Micah 6: 1-4.6-8
Ps 50:5-6.8-9.16bc-17.21,
Matthew 12:38-42 Full Readings
Acting Justly, Loving tenderly and Walking Humbly
This famous statement of prophet Micah is one of the most quoted verses in the Old Testament. The Lord asks us of this: Act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8). The context in which Micah said this statement is when the Israelites whom God had delivered from slavery in Egypt started reciting the commandments of God only by lips not from the heart nor putting them in practice. The Lord was no longer pleased with their external sacrifices and burnt offerings for they meant nothing to Him; God sees only the heart.
This statement requires the conversion of the heart. What God wants is only conversion, consisting of justice, tenderness and true devotion to him. Nothing external will suffice. This however doesn't mean that our external actions should not be good, it means that our actions should be from the heart not doing them hypocritically by pretending to be good outside and inside we are full of malice.
Acting justly, loving tenderly and walking humbly with God is better than anything else for these are kingdom virtues. In today's Gospel when the Scribes and the Pharisees asked a sign from Jesus, he challenges them and to us today that we should not wait for a sign other than Himself; his life, death and resurrection. Instead of focusing on looking for signs, we should focus on cleaning our hearts and fill them with justice, love and humility and not be like the Pharisees and the Scribes.
Jesus called the generation of his time, “An evil and unfaithful generation” By this time, Jesus had already performed many miracles. He had turned water into wine at the wedding in Cana, healed an official’s son, drove an evil spirit from a man in Capernaum, healed Peter’s mother-in-law, and cured many others who were sick and oppressed. The first miraculous catch of fish on the lake of Gennesaret had occurred, and Jesus cleansed a man with leprosy, healed the centurion's servant, healed a paralyzed man who was lowered through the roof and healed a man’s withered hand on the Sabbath. In the face of so many miracles–of so many signs–the demand for another sign could be seen as a kind of refusal to see and accept what has already been amply demonstrated. It was a refusal to have faith, and Jesus responded to this doubt and resistance. Jesus has done a lot of in our lives but sometimes we are blind and without faith to see these miracles in our lives; if only we had seen them we would act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with our God, not just complaining and always seeking signs here and there.
Our invitation today is to focus on developing virtues of the heart, which will help us also to live and act well among the people. Reflect today on how you Act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with your God. Pray for the Spirit to help you develop virtues of the heart.
Let us Pray
Lord, help always to trust in you whether I see signs or not for I know you are powerful and you do whatever you will. May I always Act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with you. Amen
Be blessed
Amen
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