NOT A CLOSED BOOK
Monday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time
Mt 7:1-5
It would be difficult to go about our day-to-day affairs without having an impression on things and people. We need to be able to somehow predict how things react and how people respond so that we may know how to react and respond ourselves as well. Impressions are judgments. But Jesus today tells us that we should not judge others.
The kind of judging others that Jesus tells us to refrain from is the kind that considers anyone as a closed book. While we may have temporary judgment on others to be able to relate with them, we should never condemn any person to his past neither to his present. Every person deserves a future that may surprise us more than him. Past sins may be repented from and forgiven. Present mistakes may be corrected and learned from.
Each of us is a mystery. We continue to unravel our selves each day. I read a poster once that said, “Please be patient with me. God is not finished with me yet.” Each of us is God’s creation at work. Never close the book on anyone.
For Jesus, no one is a lost cause. Indeed, He is the Good Shepherd who searches for every lost sheep; and when even only one sheep is lost, He goes out of His way and leaves the ninety-nine to find the lost one. He does not say, “Well, it is the sheep’s fault why it is lost. I told it so. I told it so. But it disobeyed me nonetheless. Let it find its way back to the fold on its own.” No, these words can never come from the man we call “Christ”.
When His enemies arrested, judged, and crucified Him, they closed the book of Jesus. But Jesus never closed the book on them. On the cross, the first of His final words was “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.” Jesus, our Lord and Master, simply never closes a book on someone. Should we?
Mt 7:1-5
It would be difficult to go about our day-to-day affairs without having an impression on things and people. We need to be able to somehow predict how things react and how people respond so that we may know how to react and respond ourselves as well. Impressions are judgments. But Jesus today tells us that we should not judge others.
The kind of judging others that Jesus tells us to refrain from is the kind that considers anyone as a closed book. While we may have temporary judgment on others to be able to relate with them, we should never condemn any person to his past neither to his present. Every person deserves a future that may surprise us more than him. Past sins may be repented from and forgiven. Present mistakes may be corrected and learned from.
Each of us is a mystery. We continue to unravel our selves each day. I read a poster once that said, “Please be patient with me. God is not finished with me yet.” Each of us is God’s creation at work. Never close the book on anyone.
For Jesus, no one is a lost cause. Indeed, He is the Good Shepherd who searches for every lost sheep; and when even only one sheep is lost, He goes out of His way and leaves the ninety-nine to find the lost one. He does not say, “Well, it is the sheep’s fault why it is lost. I told it so. I told it so. But it disobeyed me nonetheless. Let it find its way back to the fold on its own.” No, these words can never come from the man we call “Christ”.
When His enemies arrested, judged, and crucified Him, they closed the book of Jesus. But Jesus never closed the book on them. On the cross, the first of His final words was “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.” Jesus, our Lord and Master, simply never closes a book on someone. Should we?
posted by Fr. Bobby @ 3:00 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
as i read my daily prayer at work, it says "During this day's most stressful moments, may I rest in you. And help me to be good and patient with others as I pray that they too be good and patient with me today...."
Bless me Jesus, that they will be patient with me.. God bless po!
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