Commentary on the Gospel of
God’s ways are different, mysterious, too difficult for a human being to grasp fully. It is beyond our understanding. What we think as low, is exalted by God. Even though the human beings created by God, went away from him, committed sins, disobeyed his commandments, God did not abandon him or punish him harshly. Rather, he promised that he would send a Messiah to free them from sins. How did this Messiah come to the world to redeem the fallen humanity? Today’s liturgy of the Word answers the question. The Jews believed that the Messiah would come and they expect even today. But, Messiah did not come the way they expected and he was not what they wanted him to be.
What was their expectation of Messiah? The Israelites were under the Romans. They underwent lot of sufferings under the Roman emperor Augustus. In this context, they expected a Messiah who would establish a new kingdom after overthrowing the Roman kingdom. Thus, they were longing for a political liberation to be attained by the political Messiah. But the way God wanted the Messiah, his own Son was totally different from the expectations of the people of Israel. It was not magnificent Jerusalem but simple Nazareth was chosen for Messiah. Messiah was not born in a splendid palace but down-to-earth manger. It was not queen who was Messiah’s mother but an ordinary poor lady. Yes, God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; what is weak in the world to shame the strong (cf. 1Cor 1:27). All whom God chose for his mission were weak human beings.
We are called to be ambassadors of Jesus. Though weak, we are also called to participate in the mission of Jesus. We can do it by our own life, by our words and by our deeds. We need to become like another Messiah, another Christ. One of the Church Fathers Tertullian would say, “We were converted not by reading a book or listening to a homily of a priest but by a witnessing life of the Christians and their martyrdom for Christ.”
