WEDNESDAY JUNE 12, 2024
WEDNESDAY OF THE TENTH WEEK OF THE ORDINARY TIME B
1 Kings 18:20-39
Matthew 5:17-19
RESPECT, REVERENCE AND KEEPING THE WHOLE TENETS OF GOD’S LAWS
The peoples of our world of today have the tendency to pick and choose what they fancy and what appeals to them as regards the laws of God. There is this attitude of relativism in the keeping of the laws of God. It is more or less personalizing the laws and making oneself superior to the laws and ordinances of God. Some goes in the form of attaching importance to some laws while neglecting some as not too serious. This kind of attitude does not go down well with Jesus.
In the gospel of today, Jesus cautions us against this tendency and goes ahead to declare that the laws and precepts of God must be upheld in totality. None of them must be neglected or minimized. All the laws of God are given to order the lives of the faithful, and have the purpose of directing the society to greater trust in God and promoting love among men. And the laws work in harmony.
Jesus came therefore to fulfill the laws and never to abolish them. The laws being talked here are varied and many. They are the Ten Commandments of God which has four dedicated to God, the reverence of God, the respect to God’s name, and the respect of the sabbath day with addition respect to our fathers and mothers who gave us life. Then we have respect for other persons’ property, life, privacy and others.
The commandment of the Church are equally added here as part of the laws of God since they help to promote the order and reverence of God in deeper level. The mosaic laws or the many laws of Moses were referred to by Jesus so that people do not just overlook them thinking that they have been abolished in that epoch. Rather Jesus advocated their obedience and respect and reverence as guide to our journey in life and their usefulness to order our lives must be respected.
Openness to God’s ordinance and keeping of the laws are necessary ingredients that help promote closeness to God and oneness with humanity. So the values of keeping the laws outweighs the breaking of them. And our lives are going to be judged on how much we respect and reverence the laws of God.
The prophet Elijah in the first reading demonstrated the fact the God must be given all reverence and respect in all we do. That worship of idols in any form brings doom and untold hardship to humanity. By calling on the name of God in which Elijah demonstrated the nothingness of the worship of idols of Baal, and established the powerfulness and veracity of the worship of God and keeping of his commandments, we are taught the immensity and powers of God and the need to keep trusting and relying on God our Saviour.
Heavenly Father, your precepts are right and good for they guide our steps. May the words of our mouth, the desires of our hearts be acceptable to you, our Lord and God. May our hearts always incline to doing your will, respecting and reverencing your laws and bringing blessings, honour and eternal salvation to our souls through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen
Fr Norbert Uchuno
