Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the plotting of the enemies of God in the first reading, the forces of the king of Aram and the northern kingdom of Israel which came together against the forces of the southern kingdom of Judah, the kingdom of the rightful king of Israel, David and his descendants. The enemies of the Lord came together to destroy the faithful, and many were fearful.

But God consoled His people and gave them great hope, as He promised to stand by them, but they must have faith in Him. If they themselves did not have faith in Him, how would then He help them? They must trust in the divine providence of God, believe in them and sincerely turn away from their rebellious and disobedient ways. The people of God faltered because they have long been distracted by the many temptations of this world, and as a result, they have drifted away and forgotten their roots in God.

But He was willing to forgive them and to overlook their transgressions, if they are willing to listen to Him and to be thoroughly converted to His cause, repenting all of their previous sins. And to that end, He had sent them His only beloved Son, Jesus Christ, Saviour of the world, to be their Lord and Saviour. And yet, when He performed many miraculous deeds before them, their hearts were closed against Him, and they refused to get up and change their old ways of sin.

That was why in the Gospel today, Jesus was cursing several cities in which He had performed those miracles. Capernaum, Chorazin and Bethsaida, and these were cities and towns in Galilee where Jesus did much of His works and ministries in, and these were cities which were predominantly inhabited by the Jews, the descendants of the people of Israel of old.

In order to understand this matter fully, we have to understand the animosity that existed between the Jews and those others who were their neighbours, the Canaanites, Samaritans, Phoenicians who lived in Tyre and Sidon, the Greeks and the Romans. At that time, the region was profoundly multi-racial with peoples from different origins and cultures living together among each other.

As those who belonged to the race and group which God had once chosen to be His people, they felt great pride in that heritage, and over time, that led to contempt against all the others who did not belong to their group, alleging that those people, the pagans and non-Jewish people were unworthy of redemption and salvation.

And yet these people were incapable of showing the dedication and faith as was required of them, and they did not show repentance required for them to be forgiven from their sins. Some of them ignored Jesus, although many accepted and welcomed Him. But there were others like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who rejected Him and cast doubt on His teachings, challenging Him and His disciples wherever they went.

God lamented this lack of faith among His people, even as He had shown them directly His might and power before them. It was just the same after the people of Israel had been brought out of the land of Egypt, when God liberated them through His great power, striking at the Pharaoh and the Egyptians for refusing to let the Israelites go. But then, it was the same as how it was at the time of Jesus. No sooner that He had made them free, they began to wander, and surely we are all familiar with how they had made for themselves the golden calf soon after the Exodus from Egypt.

All these, brothers and sisters in Christ, are reminders for all of us. Temptations are always around us, and they always seek to distract us from our path, trying to turn us into other ways that do not lead to God. And our faith in the Lord is surely not always perfect, as there are certainly times and moments when we face difficulties and we feel that we have no one to turn to.

And surely we also have that feeling that we have been abandoned and no one, even God cared for us. However, we really have to learn to resist those thoughts, and instead of dwelling in fear and uncertainty, we should learn to give our trust to the One and only Being Who can save us from all distress, and to the One Who is always forever faithful even though we have constantly been unfaithful.

Let us all reflect on this, and let us all change our way of life, so that from those who are wayward and unfaithful, we may become faithful once again, not just in appearances and words alone, but also through our actions and in all things that embody who we are. May God help us in this endeavour and may He guide us in our journey to reach out to Him. Amen.