Gospel: Luke 6:17, 20-26
Look wisely at the contrasts in the life choices in today’s Scripture readings; ask yourself: “What lasts?” “In whom or what do I give my trust?”
The Prophet Jeremiah is not just complaining about how foolish people can be in the first reading today, for the message God sent him to deliver. Prophets always seem to say challenging things; a true Prophet makes us uncomfortable with the truth he hears! He speaks of a need for a conversion of heart; he describes what it’s like to put all your trust in God rather than yourself and what you have accomplished. Jeremiah emphasizes that all we have and can do is God’s gift to us. God’s powerful, life-giving care is like a steady stream of water on which one who thirsts can depend. The Psalmist echoes Jeremiah, by insisting a life that faithfully absorbs the ways of God, lasts, and nourishes others, like a fruitful tree planted near life-giving water.
Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians tells the Christian community to be on guard against living as if this life is the only life we have. Christ, raised from the dead, provides all who are baptized in Him to be raised into His new life as well. Living out our faith in Him is never in vain! Those who believe that life’s sole purpose is to gain personal power, wealth, and influence are living dry, empty lives of ambition and illusion. They stand in Jeremiah’s ‘lava waste,’ withered, empty, and discontent. Even with all their “Stuff,” their lives are a “salt and empty earth” in the end.
The Scriptures attest to the truth and wonder of heaven, where God and love is all & all, and for all, far beyond whatever we can hope for or imagine! For those who believe in God and live for Him, can see God’s support and blessings within life’s contradictions and struggles. Jesus, in His love for the poor, proclaims in Luke’s Gospel there is a world beyond this world where all wrongs will be made right, where those who suffer loss of any kind in this life will have the consolation of God’s kingdom from those who follow his way of love. In our world this side of heaven, there are those who hand us weary ones an ‘Easy Pass’ to comfort, security, success, and control; and then there are others who offer us a glimpse of heaven, whose love will help us pick up the pieces as we struggle to recover. The choice is ours. We need to know how to bank on God’s eternal care that lasts. It’s better than what is transitory. Christ tells us life isn’t easy. But He will see us through! Jesus will shield us from adversity or give us the inner power to withstand it! Let us depend on Christ’s life, and count on His truth that is meant to last and find our security in love!
