Friday of the 2nd week of Advent (Year I)
Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin
Isaiah 48:17-19 | Psalm 1:1-4,6 | Matthew 11:16-19
‘For John came, neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He is possessed.” The Son of Man came, eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” Yet wisdom has been proved right by her actions.’ (Matthew 11:18-19)
I had an interesting conversation with my oldest friend and business partner on the way to lunch yesterday. We were chatting about “mobile zombies”, people you often see walking around with their eyes glued to their smartphones, oblivious to their surroundings and headed on a collision course with you.
I mentioned that I’d been tempted many times to “accidentally” bump their phones out of their hands. The conversation then took an interesting direction, as do most of our chats:
Me: “I think that’s a good sign that I’m growing in my faith.”
Him: “Huh? But you were tempted to do something nasty!”
Me: “Yeah, but I didn’t.”
Him: “Yeah, but you were tempted!”
Me: “Yeah, but not too long ago, I would’ve considered it my God-given right to ‘teach them a lesson’!”
Him: “…”
Dear brothers and sisters, now that you know that about my past, do you think I have any business writing daily about the Word of God?
If you knew my secret fantasies about “teaching a lesson” to the fit young people I see hogging the train seats each day, to the detriment of the elderly passengers standing around them,
fantasies that involved giving them 60 years in the blink of an eye, so that they could experience age-related degeneration for themselves,
would you trust me, a closet vigilante, to steer you right in my daily exhortations?
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This is an inconvenient truth that we all face in our faith journey: we often judge the message by the messenger, but usually by how well the message aligns with our own desires.
When we find out that the priest we’ve known and loved for many years was a secret pedophile, or is accused of conscious financial naughtiness, how many of us have faith so weak as to be shattered by this man of the cloth, who swore to dedicate his life to God and His children, yet managed to do evil things?
And how many of us would admit that this fatal blow to our beliefs stems not from what someone else did, however high a pedestal we raised them on, but because we secretly wanted to turn away all along,
to free ourselves from the “shackles” of our faith,
to get in the good graces of the rich and powerful who think God is nonsense, and join them in unholy indulgences of excess and petty judgement, without fear of moral constraint?
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In today’s gospel, Jesus calls out the many people who reject salvation, and call its purveyors all sorts of names as an excuse to not believe. May we recognize that the Word of God has been resilient enough to survive thousands of years of sinful Christ-bearers, and so listen carefully especially when it’s shared by folks with tons of experience in failing to live up to it.
After all, who would you trust to teach you self-defence, the pretty boy with no visible scars, or the grizzled veteran with a broken nose and bruises aplenty?
Lord, grant us the patience and widsom to discern Your Living Word, regardless of its source. Amen.