Today’s scriptures for mass reminds us of our own mortality. In the first reading, Jacob gave his sons instructions that he wanted to be buried with his family. Then the first reading ends by Joseph telling his brothers to bring his bones with them to the promised land, and then he died. In the gospel today, Jesus warns his disciples not to be afraid of those who kill the body because they can not kill the soul.
The scriptures today are a reminder that life does not go on forever. Today might be a good day to think about our own life. Are we prepared to meet Jesus if we should unexpectedly die? Are we afraid of what people say or think about us in our everyday life, or are we more concerned with what God thinks of us?
What Jesus thinks of us is what matters. Jesus knows who we really are, the person we are deep down inside and the kind of person we really are might actually surprise our family and friends and the people in the community in which we live. People are not who they seem to be on the outside and sometimes even those closest to a person do not really know them. But God does. The gospel today says that every hair on our head is counted. Jesus said we are precious and beautiful in God’s eyes and we should never doubt how much He values us and loves us.
The gospel also seems to convey to us that we shouldn’t hide the person we really are from others. It is ok to be a little vulnerable sometimes and let others get to know us and love us just the way that we are. If we are afraid of other people judging us because of our weaknesses and faults, we shouldn’t be. Our fear of being judged by others should never prevent us from opening ourselves up to them. Our hearts should not be closed to anyone, for that is where we proclaim Christ to others. Jesus lives within us, within the deepest recesses of our hearts and he does not want to be kept buried there. The living Christ that we receive in the Eucharist should never be consumed and then allowed to dwell only in our hearts. After a time, he should be shared with others. We should be willing to become vulnerable for his sake, relying not on ourselves or other people’s opinion of us, but only on Jesus, the One who gives us eternal life.
