Wednesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
When I was a child, after I did something insubordinate, I got spanked. While I am not that old, times have changed on how we discipline a child. What my dad made clear was that he did not cherish these attitude adjustments, as he called them. We got a spanking because of his love for us. This “love” as he said did not so much feel like love as my backside ached. If my dad was still alive now I would thank him for that and all of the other ways he showed me love.
Hebrew’s reminds us that discipline seems more like the cause of pain than joy. Hebrew’s continue that this discipline will bring the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it. My father’s attitude adjustments were attempts to train me to walk on straight paths. St. Paul certainly knew this discipline first hand as he endured many trials and sufferings through his journey as a faithful disciple; “for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges.” My father’s discipline truly did acknowledge his love for us. Imagine how much more our heavenly Father loves us and how much more he works to disciple us.
Sometimes discipline is offered through trials and suffering, but it is also offered through invitations that loving call us to more deeply follow Christ. The real question offered us in the gospel is how do we respond? The Lord began to teach and many were astonished. Except their astonishment was more like, how is this possible? This Jesus was a carpenter, and son of Mary, too familiar to say anything to which we must listen. They responded with disdain for that which Jesus taught. How do we respond when the Lord is seeking to discipline us? Is it so familiar that we ignore the nudges in the right direction? Or do we rebuke the admonishments?
Today and every day the Lord loves us so much that he invites us to be his disciples. Do we listen and respond at these attempts to adjust our attitude?
- Michael Montgomery