Sep
27
What Was He Looking For?
September 27, 2007 |
Today’s gospel is from Luke 9 and continues the story of Christ’s early ministry. In this reading, Herod is “greatly perplexed” about what he was hearing about Jesus. He couldn’t figure it out . . . it couldn’t be John the Baptist because as Herod put it, “John, I beheaded.” Herod wondered “Who then is this about whom I hear such things?” The reading concludes with “And he kept trying to see him.”
Why was Herod trying so hard to see Jesus? Was it pure curiousity? Or was it something more . . . something deeper?
Today’s first reading may help answer the question. It’s from the beginning of the Book of the Prophet Haggai (one of the minor prophets). The exiles had been back from captivity for some time and had yet to rebuild the temple destroyed on the eve of the Jews being sent into exile.
Haggai relayed a message to them from God . . . “Consider your ways! You have sown much, but have brought in little; you have eaten, but have not been satisfied; You have drunk, but have not been exhilarated; have clothed yourselves, but not been warmed; And whoever earned wages earned them for a bag with holes in it.” In other words, they had done everything for themselves, yet knew they were missing something. They were missing God.
Maybe, Herod was trying so hard to see Jesus because he knew he was missing something - despite all of his riches, power and possessions. Like the folks in the time of Haggai, he was missing God in his life.
To the contrary, let’s look at today’s Saint of the Day. Today, we celebrate the memorial of St. Vincent de Paul. At one point or another, I guarantee you that we have all given something to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. He was committed and his namesake organization continues to be eternally committed to helping the poor.
St. Vincent became a priest with no greater ambition than to lead a comfortable life. But he ended up (after being held captive by pirates) becoming a great saint devoted to serving the poorest of the poor and organizing the formation of the clergy - helping to feed both our bodies and souls. He became a great man who figured out what he was looking for and found it - Christ and his church!
So the question of the day is . . . are we more like Herod and the Haggai-era Jews or are we more like St. Vincent? Do we know what/who we are looking for? Are we looking for Christ and what he wants us to do?
Are we?
