In this section you can find a daily commentary on the Gospel of the Day.

Saturday 18 July 2020

Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Word for today
The Gospel of Matthew 12:14-21

Against whom?

What happened, what did Jesus do that was so disgusting and immoral to cause such a ferocious reaction on the part of the Pharisees?
First of all, the Pharisees had a natural predisposition to strike out against anything that was new and diverse. In order to protect their integrity and their power they did not accept that Jesus called Himself the Lord of the Sabbath, the Lord of the Law, courts, conventions and of every human "counsel," when he declared: Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight; I shall place my spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not contend or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope. Jesus announced to mankind here that he is the Lord, the Lord of Mercy. This is Jesus' unforgivable sin according to the hearts and minds of the Pharisees, the people's leader, the priests of the temple, religious and political hierarchies.
Now in that situation Jesus' behavior and the Pharisees' blindness and deliberate way of looking just with the eyes to shoot and to condemn needed support from counsels, meetings, and  assemblies. Prejudice, anger, rage, revenge are eager for final solutions, but they need the support of law, morals, justifications and consensus. Rage and revenge are insatiably hungry for publicity and public display and Satan knows why. So the heart's desire of destroying and annihilating becomes a mental plan, articulated in a project, gathering consensus to become conspiracy, channeled by a counsel to have the strength of law and the justification to then explode in all its destructive force.  But right here, in the face of obscene,  furious rage, in the face of a destructive violence, shared, legalized, and inflated with blind consensus, the words foresaid by the prophet Isaiah about our Lord Jesus rang out: Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations, not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench, until he establishes justice (the truth) on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching. (Isaiah 42: 1-4).  The Lord of Mercy is amazing and always has new face. But who are the Pharisees angry with? Who are they raving against? Against the Lord of Mercy, against the essence itself of Kindness and Humility.