“I am the Lord, your God, who grasp your right hand; It is I who say to you, “Fear not I will help you. Fear not, O worm Jacob, O maggot Israel; I will help you, says the Lord.”
The first reading for Mass from the book of Isaiah begins with these verses. On the one hand, they are comforting. God will grasp your hand and He says to not be afraid because he will help us. Then – He calls Jacob a worm and Israel a maggot! What’s up with that? Why on earth would God say such degraditory remarks about Jacob and Israel, who are His beloved and chosen people?
If you skim over the gospel you will also notice that Jesus said:
“There has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
These words in the old testament reading and the gospel reading sure put us in our place! Who is important in the eyes of God? If Jacob and John the Baptist are not considered important people to God, then we sure aren’t.
God is God and there is no other. No other creature is as great as He. We should not be distracted from this, not even by people in our own time, who seem to be important according to worldly standards. In the eyes of God, they might be just the opposite.
One thing is clear though, in both of the readings for Mass today. God declares ahead of time, what He will do. That is an overriding theme in the scriptures today. God predicts the future, so when the future actually happens, people will know that it was really Him. That God is real, even if they can’t see Him or experience His physical presence. This is especially obvious in the gospel today, when Jesus speaks of John the Baptist, along with all of the prophets and the law that prophesied up to the time of John.
The coming of Christ was predicted, hundreds of years in advance, by so many different people. What an amazing thing it was when it actually came true. Many people’s initial reaction was one of disbelief, that it actually happened. They just couldn’t believe their eyes, that the prophecies were coming true right in front of them. Would we have the same reaction, when Jesus returns? How many would disbelieve his return, be skeptical, or outright disregard the whole thing? We should remember that popular opinion, doesn’t make it a fact though. God has never cared about popularity contests.
It is a beautiful thing, that God has been with us and never left our side, as a human people. It is also awesome how He repeatedly says “Fear not, I will help you.” There are so many things in life that are beyond our control, or beyond our understanding, or beyond the means and resources we have at our disposal – but God can do the impossible. If you don’t believe it, look at all the things God said He would do in the first reading today. He said He would bring water into the desert, and make all kinds of trees grow and flourish there. A miracle, that all who see it will understand that He is the one true God. It would have taken years for all of those trees to grow though. Everyone probably looked on in amazement the whole time.
This is also true in the gospel. The prophets prophesied for hundreds of years about the coming of Christ before it actually happened.
A bit of wisdom we might glean from today’s readings for Mass is that nothing is impossible with God. No situation is ever so bad that He can’t enter into it and heal it. We might not see it in our lifetime, or our hearts’ desire might happen right before our very eyes, but either way, we should trust in God. He is solid, dependable, loving and has great care and concern for our ultimate well being. We just have to trust that He knows what is best for us.
There is a saying, that God answers prayer in His own fine time, and in His own fine fashion. We shoud relax and be at peace, knowing that He has heard our prayers and He will answer them in His own way, when He is ready to. Sometimes what we ask for in prayer is not what is good for us in the long run. There is also a saying, “Thank God for unanswered prayers.”
Let’s relax and be at peace today, knowing that our soul rests in God and that Jesus Christ walks by our side. Even if we can’t see them, they are real none the less.
