Walking with Jesus: 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday, February 13, 2022

Jeremiah 15:5-8; 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20; Luke 6:17, 20-26

Who do you trust? Interesting question! Can I make a list or try to put together the necessary components of a trustful person? I just got a notice from Politico on my cell phone: “World leaders agree that the world is on fire. ... But who is going to put it out?” Yet another interesting topic of discussion and/or debate. Do I put my trust in people or in things of this life? The gospel outline from Living the Word states, “Jesus knows how tenuous life can be, especially when we put all our trust in the things of this life. Those things don’t last. God does.” Where do I fit in today’s Gospel scene?

Jesus starts out by commenting on those who are poor … those who are presently hungry ... those who are crying ... us when we are hated, excluded and insulted … even when attacked as being evil. Life does not look pleasant at all. Where can we look to come up with more pleasant living conditions? What do I have to do? Who can help me? Who can I trust to be the person to lift me from my doldrums? Maybe I just dream about being what I will never be: rich and having it all together!

Jesus responds to this idea as being ludicrous … ridiculous … absurd. These lives are already filled with the best … the worst will come … we will be hungry … we will cry and grieve and be miserable … we will want to have things and be without and not even capable of filling our need for God. Jesus calls these “woes.” The phrase “woe is me” is employed to describe a person who is extremely sad or grieving over a loss. It also extends to someone seemingly drowning, seeing no hope in life. Jesus is specifically saying that these people have put their trust in things that don’t last. Those who are full will be hungry again. Those who are popular and well thought-of, their reputations could crash. We see so many COVID-19 victims lose what they thought could never be lost, left totally empty-handed and not understanding why: Why me … what did I do … I had such great plans … not anymore ... I’m lost now. It’s not just us: Woe happens. Trees fall in the yard … or on the house. Robust health ends quickly with unexpected sicknesses.

How can I keep myself focused on the right way … the way that leads to God,
who loves me and everyone all the time? It is the only way.

Jeremiah’s message has been rejected over and over. Today he addresses those who do not want to listen to God’s message. He gives vivid images that may motivate them to begin to listen. For the people who are turning away from God, he compares them to a barren bush in the desert which has little chance to survive the burning heat, scorching sun and fierce wind. The  desert just doesn’t provide survival. Jeremiah said these people listen to human words whose source of life is themselves and others ... not the Word of God which is the Word of Life. Jeremiah contrasts this with those who put their trust in God’s covenant and God’s word of Life. He uses the example of a tree planted near running water. The tree faces the same harshness of the barren bush but the water sustains the tree’s need for life. This is what Jeremiah struggles with; giving his complete confidence in God … knowing God’s protective care is always present.

Paul tells the Corinthians that Christ is raised from the dead. But some just don’t believe in the resurrection of the dead. Somehow they have become Christians without accepting the foundational truth that death is not the end; life with God forever in heaven is. If there is no heaven, why don’t people continue sinning? There would be no condemnation … no hell even. Why should I do good?

We have reached a turning point in Luke’s Gospel where Jesus spends the whole night in prayer. At dawn He comes down … chooses the twelve to be His intimate band of friends, apostles. He sees a large crowd assembling and reminds them that Moses went up Mt. Sinai to be with the Lord and received the Lord’s new covenant. He tells us how to be truly happy, filled with lasting joy. This comes by way of suffering and opposition. We are to set our minds, our souls, our hearts on God’s way of love, peace, forgiveness, understanding, mercy, and His human touches of love and care. This is the true way. God’s way. God teaches us. We are to live it … treasure it … teach it for life.

So I reflect on:

• Jeremiah tells us to plant ourselves near running water. How can I do it in my life’s situation?
• Where does our popular culture tell us to look for happiness? How does it compare to where God wants us to look for it?
  

Sacred Space 2022 states:

“Happy are the unhappy, Jesus seems to be saying! What can He mean? ‘Blessed’ means the condition of being righteous before God, of living as one should before God. The poor are not only those who are economically poor but include those who have been marginalized in any way in society. They are blessed because God is on their side, as opposed to the ‘rich,' who often hold them in contempt and oppress them. Jesus is appealing for love and respect for all those who are outside one’s social milieu.”