"For fear that I might be disqualified." 1cor9:26
Don’t you just admire people whom you see serving God and His people in an extraordinary way? Whether you listen to eloquent speakers in your prayer meetings, or when they sing with gilted voices, or when they have deep insights during your bible study, or when they are able to prophesy with wisdom and knowledge of God’s will?
Praise God for them, right?
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There’s something about upbeat music that when I hear it, I instinctively tap my feet, shake my head, and before I know it, my body is swaying and I’m ready to dance to the beat. I’ll do this anywhere I hear upbeat music, whether I’m just walking into a store with piped in music, or I hear a jeepney passing by with loud music, or maybe even making the sign of the cross as I leave the church while the choir is playing an upbeat final song. Ang saya saya.
In today’s gospel, from Luke 7: 31-35, Jesus had strong words for the religious leaders of His day, the Pharisees. They were like people who refused to dance to the music. Jesus comments on how the Pharisees sneered at him and at John the Baptist for how they preached the good news to all sorts of people. But the Pharisees wouldn’t budge because they thought that they knew God’s answers to life, and instead of embracing the good news message, these Pharisees criticized John and Jesus on very shallow grounds, pointing to John’s weird and eccentric fasting and clothing. And they dismissed the messages of Jesus because he ate and drank with outcasts. The Pharisees red tagged them saying they were possessed by demons.
But Jesus dismissed these arrogant Pharisees as the pitiful ones because He said that the best way to judge whether their message made sense or not was not by the appearance of themselves as messengers, but to see how their message changed the lives and behavior of those who listened and believed their messages. Jesus said wisdom is proved right by all her children.
Today’s gospel passage bears a message of instruction and a message of hope for us today.
THERE’S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DISCERNMENT AND JUDGING
First of all, a message of instruction. There is a difference between discernment and judging. Discernment protects us from inappropriate biases, or deceitful messages and influences, and outright false teaching. We need to be discerning and critical of the world and its influences because, we are prone to think only of our needs and our egos and to be indifferent to the needs of other neighbors. Anything that appeals to our selfish egos tends to get our attention. That’s the human in us. So we need to be discerning.
On the other hand, it’s not wise to judge others, and to write them off just because they have ideas and behaviors that don’t suit our sensitivities or our own biases, or because they behave and think differently from what we are accustomed to.
People do things and express themselves in various ways, whether it’s their praise and worship style, whether it’s the manner in which they explain certain ideas, and whether it’s what they try to make you appreciate and value, that’s not your type or not according to your taste.
Let’s always be open to God’s purpose in bringing radical and different people into our circles. Let’s not miss out on God’s best, just because our minds and hearts are comfortable where we are.
KEEP PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS ANYWAY
Now here’s a message of hope for those of us who feel that they have a good message to give, or who see people going the wrong way but are indifferent to change and suggestions, and sadly refuse to acknowledge the good news that we lovingly speak to them about Jesus.
Take heart. Take heart, and don’t lose hope. Keep proclaiming the good news, even to cynical and deaf ears. It’s not your fault if they don’t listen to you or they don’t believe you and they refuse to change, it’s not your fault. Don’t blame yourself. Instead let them see by your behavior and in your life that the good news has made a difference in your life.
Remember, it’s not your job to change and transform people. That’s God’s job, and believe me, He’s good at it. Our task is simply to sow seeds, to shed the light by our word and our deeds of love.
And yes, it’s a joyful experience, of course, when we see people responding positively to our message. But please do not be motivated by the number of likes on your Facebook page because this is how the world measures success. Rather let your reward come from the Lord who called you to break a sweat, to plow the hard ground. He called you not to get tired sowing seeds of hope to all whom God sends to you. Let your consolation rest purely in the joy of hearing God himself say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Yesterday, National Heroes Day, our nation remembered her heroes of long ago — men and women who fought for what they believed was our sovereign right as a people and who braved death against all odds. Today, in our gospel reading (Mark 6:17-29), the evangelist Mark tells the story about the martyrdom of John the Baptist.
This is a familiar story to many of us. John, who was the voice crying in the desert, was sent by God to prepare the way of the Lord. Scripture tells us that many people followed John looking to him for hope, perhaps expecting some great Messianic power, but John never allowed himself the false honor of receiving these people for his own glory. He knew his calling was one of preparation. And when the time came, he led his disciples to Jesus. And yet even then, he did not hesitate to speak the truth and accused the guilty, even King Herod himself. And this led to his imprisonment and to his most gruesome and untimely execution as described in today’s gospel.
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You’re all familiar with the parable of the sower and the seed, and what it meant, right? Well, here’s a bit of trivia. Did you know that this is the first parable that the synoptic gospel writers (Matthew, Mark and Luke) recorded? And, also, did you know that when Jesus spoke this parable to the large crowds, he didn’t explain it to the crowd? Mark says, in Mark 4:10, “When He was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.”
In fact, I like the way Matthew recorded the question that the disciples asked Jesus about this parable when they were away from the crowds already. They asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?’” (Matt 13:10). In other words, why tell the crowds a story, but not explain what it means? What’s your point in doing this?
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