Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Recently, I was sitting in a room at a hospital and the person who brought the food in knocked on the door, asked permission to enter, set the food up, helped get it just the right place for the patient and when they were ready to leave the room they said I hope you feel better soon. They also said God bless you to the patient, perhaps because there was a faith conversation going on in the room. I was struck in this Catholic hospital how all the employees I had encountered were mission focused in the way they spoke and acted. Imagine this whole group of hundreds of people working together united by a mission founded on faith. They were united by the mission even though there are from diverse faiths.
In thinking about the Old Testament reading today, I recognized God is always inviting us to consult all of the teachings of the Lord. For the Israelites this would have meant 613 commandments. The king in the story makes a covenant with the Lord that includes all of the commandments. Both the King and all the people agreed to live the covenant.
Today, as a country it almost seems impossible to imagine an entire nation agreeing to live unified under one set of statutes. It certainly seems unlikely that we could find one state, one city, or one township in which everyone could come to a lived agreement around a set of beliefs. It is sad to say but for many churches this sense of unity of mission seems lacking. Yet fascinatingly enough we know it is possible. If a hospital can do it than a church certainly should be able to do it.
The readings today give us to important reminders of how we as a faith community can work together to stay unified in Christ. In the first reading we are admonished to consult the Lord. How often do we make decisions based on our own knowledge or desires? In these times if we had brought the decisions to the Lord, the outcomes might have been different. It could be the difference between allowing yourself to enter deeper into a sinful behavior and choosing to no longer sin. It could be the difference between aligning oneself with a bully to help their hostility or it could be backing away from the bad behavior and not participating in it.
In the gospel we are warn to beware of the ravenous wolves. They are the ones who might be giving you shortcuts in ways to live the covenant more easily. The destructive action of the wolves might be more veiled. It is okay to live in sin it is just a little sin. It could be someone at working insisting that it safer to do what we have always done, because it is more comfortable than change. Putting new wine into old wine skins has a higher likelihood to taint the wine. Yes it is easier to do it that way, but will the best fruit be borne by this. Our gospel suggests otherwise.
God of Wisdom, You who knew us before we were born. Teach us that You and Your Statutes are the one to whom we should conform ourselves. Guide us so that we better live as a one body unified in Christ. Amen!
- Michael Montgomery