14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
One of the most wonderful things about Jesus has been and continues to be his special love for ordinary people. It comes out in a particular way in the two statements that he makes in this Sundays Gospel reading. The first is in his prayer to God: ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.’ The second is in his Invitation to all of us: ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest.’ Why did he say this? The answer comes across very clearly so many times in the gospels, and may be summed up in just one word – COMPASSION. Remember the plight and tears of the widow of Nain touches his heart to the core: ‘Don’t cry,’ he says to her, before bringing her son back to life.
He is moved with compassion at the plight of a leper begging for help (Mk 4:41), for two blind men sitting at the side of a road and pleading for mercy (Mt 20:29-34), and for a crowd of people with nothing to eat (Mk 8:2). In each case he responds to their sufferings with the power, love, compassion that is the care of God freely given through Jesus his Son. All through the gospels, we sense the surge of compassion rising within his heart. He is not moved by the grandeur and beauty of the great Temple buildings (Mk 13:1-2), but by the generosity of a poor widow who puts her last coin into the Temple treasury to assist others (Mk 12:41-44). When everyone else around him is jumping for joy about Jairus’ daughter come back to life, Jesus is concerned that she be given something to eat (Mk 5:42-43).
Also in the second reading we are called to lead spiritual lives that is lives enlivened by our faith in God and what is taught by the Church inspired by the Holy Spirit. Those who have the Spirit of Christ dwelling within them belong to him and will have life. The passage urges believers to live according to the Spirit and put to death the deeds of the flesh, for those who live according to the flesh will not inherit eternal life. Today we see so many people constantly searching for new idols and these idols are so easy to find, We live in a world which has left the path marked out by God a world where so many have little or nothing at all and the few have so much. To be a Christian and to have the light of faith to guide our steps in the neo-pagan darkness of today’s world, is a gift, and a blessing. So, the big question for each and everyone of us has to be whose side are we on?
Are we on the side of Jesus, that is the side of compassion, kindness, help and healing. Or on the side of the scribes and Pharisees who are amongst us even today and they are fierce, fault-finding, heartless, critical, people without much compassion. Will we take our cue from their cruel, harsh, and insensitive judgments and actions? Or will we take our inspiration from what we see in Jesus, and from his touching compassionate outreach to the poor and the broken. We are called to bring the message of Jesus into our own lives as well as the lives of those around us. It is a message of compassion and understanding that todays world needs to hear. Let us remember the words of Jesus as we go out into the world ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest.
Fullerton T 