Friday, September 30, 201626th Week in
Ordinary Time
First Reading: Jb 38: 1. 12-21; 40: 3-5
Gospel Reading: Lk 10:13-16
Jesus said, “Alas for you Chorazin! Alas for you Bethsaida! So many miracles have been worked in you! If the same miracles had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would already be sitting in ashes and wearing the sackcloth of repentance. Surely for Tyre and Sidon it will be better than for you on the Judgment Day. And what of you, city of Capernaum? Will you be lifted up to heaven? You will be thrown down to the place of the dead.
“Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me; and he who rejects me, rejects the one who sent me.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life Experience)
Before God rebukes a sinner he tries some miraculous interventions to evoke repentance. But then the air-pot principle can take the better of hardened sinners. Under this principle, a heart thickly insulated by impurities due to habitual sinning could no longer feel the heat of God’s love. People of hardened hearts will not be moved even by miracles. They will remain adamant and unrepentant.
Consider what happened to Bethsaida and Capernaum. Jesus performed two of his big miracles at Bethsaida, namely, the multiplication of the loaves (Luke 9:10-17) and the healing of a blind man (Mark 8:22-25). At Capernaum he healed the paralytic (Mt. 9:1-8, Mk. 2:1-12, Lk. 5:17-26.) and Peter’s mother – in-law. Yet the people continued to practice paganism. Their continued adherence to paganism is historically supported. Excavations at Chorazin yielded remains of a synagogue with a Medusa on its wall. Medusa is a creation of Greek mythology. Pagans believe that by looking directly at her image one could turn into a stone (www.churchisraelforum.com). A Medusa and a synagogue is a scandalous mix up that only pagan-hearted people would tolerate.
The air-pot principle might have taken the better of us too. Like the people of Chorazin and Bethsaida we have little appreciation for God’s interventions. But God’s love persists. He could easily pull the plug on our lives each time we sin. But he continues to keep us alive even as we offend him. How many more miraculous interventions will God have to do before we repent? Good if by persistent ignoring God will only rebuke us as Jesus did to Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capaernaum. What if as foretold by the Prophet Amos (3:2) we get severely punished? Who among us can stand the wrath of God? (Rev. 6:12-17). “If you, O Lord, should make a record of our sins, who can stand?” (Psalm 130:3). – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM, MMExM, MAPM, REB. Email:[email protected].
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