“I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?”
These were very dark moments for Jesus and for Jeremiah as well. They were both doing God’s will and yet, the crowd didn’t believe them. Jesus said:
“If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
How often we judge people by the superficial things we see in them! We are often judged by others too, because of a single mistake we made, or because of our less than perfect moments. We are guilty of many things (and Christ was not), but still, most of us are genuinely trying to do God’s will in our lives.
Jesus made a very good point that we would do well to remember though:
“If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works….”
Our actions speak louder than our words. Our actions speak louder than our occasional mistakes, or the times we falter or even fail to live up to the Christian ideal. Our weakness, faults and even sins, once forgiven, do not define who we are. What we DO most of the time, defines who we are.
Marriages and families go through rough times sometimes, and it would be very easy to judge those who are experiencing these difficulties. But, perhaps God does not see us that way. Perhaps He sees through the difficulties we are experiencing, to the heart of the matter – that we are truly striving to live out His will in our lives.
There has always been friction between good and evil in the world. The friction itself does not portray a lack of holiness, anymore than it did for Jesus Christ or the prophet Jeremiah. Indeed, our struggles to bring good into the world may aggravate other people, just like it did for Jesus and Jeremiah in today’s scriptures.
The readings today are beautiful, because God knows the real story of our lives, in its entirety. God is on our side. He’s always on our side and has no ulterior motives, except our ultimate good. He loves us deeply, tenderly, and is the rock we can always turn to no matter how badly we are suffering in life. Our heartaches, pain, suffering, emotional distress and doubts can be given to Him in prayer. We can turn to him when we need someone to talk to. When we are hurt and no one else seems to care.
The Responsorial Psalm today beautifully conveys our reliance on God:
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
I love you, O Lord, my strength,
O Lord, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer….
In my distress I called upon the Lord
and cried out to my God;
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears…
God is always there by our side, if we just turn to Him instead of trying to struggle through everything on our own. It’s just too hard of a burden to carry by ourselves.
And that is exactly what Jesus did. He returned to Jordan in the gospel reading, to the place where John first baptized. The place where he was baptized and His Father told him, “this is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.” Jesus returned to the place where he felt his Father’s love the most, perhaps with hurt in his heart, because he was rejected by his own people. He returned to where he felt safe, and loved by His Father. As a human being, his comfort and support came from his Father.
Let us turn to Jesus when we are hurt too, because he has been through the same thing. He understands us, because he was a human being too. He suffered just like we do. Jesus is our brother, our friend, the One who loves us, and the One we can turn to whenever we need comfort and healing the most.
Daily Mass Readings:
Jeremiah 20: 10-13; Psalm 18; John 10: 31-42
