In today’s first reading , King Ahab nonchalantly took possession of his neighbor’s vineyard, after his wife had him murdered. No one else may have realized the truth of what happened but God did. He sent the prophet Elijah to tell him what the consequences of his sin would be:
“Because you have given yourself up to doing evil in the Lord’s sight, I am bringing evil upon you; I will destroy you and will cut off every male in Ahab’s line, whether slave or freeman, in Israel.”
The details of God’s threat is not very pleasant to read. We don’t need to elaborate on all the details, but just understand that God was intending to serious punish Ahab for going along with Naboth’s murder.
The first reading said that, “Indeed, no one gave himself up to the doing of evil in the sight of the Lord as did Ahab, urged on by his wife Jezebel.” That should be a warning to all of us to think for ourselves and don’t just go along with whatever our spouse or friends want to do. King Solomon’s fall from God’s grace was also caused by listening to his wives instead of God. This is such a danger in marriages and close relationships, to be influenced too much by those we love, instead of God. There is a reason that the first commandment God gave us was that, “I am the LORD your God. You shall worship the Lord your God and Him alone shall you serve.”
God would have followed through with his threat too, except that King Ahab genuinely repented. God relented, because of Ahab’s repentance. Ahab put on sackcloth and fasted and was subdued. He knew he had done a terrible deed in God’s eyes. If you remember, King David did the same thing. He put on sackcloth and sat in ashes and fasted too, as an outward sign of his repentance, and God relented in punishing him as well. It’s a shame we do not have such a thing in modern life, to show an outward sign of our repentance. We are a little quick to run to confession sometimes, without letting the full measure of a major sin sink in. Confession entirely removes the sin, but it really shouldn’t be used as a quick fix. King Ahab and King David both underwent a serious examination of conscience and demonstrated outwardly their conversion and it touched God’s heart, so he forgave them.
However, Jesus is calling us to forgive those who have sinned against us, even if they do not have a change of heart and be sorry for what they did to us. A lot of times people aren’t sorry for what they do that is wrong, until much later in life, and that is why they need our prayers now. They need God’s grace to help with their conversion, and we need God’s grace to help change our own heart too. Prayer changes us too, and brings us peace. A peace the world can not give us.
Hate, evil and sin is like a dark room with no light. It remains that way, until it is exposed to God’s light. Prayer and confession enables a crack to form in our own hearts, making way for the light and love of God to enter in, filling us with His grace. Evil is converted into a greater good, in the heart. Jesus converted the worst evil the world has ever known, into the greatest good the world will ever know, in his heart. It is a struggle we are called to do as well. Crucify our feelings of hurt, pain and suffering, and with God’s grace, allow them to be converted into love. The greater the pain and suffering we experience, the greater the good that can result from it, with God’s grace.
Today we could put this in practice by calling someone we haven’t spoken to for a while. An old friend we had a falling out with, an estranged family member, someone who cheated on us, or stole something from us, or mistreated or abused us in the past. If this is not possible to do, Jesus said in today’s gospel to pray for them:
“I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
Is there someone in your life you have any hard feelings toward? If you can identify someone like that, today would be a good day to begin praying for them. It might not change them, but even if it doesn’t, your prayers are sure to change you.
Daily Mass Readings:
Kings: 21: 17-29 / Psalm 31 / Matthew 5: 43-48
