Being With Jesus And Gathering With Him
Introduction
“Listen to my voice,” says God through his prophet Jeremiah, and then he complains that God’s people fails to listen: they listen to themselves and follow their own ways. Their deeds do not speak the language of God. They do not follow God.
In the Gospel Jesus cures the man who was mute. Worse than anyone who is deaf and mute and blind are those who do not want to hear and see, or to speak with sincerity. They do not follow Jesus. Their hearts are divided. Are we happy when others excel in their duties/ministries? Do we applaud that our colleague whose innovations and bright ideas turned things around in the office? Behind the failure to acknowledge others is envy, a mortal sin.
1 Reading: Jeremiah 7:23-28
Thus says the LORD:
This is what I commanded my people:
Listen to my voice;
then I will be your God and you shall be my people.
Walk in all the ways that I command you,
so that you may prosper.
But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed.
They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts
and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.
From the day that your fathers left the land of Egypt even to this day,
I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets.
Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed;
they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers.
When you speak all these words to them,
they will not listen to you either;
when you call to them, they will not answer you.
Say to them:
This is the nation that does not listen
to the voice of the LORD, its God,
or take correction.
Faithfulness has disappeared;
the word itself is banished from their speech.
Responsorial Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
R. (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Acclamation: Joel 2:12-13
Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
for I am gracious and merciful.
Gospel: Luke 11:14-23
Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute,
and when the demon had gone out,
the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed.
Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons.”
Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
But he knew their thoughts and said to them,
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house divided against itself falls.
And if Satan is divided against himself,
how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.
If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul,
by whom do your own people drive them out?
Therefore, they will be your judges.
But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
When a strong man fully armed guards his palace,
his possessions are safe.
But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him,
he takes away the armour on which he relied
and distributes the spoils.
Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
Commentary
There can be no real conversion without breaking from evil. God and evil are antithetical. Directly opposed. Jesus points out the absurdity of his being an agent of Satan in casting out devils. Such would mean that Satan is working against himself. But if Christ is acting as an agent of God, then the reign of God has come. And God’s enemy in trouble.
The plight of Jeremiah lay in the insensitivity on the part of the people who refused to heed God’s warning. It was not uncommon for the prophets to be disregarded until it was too late. It is sad enough to be distant from God, but to give his warnings a deaf ear is even worse.
Our experience today tells us that many people are at ease with the prevailing spirit of evil. Wrongdoing is diminished, and all manner of compromise is introduced. There was a time when sin was called by name; today it wears the toga of euphemisms and is often justified in terms of “changing times.” Pornography today is a multimillion-dollar business. It hides under the industry name: Adult movie. A movie that is suitable for all ages is difficult to find. Cohabitation before marriage is rapidly moving from the exception to the rule. It is part of courtship in Latin America.
We all have to remember that we have been richly blessed in our Christian faith. We have been truly favoured. What wisdom is there in discarding a precious gift?
Jesus was criticized for casting out devils. Today it seems that we are comfortable in compromising our convictions. There is a helpful caveat in today’s Gospel. In safeguarding our faith, let us always be wary of the one stronger than us, who may overpower us. With conviction and the will to distinguish between right and wrong, that will not happen.
“O that today you would listen to his voice! Do not harden your hearts.”
Blessing
“Obey my voice and I will be your God, and you shall be my people,” said the prophet. We thank God that He has made us his people. We do our best to live as the people He loves, with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!