20th Week, Thursday, August 19

 20th Week, Thursday, August 19

Judges 11:29-39 / Matthew 22:1-14 

God raises up a leader for Israel; He chose Jephthah, an outcast

Jephthah was the son of a prostitute. People around him couldn't stomach this. So, they scorned him and rejected him. Eventually Jephthah went off into the hills. He fell in with a gang of "worthless men" and became an outlaw. (Judg 11:3). Yet it was upon Jephthah that the Spirit of the Lord descended. Jephthah's lack of religious instruction and his marginal life-style may account for his irresponsible vow to God.

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How do we treat people who don't fit the conventional categories of society? Do we go out of our way to welcome them? Or do we reject them and make life miserable for them? " 'Lord, when did we see you?. a stranger and welcome you…?’ And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.' " Matthew 25:37-40

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Making promises are always a risky undertaking. Because promises are made to be kept and not to be broken. To break a promise would say much about the person's character and what the person thinks about making promises to people.

 But what if one were to make a promise to God, and it is a promise that would involve a blood sacrifice? In the 1st reading, when Jephthah made a vow to the Lord to offer the first person to meet him from the door of his house when he returned in triumph, would he be expecting that person to be his daughter, his only child? 

Certainly, he regretted making the promise but he had to keep the promise - "I have given a promise to the Lord, and I cannot unsay what I have said." But in the first place, the question is that was it necessary for Jephthah to make that promise to the Lord? The Lord did not ask him for anything. It was Jephthah himself who wanted to secure triumph over the Ammonites that made him make that promise to the Lord.

 

But it was the Lord who called Jephthah for the mission. So, the Lord did not ask anything of him. As Romans 8:30 would say this - "And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." So there is nothing that we can offer to the Lord to justify ourselves. If God calls us, we only have to offer ourselves to Him as a living sacrifice. That will be enough. 

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Commitment is pertinent to both readings. Those who enter the Christian community do so realizing what that entails. In the minds of many today, that commitment is not taken seriously. While avoiding the extremes of Jephtah, we could use a measure of his seriousness. Christianity is not simply a peg on which we hang our coat. It is a matter of God, his Christ, and our eternity. Today’s readings call us to renew our resolve.    

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In Matthew’s Gospel, the Jewish people have priority in the ministry of Jesus. They are represented by the first category of people who make excuses for not attending the wedding feast. After their failure to respond positively, the broader Gentile world is invited and soon fill the hall. All are welcome, but the king, upon entering, finds a man not properly attired and orders him expelled. The universalism of Jesus’ mission is underscored, but, at the same time, there are certain spiritual dispositions that every Christian must possess. When these are missing, exclusion is the result.

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 All are invited to the kingdom of God, even repeatedly, the good and the bad alike. Salvation is open to all. But they should be willing, they must respond to the call. And once they respond, they should be consistent. They must share in the death struggle of Christ against evil, to live with the life of Christ. The force to live the Christ life is indeed given to us in the eucharistic meal. There the Lord prepares us for the royal marriage feast.

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Prayer

Merciful Father of all people, you open the doors of your kingdom to invite us all, good and bad alike, to share the life of Jesus, your Son. Give us the wisdom and the strength to respond to your generous call with the whole of our being. Help us to go the loyal way to you and to one another of Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord, who lives with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen