Wednesday of Week 10 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
2 Corinthians 3:4-11 | Psalm 98(99):5-9 | Matthew 5:17-19
Now if the administering of death, in the written letters engraved on stones, was accompanied by such a brightness that the Israelites could not bear looking at the face of Moses, though it was a brightness that faded, then how much greater will be the brightness that surrounds the administering of the Spirit! (2 Corinthians 3:7-8)
On my way to work yesterday, I beheld an old lady adjusting her dentures with her tongue.
It was an awesome sight, a set of grinning teeth attached to an artificial gumline, moving around between two thin lips on a weathered face.
For everyone else around me (at least the few who didn’t have eyes glued to their screens), their general reaction would probably have been “GROSS!!!”
But to me, her utter lack of self-consciousness, coupled with the eye-catching and humorous dance of her pearly whites, was remarkably brilliant.
Make no mistake, this senior exuded more liveliness that the morose 20-somethings around me, faces perpetually frowning down into their mobiles.
I think she could teach a masterclass in the administering of spirit and life.
✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞
In contrast, most of us administer death in our daily lives, despite our protestations to the contrary.
Perhaps not the corporal death handed out to drug offenders at Changi Prison, or even the termination of gainful employment that might have been a family’s sole lifeline.
But in our own way, we “put down” other folks through unkind words, through rejection, through turning away from those in need.
We can certainly do better, but we must first recognize that tendency in ourselves, the tendency to deliver the equivalent of cruel headslaps for “infractions” that are mere misunderstandings at worst, not because they’re deserved, but because we can.
This feeling of power over others is devilishly seductive, a false impression of superiority over others. We are beacons of rightness, oh yes we are!
Except…we aren’t, are we?
Lord Jesus Christ, You humbled Yourself to accept the death that was administered to you. You picked up and carried mankind’s cross, not because we deserved such consideration, but because You loved us that much. Help us recognize how much spiritual death we administer in turn, and teach us to offer Spirit and life instead, in our daily words and deeds, so that all mankind may see Your boundless love through us, and in union with the whole world, we may praise and glorify God for ever and ever. Amen.