Readings: Romans.7:18-25; Ps 119; Luke 12: 54-59
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia
WHY NOT JUDGE FOR YOURSELVES WHAT IS RIGHT?
As human beings, we are good at discerning the events happening around us in order to predict what the outcome of such events can be in the future. We often read the signs of nature in order to make predictions of what will happen in the future.
Little wonder Jesus, while rebuking the crowd in our Gospel reading today, said: When you see a cloud looming up in the west, you say at once that rain is coming, and so it does. And when the wind is from the south you say it will be hot, and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the face of the earth and the sky. How is it you do not know how to interpret these times the events of this passing world? Why not judge for yourselves what is right?
Here, Jesus condemned the ugly attitudes of the crowds for they can read the signs of nature and so predict the future, but now out of jealousy and selfishness, they have failed to recognise the truth by refusing to acknowledge in Jesus one who comes from God, one who speaks God’s word and acts in the power of God.
So Jesus rebuked them for such a hypocritical attitude. In the second aspect of the Gospel, Jesus is asking us to put things right while there is still time; if not, we should be willing to duly face the punishment for all our wrongdoings.
Thus, St. Paul in our first reading says: I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh, for though the will to do what is good is in me, I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, because instead of doing the good things I want to do, I carry out the sinful things I do not want.
Dear friends, there are so many signs around us today. What is our disposition towards these signs? Can we identify the signs of our time? How can we understand and interpret them? Why have we failed to understand the sign that tells us that this world is not our home, we are just passing by?
Are we not reading the hand of God in what is going on around us, especially in our country? Now we are called to respond to these signs. What do we think Jesus would do if he were living with us now? Today, Jesus is calling us to discern our actions towards the signs we see in the world we are living in now.
Though, it is very easy to condemn the ugly situation going on in our world today, are we learning anything from it? Do we have any sense of guilt and repentance? Why allow this evil to linger in us by getting into endless arguments and deception when we already know what is right? Why waste so much time arguing about unnecessary things while missing out on the main points that are more basic and challenging?
I think it's time we come back to the real issues, which are justice, honesty, transparency, and equity, equal respect for human life and property. These are the things we all need to put right at all levels and sectors where we find ourselves as we wait on the awesome day of the Lord.
LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, in every event that happens to us, you have your mark on it. Help us to discern the signs of our time, in order to embrace your will for us and to follow you wherever you may lead us as we struggle to overcome the ugly situation in our society. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. May God protect and keep us.
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