Meditation Minute

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

 

Gospel Reading: Mark 12:35-37

 

As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said, "How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said: The Lord said to my lord, 'Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your feet.' David himself calls him 'lord'; so how is he his son?" The great crowd heard this with delight.

 

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus makes the amazing proclamation that he is the Messiah in which they seek.  The Jews were waiting for a new King to rule over them and deliver them from the Romans.  They were looking for a King that would unite them and make them a powerful force against their persecutors.  They were looking for a King who would physically dominate their enemies.  In this passage, Jesus declares himself the Messiah, the Christ or the anointed one.  As is mentioned in the Gospel reading, the Psalms tell us that Christ is the son of David and that the Holy Spirit revealed to David that his son would be Lord of all.  This makes Jesus more than just the son of David.  How can the son be Lord over the Father?  Because Jesus is more than just the descendant of David, he truly is the son of God. 

 

When Christ came into this world, he was exposed to all the enemies of the Jews. But instead of destroying and crushing their enemies, Jesus reached out to everyone, not with a sword but with a message of love.  His message was for all of humanity.  God delivered his Son to conquer evil in the world and to set us free from our sins.  He came to tame our true enemy, Satan.  Jesus is not only the son of David, He is the son of God.  Jesus came not to dominate man, but to Lord over our hearts.  The Jews were expecting a leader who would rule by the sword, but Jesus rules by the Word of God.  Jesus ruled by establishing love and peace in our hearts.  He established that charity was much mightier than the sword.  He showed us that a kingdom based on love was more desirable then a kingdom based on fear. 

 

Jesus came into this world to show us that the love that God poured out for us is a natural response.  In a letter written in 1861, the author argued that; “Humanity believes in God as easily as it believes in the existence of matter; it prays to God quite naturally as it lives. And as to you who are not humanity, and who really find it difficult to believe, consider that we believe willingly in what we love, and rarely what we love not.” Therefore, if we truly love God, belief is natural. If we do not express our love for God, how then can we truly believe that he is the Lord God of Heaven? But there is one thing in life that has no limit to its value, one virtue that can be practiced without any need for moderation. And that is love: the love of God and the love of other men in God and for His sake” (Thomas Merton). St. Thomas Aquinas said, “There is no point at which it becomes reasonable to abate your interior love for God or for other men, because that love is an end in itself: it is the thing for which we were created and the only reason why we exist.” If we exist to love God, then loving God is natural. If loving God is “Believing in God”, then believing in God is natural. It is the things that are unnatural that are most difficult to do. Therefore, it is most difficult not to believe in God. We have to work at not believing. It is like being right-handed and trying to do things with your left. It is possible, but very difficult. How many times have you heard that a so-called atheist thanked God or blessed you when you sneezed? It is more difficult for them to remove God from their life then it is to accept God. Breathing is natural, therefore we breathe without thinking. Loving God is natural; therefore, we can love God without forcing ourselves.

 

A Simple Prayer

 

God, I Love You!

 

Yours in Christ

Michael Marcon