March 2, 2017
Thursday
after Ash Wednesday
Happy are they who hope in the Lord!
(Psalm 1).
Deuteronomy
30: 15-20 sets before us the basic “either-or” choice of human existence:
life and well-being or death and misery. God’s gift; our choice. “Life or death,
the blessing or the curse.” All we have to do is accept it.
Well, not quite. Three times the reading describes acceptance as listening. To choose life is to “obey”
(from obaudire, to “listen to”). It
is “heeding God’s voice.” Those who refuse “will not listen.” Obviously, to
choose life means we choose to become disciples,
“learners,” people who listen to
God’s word in order to learn. This is
the choice to keep learning from Jesus all our life; to keep reading and
reflecting on his words and actions. Either we do or we don’t. Our choice.
In Acts, those who
accepted the Good News “devoted
themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of
bread and the prayers.” That is discipleship.[1]
Learning is sometimes described as a “change of behavior.” That is
only one aspect of it, of course, but it is true that any learning that does not
affect the way we live or help us to live better — for example, by enhancing
our appreciation of truth and beauty —
is useless. In John’s Gospel Jesus is presented as “Light” and “Life”
interchangeably.
In him was life, and the
life was the light of all people.
Jesus said, “I am the light
of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the
light of life.”[2]
Discipleship is learning for living. In the reading, we “listen”
to “obey the commandments of the Lord.” “Heeding God’s voice” entails “holding
fast to him.” Not to listen is to “turn away” our hearts and be “led astray.”
Discipleship is like eating: intake gives energy for output. We feed our minds
to assimilate and put into action.
That means we read and learn with expectations. But they are
based, not on our abilities, but on God: Happy
are they who hope in the Lord!
Luke
9:22-25 puts that hope to the test.
If any want to become my
followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow
me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose
their life for my sake will save it.
What Jesus gives as the “entrance exam” to discipleship is humanly
impossible to accept or do. Peter’s first act after receiving the “keys of the
Kingdom” was to reject it. He gave the spontaneous reaction of us all.[3]
But Jesus didn’t come to teach a human way of life. He calls us to
live on the level of God and empowers us to do it. That is why, ultimately, his
words and no others teach to be Christian. We listen to the divine words of the
divine Word made flesh in order to give flesh to his words in human actions
that are divine. That is Christian discipleship.
Initiative:
Make the choice. Commit during Lent to learning from Jesus.
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