WORD 2day: Tuesday, 25th week in Ordinary time
To be God's own, to be called God's people, to truly belong to God - this is a life time task that we are given with. And Jesus suggests a means: listen and live!
Listen to the Lord, live it to the letter! God gives a command - build up the temple - not because God has nowhere to live, but because the people have nothing to unite them. God wants them to be united as one, under one God, under one sacrifice and under one banner, as God's own people. That be being built into one body, one dwelling place for God, one community where the Lord lives and reigns.
Jesus pitches for the same too: it is not about a group which is privileged, claiming honours and priced positions and hierarchical arrogance. At times in religiosity, this happens much that people of an elite group claim all the privileges and honours. The rest of the people remain subjugated and left out, and slowly they find no meaning in their belonging.
The reminder today is, that people of God are not a privileged few but the committed few, the obedient few, the dedicated few, the faithful few, the observant few, the uncompromising few - they are those who hear and practice, those who listen and live. They are those who build themselves up to be God's own.
When we hear and practice, listen and obey that One Lord, our minds and our heart become one, we are built into one people of God. That is what we are called towards: to build ourselves up to be God's own today!