12th Week, Ordinary Time, Wednesday, June 22
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 / Matthew 7:15-20
God covenants with Abraham; A flaming torch passed by.
Unlike modern nations and peoples, ancients rarely signed treaties or contracts. Rather, they solemnized important agreements by a symbolic covenant rite. The two parties split an animal in half. Laying the two sides opposite each other, they walked between them. The parties passing between the cut-up animal signified by this rite that they would rather die a death as violent as did the animal than break their agreement. (Jeremiah 34:18-19). The covenant between God and Abraham is expressed in similar terms in today's reading.
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The tendency to doubt God is in all of us. But doubt can lead us to two different situations. Either we deepen our faith in God or we despair and lose faith altogether. In our doubt, we have this tendency to look inwards of ourselves, and the questions asked are centred on ourselves. Much like the questions that Abram asked: What do you intend to give me? I am childless and You have given me no descendants!
But it is interesting that God took Abram "outside" to look up at heaven and count the stars. But the "outside" is not so much in a physical aspect but rather from a spiritual perspective. God led Abram to come out of his introspective and myopic attitude and to see further and believe deeper. The attitude of individualism leads us to ask questions from within, questions that are centered on the self.
Hence the "I" becomes predominant, with the emphasis on the "right of choice" and the "power of freedom". Yet these do not provide answers to the questions of life. May we let God take us "outside" and to look up at the heavens and to count the stars. It is enough to realise that we are in God's hands and it is in His hands we must remain in faith.
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How faithful are we to our covenants, like marriage? How faithful are we to our word when we give it in a promise to someone? "Wherever you go I will go, wherever you live I will live, your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Wherever you die I will die, and there be buried." Ruth
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The certainty of faith is always a search for a fuller reality, which we do not yet possess. We have to learn to live with partial visions and to place ourselves trustingly into the hands of the God of the covenant, like Abraham.
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When Jesus said: "Beware of false prophets", he showed a remarkable trust in the discretion of the people. He attacked the priests, scribes and Pharisees of his day. When the priests spoke of God's glory in sacrifices and the liturgy, they thought of their own purse. The Pharisees wanted to have their share of glory, the reflection of God's glory on themselves. The scribes rejoiced in the burden their addition to the law imposed on the people. This also happens today. Today they speak of the option for the poor, but exclude the option of the poor for charity. They speak of justice when they mean violent struggle. They pull down the Pope, but do not suffer their own infallibility to be questioned. They think it of greater value to offer God occasionally a prayer or meditation, instead of a regular spiritual life. It is better, they think, to give God occasionally an apple than to hand over the whole apple tree. There is too much of a wooden structure in the tree. Today Jesus might reverse the picture and ask lambs not to clothe themselves in wolf pelts. It seems to be more modern to be a wolf. A book or a sermon with a little heresy thrown in, is so much more interesting and catchier, than boring orthodoxy.
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Christ is our real tree of life. If we pluck the fruits of his message and life, we too can become trees of life that produce good fruits. It is not enough for us to take pride in being the People of God and in boasting that we are disciples of Christ. We must also effectively follow him and lead the life of people of the covenant.
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Prayer
Lord our God, the present renewal in the Church and the changes in the world have upset many of our certainties, and at times we don’t know where we stand. Give us a great faith and a deep trust, and the wisdom of your Spirit. Help us to retain our critical sense, that we may not run after false prophets and yet remain open to all true renewal that brings us closer to you and helps us to bear good fruit through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
