Commentary on the Gospel of
Human beings have related to God in many ways throughout history. Even today, there are many ways of being and living with God or facing away from Him. Many of these spiritual paths converge at the bottom of the mystery: many others are lost in tangled forests; some, the darkest, lead to walls or cliffs. But there is something that all these paths share: those of us who walk them always have the danger of not fully understanding who we are walking towards and, above all, who is the one who comes to meet us. Determined to be right when choosing the path to God and walk it, sometimes we misrepresent the path of God, God Himself.
Today's readings put into crisis those who walk with self-sufficiency in spiritual life, thinking that they can sustain it only by themselves. Occasionally, we become idol makers, worshiping what we can control, which is a subtle way of worshiping ourselves ("kings were named in Israel without me", says YAHWEH). Other times, we become judges of others' experiences, looking suspiciously at the good or the truth that others seek ("he casts out demons with the power of the chief of demons", murmur the Pharisees). Too often, we are suspicious of what we are not pleased with, ignoring the effort that is expected of us ("even if I give them a multitude of laws, they consider them as a stranger", regrets God). And always, in all these attitudes, we lose ourselves by losing God, and we end up wandering like sheep that have no shepherd because they are not looking at him.
When this happens, and so that it doesn’t happen, the fundamental thing is to continue searching and being thankful for the path of God towards us. That path that is Jesus, is full of divinity and humanity, able to speak to us, to look at us, to touch us, to hear us, to smell us, to walk with us towards God. He continues "touring all the cities and villages, teaching in our synagogues, announcing the Gospel of the kingdom and healing all diseases". Because when he sees people –when he sees us– he feels sorry for them –for us.
