Fleeing from God! Our daily dread
This Sunday’s Gospel is the account of the “great supper” in Luke 14:16. They declined the invitation…they began to make excuses…they did not want to get involved…they ignored the voice, the face of God in the master of the house…they fled from God. Fleeing from God! You can flee from God, being Christian, being a priest, bishop…we all are able to flee from God. It is a daily temptation. To not listen to God, not listen to his voice, not accept his invitation to the supper.
The Old Testament prophet Jonah’s effort to escape God was direct and born of a desire to not be “bothered”, but there are other ways to flee from God, a bit more educated, a bit more sophisticated. The guests mentioned in the Gospel, who declined the master’s invitation, were decent people, wealthy and well-mannered and, I imagine, faithful people and loyal to their human priorities or agendas. In other words, they were busy. The invitation came at a “bad time”.
Why did they all flee from God? Because their hearts were closed, and when your heart is closed, you cannot hear the voice of God. Instead, the poor, the maimed, the halt and the blind answered the call, because their hearts were opened…they were longing for God. The important key element of our salvation-is being attached to God himself, not to the things of God or to good acts.
Jonah had a plan for his life: he wanted to write his own life, as did the guests in the gospel account. They had a plan of work but not a plan that worked well for their salvation; those who were brought in, however, let God write their life. Their “yes” changed everything, that night, because the Lord had drawn near them.
Are you able to hear God’s voice in the story of each day? Do you let his surprises speak to you? Or are your own ideas, your “plan for your life” the only thing that matters? Do you let God speak to you on daily basis? Do you try to listen to his voice? Or do you like to follow your own will, meaning living your life as if you were in control? Do we let God write our lives? Or do we want to do the writing ourselves?
