Of Being Myself

Excerpt from “Word Among Us” Wednesday 19th September 2007

(found today’s reading reflects to something that happened to me today)

Many people in Jesus’ day rejected both his teaching and the teaching of John the Baptist. Nothing seem to suit them. These were the people Jesus likened to children who are difficult to please, not happy about anything. When John lived simply and preached a message of repentance, they considered him to be too severe and demanding. Yet when Jesus ate with sinners and showed them mercy, they dismissed him as being too easy on people. How fickle the human heart can be!

The people of Jesus’ generation had their own preconceived ideas of what the Messiah was to be like, and Jesus didn’t fit their expectations. Locked into their own view of things, those who had the opportunity to know Jesus actually didn’t want to recognize him or welcome God’s action through him. They held onto their own judgments and their own standpoint, just as obstinate children do. And as a result, they missed out on receiving his touch.

How often we act the same way today! Perhaps we’ve already decided just how much God can ask of us and have closed our minds to anything more. Maybe we’ve allowed good relationship to be ruined because we won’t give up a strongly held opinion of little importance. Perhaps we’re not giving our spouse a chance to prove he or she has changed because we won’t accept an apology. Maybe we’ve judged our pastor harshly because of one statement he made in a homily. How many opportunities have we missed to make a new friend because we didn’t like the way someone dressed?

When we close ourselves off to people or dismissed them on the basis of our preconceptions, mistaken judgments, and prejudices, not only do we make them suffer, we suffer as well. Though Jesus recognized the hardness of heart of those who were opposed to him, he knew that God’s wisdom would ultimately prove its validity in the lives of those who embraced it. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to soften our hearts and free us from any prejudices and misconceptions that bind us up.

Let’s seek the Lord daily for his wisdom, and we’ll know his life in us.

“Open my eyes, Jesus, so that I can see who you really are as Lord and Messiah. Clear away any obstacles in my heart so that I can receive your life in me.”