“HONEY FROM THE ROCK”
Daily Reflections
Tuesday, 18th July 2017,
Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Ex 2:1-15;
Ps 69:3, 14, 30-31, 33-34;
Mt 11:20-24
WAKE UP CALL!
In the gospel Jesus is speaking to the people of the towns in which he had been performing amazing miracles and healings, but the people are just going about their daily lives as if nothing is happening around them. Jesus tells the people that they need to wake up and repent! Since they are choosing to remain asleep, they are choosing for themselves an eternity of suffering and misery. I don’t think that any of us would want anything like that for our future or the future of anyone. Jesus is here, with us now, we need to wake up to that fact. We need to turn to him, tell him how sorry we are for all the things that we have done and just surrender our lives to him.
Jesus rebukes those in the towns of Chorazin and Bethsaida because He loves them and He sees that they continue to hold on to their sinful lives even though He has brought them the Gospel and performed many mighty deeds. They remain obstinate, trapped, confused, unwilling to repent, and unwilling to change their ways. Jesus offers a wonderful form of mercy. He chastises them. Jesus chastises them out of love and out of a desire that they change. They did not immediately repent of their sin when He offered an invitation and powerful witness of His miracles, so He needed to take things to a new level. And this new level was a strong and clear rebuke out of love. Reflect, today, on whether or not you need a rebuke from Jesus. If you do, let this Gospel of love sink in.
Prayer: Lord, help me to repent daily of my sin. Help me to be an instrument of the repentance of others. May I always receive Your words in love and offer them in the form of love that is most effective. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen.