To inspire awe about God!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 13th week in Ordinary time

July 2, 2020: Amos 7: 10-17; Matthew 9: 1-8

Persons of God inspire an awe about God, despite the unfavourable circumstances that surround them. Look at the two personalities presented to us today: Amos and Jesus. Amos, opposed by Amaziah, the local priest and threatened by Jeroboam, the king in Israel, is warned not to prophesy! What does he do...he speaks, what the Lord wanted him to! Jesus, surrounded by the self-righteous indignant religious fanatics, is scrutinised for every word that he spoke and every move he took! What does he do...he speaks, what his Father wanted him to! And the result: the people were in awe!

First of all, they inspire awe - they leave people wondering and lost in admiration: not that the circumstances around them is all conducive for that, not merely by their competence of speech or performance of a show, but by their lives and their courage to stand for truth. That fills the people with a feeling of awe!

Secondly, the feeling of awe is not all about them! They do not claim it for themselves. Amos clarifies that he is no prophet and belongs to no prophetic band, but he is a simple shepherd and a tree-dresser, but picked up by God and sent on duty by God. Jesus clarifies too that he has the authority because he was the Son of Man, the One sent by God, that his authority came from the Father who sent him! They inspired awe, but not about themselves!

Thirdly and most importantly, they inspired awe about God! Be it Amos or any other prophet or Jesus, all that they did, inspired awe about God. It was not a self-proclamation, a self-coronation, a self-nomination as the messiah of the masses. It was all about God, the glory and mercy of God... that is why seeing their acts and listening to their words, "people praised God" for giving such power to men! 

If we need to be truly sons and daughters of our Eternal Father and Mothers, brothers, sisters and disciples of Jesus our Master, men and women filled with the Spirit, in short, if we have to be truly 'persons of God', every word we speak, every move we take and every choice we make has to inspire awe in the people, about God and God's glory! Do they?