Privileged! Loved!

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

July 8, 2023 - Genesis 23: 1-4,19, 24: 1-8, 62-67; Matthew 9: 9-13

Cursed be everyone who curses you and blessed be everyone who blesses you! To be God's "predilected" child (if we can use that term) is an incredible honour; and that is what we are. How beautifully John expresses this in his letter (1 Jn 3:1-3)! In the corrupt culture of the day, it is pretty easy to understand this predilection... a VIP's son or daughter, or a person who has the backing of a key personality in the society gets above anybody and everybody else to win favours in the society! 

Jacob was the chosen one, he was the one picked to bring forth the 'predilected' people of God. And because he was chosen, everything works in his favour. Unjust! Unfair! Undeserved! - we might say all that and all that is true! God's love that is 'poured' into us (Rom 5:5: not just given but poured into our hearts); it is unjustly given, unfairly lavished, undeservedly heaped on us. What a way to communicate that truth via the story of Jacob - a cheater yes, but who becomes an identity for God on earth - God refers to Godself as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and God of Jacob! 

This logic, however, is totally different! This logic will not fit into the usual logic of the give-and-take, the cause-and-effect; this is a totally different logic of God's love, God's prodigal love for each of us. And if we try to fit this into the normal logic we will be frustrated, like pouring new wine in old skin, or old wine in new skin or stitching a new cloth to an old shrunken one! 

The call is to be drenched in this entirely unconditional love of God, and to understand how privileged we are to receive this love; and the most important of all, to exhibit that awareness in concrete, day to day actions and attitudes. One basic truth has to rule our lives, we are privileged, we are loved!