This is so evident in the first reading taken from the prophet Isaiah, a great leader in the Old Testament times. This reading was written during the time when the people of Israel were living in exile as prisoners in Babylon. We can only try to imagine what the Jewish people went through emotionally and spiritually during this time. They were so far away from their native land. They were living in a total foreign environment and devoid of many things that they were comfortable with. In addition, they yearned to go back home. They dreamt of once again living in the land where they were born. How could they keep hoping? How could they keep living with a sense of purpose? This is when the prophet Isaiah wrote the words that we have heard in the first reading of today. The prophet is full of words of encouragement, “Comfort, O Comfort my people says your God”. All is not lost. God will take care of you like a shepherd does to the flock. Don’t give up. Everything is not lost. You will be O.K. Just trust in God.
The same sentiments are echoed in today’s Gospel. This time the Jewish people were living in their own home, however they were also under foreign control. The Romans were in charge. They did not believe in God, rather they had many gods. This was something that the Jews could not stomach. Like their ancestors in the time of the prophet Isaiah, they longed for freedom. They yearned for the time when they could manage their own affairs, politically, socially and spiritually. Who was going to lead them to this hope? Who was going to support them and help them move forward in these circumstances? Where were the prophets? How they longed for another Moses or for another Abraham. No wonder then, that when John the Baptist appeared people flocked to him. Maybe this is the person who will turn out to be the prophet; the person who would lead us to control our own destiny. However, like the prophet Isaiah, John the Baptist did not point to himself. Yes what you are looking for is going to happen. Yes we will have a leader. It is not me, but Jesus. “I have baptised you with water; but He (Jesus) will baptise you with the Holy Spirit”. (MK1:8)
This is all very good but how can God help us during this time of turbulence and unsettlement? Has God a magic wand in His hands which enables us to become immune to any contrariety? What is our part during such trying times? John the Baptist as well as the prophet Isaiah speak about all of us preparing the way of the Lord by making his paths straight. What does this mean? Basically it refers to our attitudes and ways of thinking to become more and more in conformity with the attitude and the ways of thinking of Jesus. This means that whenever we find ourselves in the midst of turmoil or uncertainty we need to adopt the following attitudes.
It is important to face what needs to be faced. We cannot simply try to ignore what is happening to us. Following the right advice by competent people we need to examine our situation and examine how this can be resolved. Once we identify that we can do something about a situation then we ought to do whatever we can to arrive at a solution. A friend of mine had a very strained relationship with a relative. The whole thing came to a head when her relative’s husband died and my friend did not attend the funeral neither did she offer her condolences on such a sad occasion. This produced in my friend a terrible remorse, which over the years became more acute. She knew she was in the wrong. She also knew that she needed to do something about this situation yet she never found the necessary courage to take the next step of saying “I’m sorry”. Not so long ago, these two people were present at a reception that I also attended. My friend came over to me and told me that she had to approach her relative. I encouraged her to do so and that night both of them were reconnected. My friend could easily have found plenty of excuses for not taking these courageous steps. However, she identified the problem and she worked towards the solution. This is what it means to think like Jesus.
However, there are also other situations where we know that in spite of what we want to do and in spite of being so well intentioned the end result does not depend on us and on our efforts. What we are going to do for example when one of our best friends is all of a sudden diagnosed with a terminal illness? How are we going to react when in spite of all our efforts to reconcile ourselves with someone, the person concerned still refuses to move towards reconciliation? This is where the parable of the sower can give us a way forward. All the sower had to do was to prepare the ground to the best of his ability. In addition, he was also responsible to put the seed in the soil. However the sower had no control on how that seed was going to produce the harvest. He also had no control when the harvest was going to eventuate. With all his intelligence that came from years of practice the sower would not even be able to understand the process that the seed had to go through in order to produce the desired result. What is promised however is that at the end of the day there will be a harvest and that the harvest would be abundant.
What does this tell us? It tells us this. In these circumstances, we do what we can do to try to achieve a resolution. However after having done all that is possible we find that the solution does not depend on our efforts, we need to back off and let God do his work. This is very hard to do because our nature tells us that we need to keep doing something in order to come to a resolution. There is nothing worse than realising that we cannot do anything in certain circumstances. We feel so helpless and inadequate. However we need to realise that in such situations letting God carry us forward is doing the best thing that we can ever do. Like the sower we need to trust in the process that the seed though it seems dead and buried in the ground is in reality very much alive and working steadily to produce a bumper harvest. This is how we make the paths straight and think like Jesus.
“Jesus here I am. You know what I am facing. I have done my best. If there is something else that I need to do, show me. In the meantime I am standing on your promise that you will be always with me. I entrust this situation to you. Walk with me, guide me. Amen”
God Bless
