7th Sunday of Ordinary Time (C)

February 22,2004

by Reverend Deacon Lawrence A. St. Onge

During the days of King David, and then his son, King Solomon, the Israelites were totally confident of the fact they were God’s chosen people. However, after Solomon’s death the Israeli kingdom was divided into kingdoms of north and south, and then later, came the destruction of both kingdoms, with the people being carried off as captives into strange lands.

Indeed, how far the Israelites had fallen, and how thoroughly alone they felt, as they wept at night so far from home. But worst of all, they knew that it was their own sins that had put them in their predicament. They acknowledged their sinfulness and recognized that they deserved their misery, and it seemed like it would never end. And thus they cried out: "The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me," but it was not true.

In the 1^st reading from Isaiah we hear God say, "Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you." And indeed, the Lord did eventually rescue his people, Israel, and help them rebuild their lives.

Perhaps sometimes we feel alone and forgotten, and maybe sometimes we deserve it. Whatever the case, we need to rest assure that the Lord never forgets us and never withdraws from us. God’s actions reveal his mercy and his justice, and his never ending love for us. If, indeed, we wish to see how God reacts to sin and how he responds to our sinful condition, then we need to look to Jesus. God the Father sent us Jesus, his son, to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah; to bring healing, restoration, and forgiveness to all those who accept his divine message.

Unfortunately, just as in today’s gospel, many people today, also refuse to hear Jesus’ message and to accept his authority to speak and act on behalf of God the Father. But Jesus never acts independently of God, because his relationship is that of a Father and Son relationship, and his identity to the Father is based on complete obedience. Jesus always did what the Father wanted him to do, and his obedience was not based on submission or power, but on love. The unity between Jesus and the Father is a unity of love.

Each of us is called to submit our lives to God with the same love and obedience which Jesus had for his Father. Jesus tells us that to accept him is life, and to reject him is death. For those who totally accept Jesus and live according to his word, they need only to look inward, into themselves, to where Jesus truly lives and from where he never departs, and they will see that they are never, ever, really alone.