The Message Does Not Change

[A reflection on the readings for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, July 14, 2024, which may be found here.]

Today's Gospel tells us about people making the same assumptions about Jesus as they had about John the Baptist. Even Herod, who had John the Baptist executed (and as an aside the passage from St. Mark gives us the whole sordid story, but that's another reflection for another time), believed that Jesus was one in the same, the message and the power behind it practically indistinguishable between the two.

St. Paul, writing to the Ephesian church, stated that this same Jesus had made known the mystery of God's will.

What is this message? We have to depart from these passages to get it, but it appears time and time again in the Gospels, the Prophets and Writings, and the Law itself. The message is that we turn from our short-sighted, self-serving, destructive, divisive ways back to God, that we in turn may find life in Him. St. Paul states, "we...might live for the praise of His glory," (Eph. 1.12) which is to say that we live totally within the life-giving power of the Lord God.

It is a message that perplexes those who seek to gain and hold onto power, who strive to make and hold onto money, who seek only their own glory and renown. Admit it, we all fall into that camp from one time to another. Yet against this is the message of loving God and seeking to do His will and to acknowledge only His glory, of loving those around us, no matter how aggravating, or dangerous, or distasteful, because this is how God loves them. It is a self-emptying message, a message of denying the self for the sake of others and for our love of God, who shares with us His own Life, which is more than enough to make up for what we set aside, not only now, but for the ages to come.

This is indeed a hard thing to wrap one's mind around, but pursuing it in the end leads to the greatest beginning of all, living and exulting in the glory of the eternal God. That message has not changed, even though the messengers have, up to and including God Himself taking flesh and dwelling among us to drive the point home. Turn back to God, for His Kingdom is at hand.