GOD’S WORD FOR THE DAY (based on Catholic Liturgical Readings)
DATE: 29TH NOVEMBER 2016
TUESDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT
1ST READING: Isaiah 11;1-10
PSALM: Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17
GOSPEL: Luke 10:21-24
THEME: UNLESS YOU BECOME A LITTLE CHILD
There were many intellectuals and academicians during the 1st century A.D. Within Judaism itself, there were scribes, experts in the law, as well as highly placed Pharisees. Some of them doubled as rabbis. These “wise-men” were very much respected and applauded by their contemporaries for making strides in their pursuit of truth. However, in spite of their intellectual fecundity, many of these great minds were unable to discover the one who is Truth itself – Jesus Christ.
Seventy [-two] of the disciples of Jesus, who were largely semiliterate, had returned from a mission and with rejoicing shared with Jesus how they had performed wonders using his name. It was in response to their shared faith experience that Jesus, filled with joy by the Holy Spirit, said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to babes; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will” (Luke 10:21).
By using the imagery of a baby, Jesus evokes in his hearers childlike values like docility, simplicity and trust. In effect he is saying that anyone who desires to experience the truth about God and his power must, like the seventy [-two], become like a child in the arms of its mother or on the shoulders of its father.
This statement of Jesus resonates well with something that Paul wrote in one of his letters – “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God” (1Cor 1:27-29).
During this period of preparation for the coming of Christ, it may do us a lot of good if we consider coming down from our human thrones of pride and allow the Lord to carry us unto his shoulders like little children. Up there on his shoulders, we would discover “what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1Cor 2:9).
Yes, unless we become like little children, there is no way that we can discover the Christ who comes.
Andrews Obeng, svd
DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES
BIBLICAL PASTORAL MINISTRY
(Ghana Province)
“May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace. And may the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all people” (St. Arnold Janssen).