Reflection on Today's Readings, 13th Week in Ordinary Time Year II, Saturday 4th July, 2020
Texts: Amos 9:11-15; Ps. 85:9.11-14; Matt. 9:14-17
God is merciful and just. When we sin and we are made to face the consequences of our sin, it is not to inflict pain on us but to teach us that sin is destructive. The consequence of sin reminds us that sin robs us our true wealth and glory. If we take the instruction and turn a new leaf, then God will purify us and restore to us our lost wealth and glory. The first reading recounts a future plan of God after dealing with his people by sending them to exile. With the exile they would realize their sin and would come back to God. During the exile they would be purified of their guilt and God would bring them back into their land and restore their lost wealth and glory. Have we lost anything and now seeking restoration? Let us look inward, retrace our steps and turn to God for purification, then restoration will be sure.
Jesus Christ came to restore the lost glory of man; he came with a kind of newness, something odd to the standard of his time. This newness became so obvious that John's disciples were forced to issue him a query. Jesus Christ answered them thus: "And no one puts a piece of of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the skins burst, the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved". Jesus' disciples were needed to be purified of their old perspective of fasting. Being purified, they would be renewed and able to accommodate the new perspective brought by Jesus Christ.
Jesus also reminded John's disciples that his presence with his disciples was an abundant grace for them. He puts it this way: "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast".
More so, it is also a matter of time, for it was during his farewell speech that he told his disciples to pray in his name: "Until now you have not asked anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and so your joy will be complete. I have been telling you these things in veiled language. The hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in veiled language but tell you about the Father in plain words. When that day comes you will ask in my name; I do not say that I shall pray to the Father for you, because the Father himself loves you for loving me, and believing that I came from God" (John 16:24-27). It is now clear that the new thing Jesus Christ has brought into art of prayer is praying in his name, God the Son. This new art of prayer demands love of him and faith in him. It is clear in the scriptures that the disciples' love of Jesus and their faith in him were not perfect until after resurrection. The ministry of resurrected Jesus perfected the love and faith of his disciples. The mission of resurrected Jesus was specifically to his disciples, not to the people of Israel. During the forty days he explained scriptures to them and built their love and faith.
Lord Jesus, deliver us from old way of life that has held us captive, so that we be able to embrace the newness of life you have offered us. Amen.
Fr. Andrew Olowomuke
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