. Live
Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Tuesday of the
11th week in Ordinary Time. Bible Study:
1st Kings 21:17-29, Psalm 51:3-16, Matthew 5:43-46).
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