“Two different worlds….We live in two different worlds….” These words of an old song are really true, aren’t they? We do live in two different worlds. We’re born that way…the haves and the have-nots. The young… the old. The healthy…. the physically sick. The one color….the other color.
Two different worlds – Most of us tend to stay and to live in our own world. Today they say we stay in our own tribe.
Everyday we’re made aware of these two different worlds. Downtown we see store windows beautifully decorated with expensive Christmas gifts while someone stands in front of the store ringing a Salvation Army bell. The endless stream of TV commercials for expensive SUV’s followed by the news of children homeless and starving in Ukraine and throughout the world.
In the whole history of humankind I find that it is difficult for these two worlds to interchange.
I bring all of this up because of today’s Gospel story (Matthew 11:2-11). We witness the stark contrast of these two different worlds.
First, there is John the Baptist. He’s lived his life in the desert, but not exactly Palm Springs, California. He wore nothing but a loin cloth, ate grasshoppers and wild honey. Now John is in jail, probably longing for grasshoppers and honey to eat.
Then there is Jesus, 30 years old, still living at home with his mother and doing his carpentry work. He’s just beginning his public life by going to parties and a wedding at Cana. Jesus eats out a lot, with prostitutes and tax collectors.
Talk about two different worlds and two different lifestyles for two cousins. John the Baptist is in prison and his disciples come to Jesus and ask: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”
I’ve heard and read many spiritual writers and speakers say that this is the defining moment in Jesus’ life, the moment he lays it on the line.
What does Jesus say? “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”
What Jesus has done is to make the two different worlds one! What is the common denominator to what he is saying? HEALING! Jesus came to heal – the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise and the poor have the good news preached to them. By healing the physical, but especially by the spiritual healing, the two different worlds come together.
Years ago I heard a spiritual writer say: “WHEN THE BLAMING STOPS, THE HEALING BEGINS.” I’ve said this to myself hundreds of times since then. “STOP THE BLAMING!” I blame myself, I blame God, I blame my parents, I blame those around me and I blame others in the world.
The Blame Game: “He said,” “She said.” During the recent elections with all of those awful commercials, it was one constant Blame Game going on. Throughout the Middle East and around the world it is an endless cycle of blaming. It is an endless cycle of blaming that leads to violence and war.
The blaming that goes on within me for months and years makes me keep pulling off the scabs of old hurts. It does not allow for the healing to happen. ONLY WHEN THE BLAMING STOPS, DOES THE HEALING BEGIN. I need to see the lights and the lights are not on the Christmas trees. The real lights are within me. When the blaming stops – I become a sign of hope. I’m no longer reacting out of my hurts and my pain.
One day little Bobby ran to his mother sobbing as though his heart would break. “What’s the matter?” she asked. “Daddy was hanging up a picture and he dropped it on his toe,” Bobby blurted out. “Why that’s nothing to cry about. You should have laughed at that,” she responded. “I did,” sobbed Bobby.
WHEN THE BLAMING STOPS, THE HEALING BEGINS!
How is YOUR inner life torn and hurting this Advent and Christmas because YOU are inwardly still blaming someone?
WE CAN’T EMBRACE GOD’S FORGIVENESS IF WE ARE SO BUSY CLINGING TO PAST WOUNDS AND NURSING OLD GRUDGES!
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