October 3, Tuesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Daily Readings: Zechariah 8:20-23 Lk 9:51-56
The Gospel of today presents the contrast between the response of James and John and the response of Jesus toward the hostility shown by the Samaritans. James and John want revenge, that is to call down fire from heaven to destroy the Samaritans because they cannot accept that Jesus whom they believe as the Son of God is disrespected.
Such a response informs us that James and John fail to understand well the identity of Jesus and at the same time fail to apply what they have heard from Jesus. Just right before this passage, Jesus foretells his death and resurrection including the rejection by the elders, chief priests, and the scribes. James and John forget that rejection has been part of Jesus’s life. At his birth, he was laid in a manger because the people closed their houses for him. The rejection by the Jews followed by the rejection of the Samaritans (the Gentiles) confirms that “Jesus is not from this world but from above.” The way the people of this world act is different from the way of God who is from above. The response of James and John represents the attitude of the people of the world in responding to hostility. The people of this world want revenge or retaliation.
By rebuking James and John, Jesus tells us that retaliation and condemnation are not God’s way. God’s way is the way of mercy. Being Christian is following the way of Jesus who is from above. Gaudium et Spes says, “Christians, on pilgrimage toward the heavenly city, should seek and think of these things which are above.” The way of Jesus, then, becomes our paradigm by which we set the standard and measure our way of life. In other words, we must strip ourselves of the mentality of condemnation and retaliation since these are the things of this world.
Jesus has shown us his mercy. We, then, are asked to be witnesses of mercy through our actions so that we become the living witness of the presence of the Kingdom of God on earth.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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