False Confidence

August 4: Monday of Week 18 of Ordinary Time, Year A-II:

Jeremiah 28:1-17; Psalm 119:29, 43, 79, 80, 95, 102; Matthew 14:22-36

Thoughts to help us surrender to Jesus expressing himself through us in ministry.

“You made this people trust in a lie.” Jeremiah 28:15

Where would you feel more secure: holding tight to your seat in a boat, even in a storm, or jumping out into twelve-foot high waves because a voice that might have come from Jesus invites you to walk on the water?

Scared Christians resist change. People who seek security in stability (aka rigidity; aka legalism, clericalism and triumphalism) are still fighting against the reforms Vatican II called for. They persecute innovators and abhor the thought of an innovative Holy Spirit. They prefer stagnation to challenge any day. When Jesus, attacked by the Pharisees,  called for “fresh wineskins” for the “new wine” he came to give, they killed him for it (read Mark 2:14 to 3:6).

Pope Francis wrote in The Joy of the Gospel (49): “My hope is that we will be moved less by the fear of going astray, and more by the fear of remaining shut up within structures that give us a false sense of security, within rules which make us harsh judges, within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door people are starving and Jesus does not tire of saying to us: ‘Give them something to eat.’”

Jesus said, “If you love me, feed my sheep!” (John 21:17) Ministers keep looking for more effective ways to do that. Pharisees cling to the status quo.

PRAY: “Lord, make me an instrument of your love.”

PRACTICE: Keep asking: “How does this nurture people?”