July 14, 2018 Saturday, 14th Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Is 6:1-8 Gospel: Mt 10:24–33
Jesus said to his apostles, “A student is not above his teacher, or a slave above his master. A student should be glad to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If the head of the family has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of the family! So, do not be afraid of them.“There is nothing covered that will not be uncovered, and nothing hidden that will not be made known. What I am telling you in the dark, you must speak in the light. What you hear in private, proclaim from the housetops.“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but have no power to kill the soul. Rather be afraid of him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. For only a few cents you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. As for you, every hair of your head has been counted. So do not be afraid: you are worth much more than many sparrows.“Whoever acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. Whoever rejects me before others I will reject before my Father in heaven.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life Experience)
As we continue reading chapter 10 of Matthew’s Gospel we notice a growing opposition towards Jesus. We also read that instead of finding ways to soften the impact of such growing opposition, Jesus prepared his followers for the worse. He explained to them that if he was treated badly to the point of being labeled Beelzebul, his followers could be treated worse. “A student should be glad to become like his teacher,” Jesus said to them, “and the slave like his master.”
What Jesus was afraid of was not that his followers would face persecutions but that when persecutions would come they would expect extraordinary interventions from him as a political liberator. To arrest the spread of this dangerous concept of him as political liberator, Jesus often veiled his message, many times “telling them in the dark”. Jesus ordered people not to tell others that he was the Messiah. He did not want his identity spread by devils (Mark 1:34), by those he cured (Mark 1:44; 5:43; 7:36; 8:26), and even by the apostles (Mark 8:30; 9:9). This silence was not to be broken until after his death (Matthew 10:27).
What a big mistake if we too adhere to Jesus merely for his earthly powers. If great tendency to ask Jesus to take away our cup of sufferings, much greater should be our desire to become like him, much as slaves are happy enough to become like their master. –(Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected].
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