Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor.
A reflection on the daily readings, for Friday of the Second Week of Advent, by Father Perry.
By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor
“Eat your vegetables.”
How many times did we hear that when we were kids?
Literally countless times, or so it would seem.
And so not surprising that God our Father repeats again and again and again that we should stay close to his law: follow it.
He even says it directly, that to listen to and to follow that law is “for our own good.”
The psalmist goes even further when he tells us that the man or woman that follows that law is blessed, who, “delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night.”
My goodness. That seems much more than merely eating one’s veggies.
It almost sounds like verily becoming a vegetarian! Yikes!
But God’s word is truly consistent in urging us to follow the law of the Lord.
Yes, the law and the prophets! That is where salvation comes for us.
+ And Jesus is equally consistent in urging us to stay close to what God tells us, and to his teaching, too.
Once again, Jesus is criticizing those who are hard-hearted, who do not listen, who only judge, who criticize first this way and then that way, and who reject both the austerity of John and the celebratory welcoming of Jesus.
Are they ever satisfied? I guess that in those days, the days of Jesus and even before, there were their own versions of Baby Boomers, Generation X-ers, and millennials.
Jesus is exhorting his listeners to become a generation of wisdom-seekers, which he tells them would vindicate them, because they would be living as God calls them to live and with lives that this Advent and every Advent calls us to live.
That is, like the psalmist says, a place and a kingdom (of God) where, “kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss.”
Now that’s wisdom, and that is God-life!
And Jesus urges them and us to hear and see and welcome this life into our lives.
And Jesus proclaims that in living so and in doing so, “Our God will come to save us!”
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.
[Photo by Sharon Pittaway on Unsplash]
