18TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

You have preached rebellion against the Lord. 

It’s human nature.   We all want to hope for the best, to see conflict resolved and suffering healed.   That’s what seemed to motivate the prophet Hananiah.   He wanted to see Judah return to the days of prosperity it had enjoyed before the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem and took its king into captivity.   But Hananiah missed the point.   Don’t worry, he seemed to be saying. No need to repent.   Just keep on doing what you’re doing, and God will restore you.   And that’s what Jeremiah called “preaching rebellion” (Jeremiah 28:16).

Jeremiah didn’t enjoy rebuking Hananiah.   His heart was breaking for his people.   He knew that God wanted to protect and reunite them, but their sin was an immense roadblock.   They needed to return to God in repentance.   Living as a conquered people was painful, but it helped show them how they had fallen away from the Lord.   It was a chance to change and turn back to God before they were exiled themselves.

We all have times when we want to pretend everything is fine.   Or we want to blame our troubles on someone else.   That’s when we need to face the challenging but merciful message of the gospel.   The sad truth is that some of the negative things in our lives are the consequence of our own sin.   Yes, God loves us and wants to give us good things.   And yes, he calls us to conversion.   He wants us to be free, but we can’t ignore the need to repent.

When we avoid dealing with our sins, we make things worse.   When we close our ears to everything but the outcome we want, we cut ourselves off from the healing and renewal God wants to give us.

The Lord always has more for us.   And because he has so much for us, he is always calling us to change, to align ourselves a little more closely with him.   So take a moment to reflect on what God is calling you to do.   Are you listening to the prophets of the world who tell you everything is fine?   Or are you heeding the call to repentance so that you can experience the freedom God wants to give you?

“Lord, I want to be at peace.   Help me to turn to you more deeply so that I can experience even more freedom!”

Psalm 119:29, 43, 79-80, 95, 102
Matthew 14:22-36