Rooted In Trust.
Dear Parishioners,
Trusting God is one thing but transforming that trust into good works is another. When things go well, often trust is not too difficult to uphold. You and I know that when life’s necessities hit us, our trust falters and sometimes crumbles. Today in our Sunday readings, we are compelled to place our trust in the words of Jesus; to accept the new order he place before us. Let it be transformative in our daily Christian life.
We are presented with a new outlook of management for our resources and caring for the less privileged. Two strong ideas appear as we reflect on this Sunday’s readings. First, we can see that things are not the way they ought to be. The prophet Jeramiah and Our Lord Jesus speak distinctly that the way things are is not necessarily the way they should be. Jeremiah speaks strongly on the importance of trusting in God with all our being and faculties, using powerful imagery from nature to highlight the degree of seriousness that God ought to be our supreme devotion.
Failure to do so amounts to the utmost foolishness. He compares it to a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no water, or a change of season that is stuck in a lava waste. But for anyone whose first priority is God, whose trust in him and dependence on him is like a well rooted tree in close proximity to abundant water. The person is not deprived of blessings and healings that come from the true source of life.
Jesus takes a radical approach: he speaks of the reversal of social order, advocating for the poor, the marginalized and downtrodden. His sermon is slightly different from the way Matthew recorded it in his gospel; Jesus appears to be very harsh to the wealthy and powerful but spoke comforting words to the poor, the hungry, the grieving and the hated. He assures them that their present lot is not permanent. “Blessed are you poor… Woe to you rich.” The rich and the powerful, who care little about the sufferings of the poor, receive the strongest condemnation from Jesus.
Both Jeremiah and Jesus bring to our attention the danger of allowing wealth and power to turn us away from God. When we place our trust in material goods and transitory glory, we are less human and often oppressive. Jeremiah goes on to say that curse is the man whose heart turns away from the Lord. The mentality of the rich man, described by Jeremiah and cursed by Jesus as unfit for the kingdom, is anyone who wants to belong to himself alone and does not want to help others. This is the basis of idolatry, when man looks solely to himself as supreme and neglects his neighbor.
It is much more difficult to believe when life seems to be an endless series of adversities. Wealth, power and adversity should not separate us from God; rather, it should enable us to do good deeds, for it is in giving that we receive. God is still present to our troubled world; trust him. May our heart not become a stranger to God’s Word.
Grace and Peace To You ,
Fr. Vitalis Anyanike, Pastor
