The Word That They Heard Did Not Profit Them

The Word That They Heard Did Not Profit Them

January 18, 2013

Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

By Melanie Rigney

Let us be on our guard while the promise of entering into his rest remains, that none of you seem to have failed. For in fact we have received the Good News just as our ancestors did. But the word that they heard did not profit them, for they were not united in faith with those who listened. (Hebrews 4:1 -2)

What we have heard and know, and what our fathers have declared to us, we will declare to the generation to come the glorious deeds of the LORD and his strength. (Psalms 78:3, 4)

“Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’?” (Mark 2:9)

Piety

Lord, You make Your desires as plain as the nose on my face. Help me to stop rationalize the times my will is at odds with Yours… and to obey.

Study

Do you ever study the Bible or hear the readings and think, “My goodness! How could those silly people of Moses’s (Lot’s, or Abraham’s, or Noah’s, or fill-in-the-blank’s) time possibly have not understood what the Lord wanted or was saying?” Or perhaps you consider the establishment’s efforts time and again to trick Jesus and think, “Man, how did they not get it, who he was and what he was saying and why?”

The people of Jesus’ time may have felt the same way when they were reading the stories of what we know as the Old Testament… only to ignore the presence of God in their own lives. They may have seen and recognized the similarities in the story of Joseph and his brothers and jealousy within their own community, for example, and chosen to ignore the lesson or justified their own conniving and evilness. Surely, they were conversant in the prophecies of Isaiah and the others… but as Jesus fulfilled them, chose to ignore it because this radical came with a message of love rather than with an army of men to liberate them.

Hearing is one thing, as today’s readings tell us. Believing in and acting on what we hear can be quite another. May God grant us the strength to do all three.

Action

What is God asking of you that you accept in theory, but are not putting into practice in your own life? Journal about what you can do to take the next step.