8th Sunday of Ordinary time year A
Readings: 1st Isaiah 49:14-15; Ps. 62:2-3, 6-7, 8-9; 2nd 1Cor. 4:1-5; Gospel Mat. 6:24-34
The text we have read today from Isaiah speak to a time when many of the people of Judah were in exile in Babylon, crushed and without hope. The prophet proclaimed that God would set his people free and take them home to Jerusalem to begin a new life. Therefore the Lord has not forsaken his people, and stands assuring them that he will never forget them. In the next verse God tells his people on the lips of Isaiah that he has their name written in the palms of his hands.
The Psalmist would therefore continue this theme and tells his soul to rest in God alone.
In the Gospel from Matthew we hear of the character, duties, privileges and destiny of the citizens of the Kingdom of heaven. Matthew a teacher to the Jews who had converted to Christianity and while maintaining the theme that God has not abandoned his people as we heard from Isaiah, tells them not to worry; instead he calls them to seek first the kingdom of God and the righteousness of God. Their primary concern should be God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness.
Is what Matthew teaching us today out of touch with our life today? It sounds like Jesus is not aware that it is freezing and people need to be concerned of how to warm their houses and how they can find warm clothes. What about the electricity bills? What about my rent? My daughter this year is joining college and I must find tuition for her. What does it mean not worry? What does it mean when it is said we cannot serve both God and mammon?
In Genesis 1:27-28 after the creation of human beings, God makes them responsible for all the other created order. They are to be masters and therefore co-creators with God. Man’s involvement in the world therefore is to continue the work of God in the world. We are responsible to see to the continuity of the good world that God has created. We cannot afford to remain mere spectators. We have been privileged to bring about God’s kingdom present in the world we live in. Our primary and major concern is to see to the continuity of God’s kingdom. In fact we are not for ourselves but we are for God. In the second reading it is the reason why Paul says that we are servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Paul adds to this saying: “It is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy”. How are you dealing with your stewardship? Do I understand that what brings me worry and restlessness in my heart is to think that I am for my own in this world, seeking myself and forgetting that it is God’s work entrusted to me?
Sometimes we have failed to make a difference between the Master and the goods he has given to us in trust. We have ended making these the little gods that worry us and ending up in a confusion of who to serve and not to.
What we have and what we take as ours in fact is not. What keeps us worried and many times spend sleepless night, at times we have chosen to destroy others in whatever way possible in order to cling to what we call our booty. Haven’t we heard the killings now in the Mideast by leaders who perhaps think that they are indispensable and even more important than the people they have been given to serve as leaders?
It is good to work and to provide for ourselves and for those we love but well aware that all belongs to God, and he gives it to us as facilitation to continue his work in the world.
Is what you are doing God’s work, or is it that you have turned it to be your own work that keeps you worried? What are you seeking? Is it God or you are now seeking yourself? When we seek God we are at peace and God provides for us, for he knows our needs and will provide us with them to continue his work as we continue to extend his kingdom on earth.
May God bless each one of us and let us never forget that we are mere servants and stewards who at any time must be found ready to account for what has been entrusted to us.
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