GOSPEL READING:
Matthew 11:16-1916 "But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their playmates, 17 `We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.' 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, `He has a demon'; 19 the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, `Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds."
SCRIPTURE READING:
Isaiah 48:17-1917 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go. 18 O that you had harkened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea; 19 your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me."
Meditation: Do you seek God's way of peace and wisdom for
your life? The prophets remind us that God's kingdom is available
to those who are teachable and receptive to the word of God.
Through their obedience to God's word and commandments, they
receive not only wisdom and peace for themselves, but they, in
turn become a blessing to their children and their offspring as
well. Jesus warns the generation of his day to heed God's word
before it is too late. He compares proud teachers and vain
scholars with stubborn playmates who refuse to follow wise counsel
and instruction.
Jesus parable about a group of disappointed musicians and their
stubborn friends who refuse to sing or dance at the appropriate
occasion challenge us to examine whether we are selective to only
hear and do what we want to hear. The young music players in
Jesus' parable react with great dismay because they cannot get
anyone to follow their instruction. They complain that if they
play their music at weddings, no one will join in their festive
song and dance; and if they play mournful tunes and songs at
funerals, no one will join in at all. This parable echoes the
wisdom of Ecclesiastes 3:4 - "there is a time to weep and a time
to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance." Are you in tune
with the message of God's kingdom? And do you heed God's word of
wisdom and truth as if your life depended on it?
Spiritual indifference and deaf ears can block God's word
for us
Jesus' message of the kingdom of God is a proclamation of good
news that produces great joy and hope for those who listen and
obey - but it is also a warning of bad consequences and disaster
for those who refuse to accept God's gracious invitation. Why did
the message of John the Baptist and the message of Jesus meet with
resistance and deaf ears? It was out of jealously and spiritual
blindness that the scribes and Pharisees attributed John the
Baptist's austerities to the devil and they attributed Jesus'
table fellowship as evidence for pretending to be the Messiah.
They succeeded in frustrating God's plan for their lives because
they had closed their hearts to the message of John the
Baptist and now they close their ears to Jesus, God's anointed Son
sent to redeem us from bondage to sin and death.
What can make us spiritually dull and slow to hear God's voice?
Like the generation of Jesus' time, our age is marked by
indifference and contempt, especially in regards to the things of
heaven. Indifference dulls our ears to God's voice and to the good
news of the Gospel. Only the humble of heart can find joy and
favor in God's sight. Is you life in tune with Jesus' message of
hope and salvation? And do you know the joy and blessing of
believing and obeying God's word?
Lord Jesus, open my ears to hear the good news of your kingdom and set my heart free to love and serve you joyfully. May nothing keep me from following you wholeheartedly.
Psalm 1:1-6
1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: The river of forgiveness washes us clean, by Ambrose of Milan, 339-397 A.D.
"This water is good, then. I mean here the grace of the Spirit.
Who will give this Fountain to my heart? Let it spring up in me,
let that which gives eternal life flow on me. Let that Fountain
overflow on us and not flow away. For Wisdom says, 'Drink water
out of your own vessels and from the fountains of your own wells,
and let [not] your waters flow abroad in your streets' (Proverbs
5:15-16). How shall I keep this water so that it does not seep out
or glide away? How shall I preserve my vessel, lest any crack of
sin penetrating it should let the water of eternal life exude?
Teach us, Lord Jesus, teach us as you taught your apostles,
saying, 'Lay not up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where
rust and moth destroy and where thieves break through and steal
(Matthew 6:19)...
"If you seek Jesus, forsake the broken
cisterns, for Christ did not make it his custom to sit by a pool
but by a well. There that Samaritan woman (John 4:6) found him,
she who believed, she who wished to draw water. Although you ought
to have come in early morning, nevertheless if you come later,
even at the sixth hour, you will find Jesus wearied with his
journey. He is weary, but it is because of you, because he has
long looked for you, your unbelief has long wearied him. Yet he is
not offended if you only come now. He asks to drink who is about
to give. But he drinks not the water of a stream flowing by, but
your salvation. He drinks your good dispositions. He drinks the
cup, that is, the passion that atoned for your sins, that you,
drinking of his sacred blood, might quench the thirst of this
world." (excerpt from ON THE HOLY SPIRIT
1.16.182-84)
