Like the parent or teacher who says to the child who lies, “You don’t hurt me when you lie; you hurt yourself.”
Actually, both may be true.
Both, probably, are true.
But God says about the same in Baruch. God has to send them away into captivity because they have sinned and turned against him.
Biblically, God causes it to happen. But actually, once again, the children of Israel have reaped what they have sown.
They made God “a widow” with all of God’s children punished in their sin.
But God’s promise, indeed, will bring them back. And as usual, God will restore his people and save them.
This is the oldest story retold yet again. Another re-run, “for he … will, in saving you, bring you back enduring joy.”
Jesus, too, brought enduring joy to his disciples whom he had sent out on mission to preach, teach, heal, and cast away evil.
The 72 disciples, rejoicing, returned to Jesus saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.”
And he refocused their joy. It was not because spirits were subject to them, but “because their names were written in heaven.”
And that was so only because they had received God’s word like little children.
Children trust mommy and daddy. Children get it!
And when we look to God and listen to God, and open to God like little children do with their parents, we come to know him who was revealed to us by Jesus the Christ.
We come, “to see what prophets and kings desire to see but did not see, to hear what they did not hear.”
And we say as the Gospel verse said, “Alleluia! Alleluia! Blessed are you Father, Lord of heaven and earth; you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the kingdom. Alleluia! Alleluia!”
Father Perry Dean Leiker is the 13th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com.
