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Today’s readings: First Reading: Jeremiah 17:5-8 Second reading: 1 Corinthians 15:12. 16-20. Gospel: Luke 6: l 7.20-26
In life there are always opposites: one good, the other bad. There is white and there is black. There is God and there is devil. There is happiness and there is sadness.
In the book of Deuteronomy 30:19, the Lord said to the people of Israel, “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.”
Again in Deuteronomy 11:26-28, the Lord reiterated, “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day, and a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.”
These opposites realities are choices one must make in his or her life. We are able to make these choices because we are human beings with freedom of choices.
The choice we make shows where our hearts are. It also shows the kind of person we are.
In today’s first reading from Jeremiah 17:5-8, the Lord says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, whose heart turns away from the Lord.
This is one group of people.
What does it mean to trust in man?
According to the opposing narrative here, you can either trust God or you trust man and flesh.
This group of people has no time for God. They believe that they are the ones sustaining themselves. They believe to be powerful and are able to do whatever they want. They trust in themselves, their wealth, their connections and have little or no time for God. Jeremiah said that such a person is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
From the explanation of Jeremiah, this kind of people has no future because they will be disappointed in what they trust.
What about our gospel today? Is it telling us something about this kind of people?
Yes!!! We read that Jesus lifted up
his eyes on his disciples and said: “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. But woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger. Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you, when all men speak well of you; for so their fathers did to the false prophets.”
Here, in this beatitudes Jesus explained the situation of the two opposites.
The blessing goes to those who are poor and hungry.
Poverty and hunger here, have two dimensions.
Firstly, a poor person lacks the essentials and depends on God and others for his or her upliftment. This makes him or her trust in God as his or her only hope.
Secondly, a poor person also is hungry. He is hungry of what he lacks and therefore keeps on making efforts to find a solution. This makes him hungry and depends on God as the ultimate solution.
So the blessed person here is someone who is poor and hungry. Poverty here is not about having or not having money but who is hungry for God and righteousness.
This is the kind of man we are told in the first reading is blessed because he trust in God and he is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes.
So both the first reading and the gospel are telling us to put our trust in God. If we trust God and seek his face we shall never be disappointed but if we trust in a human being, in our wealth, in our connections, we shall surely be disappointed.
Why so?
Humans beings are contingent beings; we exist in time and space. The person you trust as your all and all can depart this world when you least expect it.
But God is a necessary being who is always there for us and can never disappoint us.
Since we have two choices to make according to our first reading and the gospel, let’s us be wise to make a right choice. Let us choose the way of God.
Let us be hungry of knowing God, loving God and serving Him alone.
By so doing we shall be counted among those who are blessed.
May Almighty God grant us the grace to choose God above every other person or thing in our lives, Amen.
We pray that God may bless us and protect us from all evil through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Have a great and blessed Sunday.
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Rev. Fr. Ambrose Onyeka Anene SDB, is the Parish Priest of Church of the Archangels, Gaduwa, Abuja.
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