Who are you?
14 June 2018
Today’s Gospel asks the question: who are you?
It is a challenging scripture that speaks of the relationship between our head and our hearts.
You know what is right and wrong. It is that innate voice that speaks the truth into your life. For example, you can understand that murder is inherently wrong. Jesus takes it one step further, saying that the knowledge of what is right and wrong is not a virtue of our rational minds, but experienced as a state of our hearts.
For Jesus, living in a state of anger towards your brother or sister is a state of sin as bad as that of murder; brokenness that divides the Body of Christ and a separation between humanity and God. This is a hard teaching to understand, after all, who hasn’t been angry before? But what Jesus is saying is that to encounter Christ, to come to the altar, we must first prepare and purify our hearts.
This may mean doing the uncomfortable, following not your rationality but the revelation of our call to holiness.
It may mean going against the ways of the world; seeking first humility, forgiveness, mercy, and compassion.
It may mean a reality shift that it is not about what you do, but who you are. And to truly understand who you are, you must understand whose you are.
Today, may you see that it is not about what you do that wins you God’s favour. It is having a heart of love that will draw you closer to Him.
So, ask yourself, who are you?
Amen.