What is Good and What is Perfect?

Leave a Comment

Monday of week 20 in Ordinary Time – August 21 / 2017
First reading
Judges 2:11-19

The sons of Israel did what displeases the Lord, and served the Baals. They deserted the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from the gods of the peoples round them. They bowed down to these; they provoked the Lord; they deserted the Lord to serve Baal and Astarte. Then the Lord’s anger flamed out against Israel. He handed them over to pillagers who plundered them; he delivered them to the enemies surrounding them, and they were not able to resist them. In every warlike venture, the hand of the Lord was there to foil them, as the Lord had warned, as the Lord had sworn to them. Thus he reduced them to dire distress.
Then the Lord appointed judges for them, and rescued the men of Israel from the hands of their plunderers. But they would not listen to their judges. They prostituted themselves to other gods, and bowed down before these. Very quickly they left the path their ancestors had trodden in obedience to the orders of the Lord; they did not follow their example. When the Lord appointed judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and rescued them from the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived, for the Lord felt pity for them as they groaned under the iron grip of their oppressors. But once the judge was dead, they relapsed and behaved even worse than their ancestors. They followed other gods; they served them and bowed before them, and would not give up the practices and stubborn ways of their ancestors at all. The word of the Lord.
 
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 105(106):34-37,39-40,43-44Gospel
Matthew 19:16-22

There was a man who came to Jesus and asked, ‘Master, what good deed must I do to possess eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is one alone who is good. But if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’ He said, ‘Which?’ ‘These:’ Jesus replied ‘You must not kill. You must not commit adultery. You must not bring false witness. Honour your father and mother,and: you must love your neighbour as yourself.’ The young man said to him, ‘I have kept all these. What more do I need to do?’ Jesus said, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ But when the young man heard these words he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth. The gospel of the Lord.

 Reflection

In Jeremiah 17:9 the Bible reveals that the heart of man is desperately wicked; do you agree? From the first reading we are given a glimpse of the life of the Israelites after the death of Joshua and how they displeased God. The Israelites committed grievous sin; generation after generation their sin grew worse after the death of the Judges that came to mediate for them. Now I wish to ask – what is sin?; Why did the Israelites sin?; Why do people sin? Why do you sin? Why do I sin? What do you do when no one is around watching you? We must ask and answer these questions just like the man in the gospel reading who was interested in what is good.

‘Sin’ has been defined in many ways, but simply put – SIN is disobeying or going against the will of God. So what is the will of God? The will of God is to know him, love him and serve him (obey his commandments). Loving God who you cannot see can be expressed in the loving your neighbour. This is explained in 1 John 4:20 “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” Note: If you sin there wold consequences and we are responsible for these consequences, not God, because God is good. Hence, in the gospel Jesus reminds us that only God is good.

Today’s readings invite us to search for – not just what is good but – what is perfect! Remember, the flip side which is  the disaster many people fall into is that they do evil and keep plunging into worse evil, thus bringing out the worst in man; just like the Israelites in the books of Judges today. We need to earnestly search for good, and work towards perfection as Jesus advised the man in the gospel. Jesus is confident that we can achieve perfection if we are selfless and are ready to 1. serve our neighbours with our talents, treasures and time; 2. Follow Jesus in his ways. (Since Jesus is the way, the truth, and the Life! Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect! Matthew 5:48.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I thank you for your tremendous love over me and all that concerns me, you are great and worthy of all my praise. I must be perfect Lord, save me from sin and help me to, follow you in Jesus name I pray, amen!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *