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Commentary 7-09-2024
Who is the Strongest?
Competing to see who is the strongest, both militarily and even mentally or religiously, has always been a human trait. Those who believe they are the best criticize or openly persecute those who don’t do things like them or don’t think the same way. Today’s first reading almost makes a catalog of ways of persecution and superiority. And in the Gospel, we see the disciples criticized for breaking a Sabbath rule.
In the face of persecution and criticism, it’s very possible, and very human, to «cave in.» Bloody or physical persecution is the extreme, but the «what will they say» is the most insidious and sometimes the most harmful. It attacks a person’s dignity by forcing them to feel inferior for being different in the face of widespread opinion or single-mindedness. There have always been persecutions, but perhaps we thought that in a Western civilization, supposedly of Christian inspiration, it would be impossible. But we’re seeing it constantly around us; if not bloody persecution, then the persecution of insults, defamation, criticism, ridicule… Without going any further, the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, the expulsions of religious people from Nicaragua, or the tearing down of crosses all over Europe.
Today we are invited to a difficult and somewhat dangerous freedom. Affirming that only Jesus is Lord can put us in complicated situations even with those closest to us. We can end up being like those described by Saint Paul: insulted, ridiculed, humiliated, persecuted… Or, at the very least, criticized. And yet, the serene affirmation of Christ’s sovereignty gives us that strength that Paul had; ridiculed, we bless; persecuted, we endure… Since only Christ is Lord, all that strength has been given to us, not by our merits or our personal strength, but by divine sovereignty. And we don’t need to compete or compare ourselves. Only God is God. Fashion is not God, nor is the norm established by the powers that be, nor single-mindedness, nor prevailing trends. Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And because of that, we can be free.