Wednesday of the 4th week in the ordinary time
Theme: The love of God
It is very interesting how the Word of God continues to unpack our call to discipleship to us. In the 1st reading of today, the letter to the Hebrews presents a message that should be a source of great strength to us as children of God. In our quest for holiness, we must be ready for God’s chastisement that can come in many different ways that may confound us. The word of God tells us today that it is those whom God loves that he chastises, to prepare them for something greater in the future that awaits them. This simply means that it is not all the challenges and difficulties that we encounter are there to destroy us, but rather some of them come to us to make us better children of God and lead us to where God wants us to be in the future. Sometimes as humans we grumble about any challenge that comes into our life, and see them from a negative point of view.
The letter to the Hebrews is telling us today that they are not all negative. Some of them are actually for our own good and to align us with the plans of God for us. Our disposition towards such a situation is what differentiates one person from the other. Some of us face such situations with faith and continue to pray and work to bring it to an end, while others see it as something bad and have a negative disposition towards it. One thing that is very important when we are faced with the challenges of life is that we must not lose our faith in God and also see only negativity from the situation. Remember the God you serve, he can still write on crooked line. He will never fail or disappoint anyone who trusts in him. His response may not be the way you want it or at your own time, but he gives us what is best for us.
In the gospel reading of today, Jesus admonishes us to guide against the statement “familiarity breeds contempt”. Never allow your knowledge of an individual lead you to taking him fore-granted, this is a mistake that some of us make from time to time. We forget that human beings can change at any point in their lives, for different reasons. In some cases we tag people, and after many years we still judge them with the limited knowledge we have of them. Jesus in today’s gospel could not do much among his people because they know him and were not positively disposed to give him a chance. It is a grave mistake that we must guide against. May Almighty God bless you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Peace be with you.