Suy Niệm tin Mừng Thứ Bẩy tuần thứ 8 TN.

 Suy Niệm tin Mừng Thứ Bẩy tuần thứ 8 TN. Mark 11:27-33

Trong trong các Bài Tin Mừng, nhiều trường hợp chúng ta thấy các thầy thượng tế, các thầy thông giáo và các trưởng lão muốn hạ uy tín của Chúa Giêsu trước mặt mọi người nên nhiều lần họ đã chất vấn Chúa. Họ tìm mọi cách để chứng minh Chúa Giêsu là người “xáo quyệt”, “nói láo”. Vì vậy, họ nghĩ rằng Chúa Giêsu không thể trả lời được câu hỏi của họ đưa ra trong tin mừng hôm nay. họ đã cố tình gài bẫy với câu hỏi lừa bịp của họ, "Ông lấy quyền nào mà làm các điều ấy ?" (Mc 11:27) Họ quá chắc chắn là Chúa Giêsu sẽ không thể trả lời câu này. Tất nhiên, họ đã sai lầm vì Chúa Giêsu đã hỏi lại họ một câu hỏi mà họ không thể trả lời được. Dù bằng cách nào câu trả lời của họ cũng sẽ đưa chính họ vào sự thù nghịch với dân chúng.

Ở đây chúng ta thấy tâm địa con người của chúng ta có hạn chế. Những người có chức quyền trong xã hội hay lạm dụng kiến thức của mình để đặt những gánh nặng lên những người khác, hay lên dân chúng dưới quyền của họ. Vì quyền lợi riêng rư, vì niềm tự hào của họ, họ không thể thừa nhận rằng Chúa Giêsu đã nói nên sự thật về chân lý.

Đôi khi chúng ta cũng có những hành động như thể, chúng ta có câu trả lời cho tất cả mọi thứ trong thế giới này. Như các thầy thượng tế, các thầy thông giáo và các trưởng lão trong thời Chúa Giêsu, chúng ta cũng không nhận ra được là chính quyền thực sự đến từ Thiên Chúa. Chúng ta đôi lúc cũng đã đặt những câu hỏi tương tự về Thiên Chúa với sự hiểu biết nông cạn và hạn chế của chúng ta, chúng ta đã độc tài ra lệnh Ngài nên làm theo ý riêng của chúng ta.

Chỉ có sự hạ mình và biết khiêm tốn chúng ta mới có thể công nhận được uy quyền của Chúa Giêsu. Và vì thế, Thiên Chúa sẽ không gây ra khó khăn ngăn trở chúng ta tìm hiểu những gì Ngài muốn nơi chúng ta. Ngài đã ban cho chúng ta bộ Kinh Thánh để dạy dỗ, hướng dẫn chúng ta hàng ngày. Nếu chúng ta chịu khó đọc Lời Chúa mỗi ngày, Chúa Thánh Thần sẽ hướng dẫn chúng ta hiểu được công việc và quyên năng của thiên Chúa.. Và bây gìờ là thời gian mà chúng tôi phải biết rõ tầm quan trọng cũa việc rao truyền Tin Mừng của Ngài và làm chứng cho quyền lực của Chúa Giêsu trong cuộc sống hàng ngày của chúng ta.

REFLECTION

Members of the religious ruling class ask Jesus by what authority he drove the buyers and sellers out of the Temple. They were hoping to trap him. If he answers, "by my own authority," they will arrest him for causing a disturbance in God's house. If he says, "by God's authority," they will accuse him of blasphemy.

Jesus refuses to answer their question unless they first answer a question he will put to them: "John's baptism, was it from heaven or from man?" They hesitate to answer, for if they say "from heaven," the people will ask them why did they not believe in John? If they answer, "from man," they fear the reaction of the people who had great respect for John. The religious authorities refused to do what they ought to have been doing, discerning what is from God and what from man. They refused to do this, because they would have to admit the truth. People who refuse to face the truth, in the end get themselves in very tight situations. Whatever they say, they will be denying the truth. The person who faces the truth, however, will be asked to take a stand in defense of the truth as he perceives it, and will, therefore, have the honor of being very Christ-like. For Christ lived by the truth and went to his death in defense of the truth. As he had told others that the truth would make them free, so the truth had set him free, had made him free to choose death rather than falsehood, had made him free to rise again to new life.

Opening Prayer: 

Lord, I come to you today to praise you and to honor you. You are the king of my life and I thank you for the authority of love you have over me.

Encountering Christ:

Love and Authority: “By what authority are you doing these things,” the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders asked Jesus. For them, authority meant power and dominion. But for Jesus, authority means a relationship of love, such as between a Father and Son. It is no wonder that Jesus then brought up John’s baptism in response to them. It was through this baptism that “we are reborn as sons of God.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1213) When we think of God’s authoritative love, let us remember his character: merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Catechism of the Catholic Church 210).

Humility to Listen: This wasn’t the first time that the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders heard Jesus speak, but they just couldn’t realize the truth about who Jesus was. They lacked humility. Jesus’s words can never pierce our hearts if we just hear them. We need the trust, simplicity, and humility to listen so we can arrive at the answer and rejoice at knowing and loving the truth our hearts seek.

Seeking Answers Elsewhere: Here, we saw the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders talking among themselves, looking for answers when the answer was right in front of them. Sometimes, we do the same thing. When we are confused or distraught, do we lean into our relationship with Jesus and enter into a dialogue with him in our prayer? We know that Jesus is all-knowing and all-powerful and full of love for us, so we can trust that he has the answers to the questions that unsettle our hearts. Why do we ever look elsewhere?

Conversing with Christ: Dear Jesus, help me to surrender my whole life to you more perfectly. Help me to overcome any sin that separates me from you and allow me to grow in the certainty that you love me.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will face any decisions I make by first coming to you interiorly in prayer.

Meditation:

Do you accept the authority of God’s word and submit to it with trust and obedience? Many religious leaders took offense at Jesus because they could not accept his authority. After Jesus had dramatically cleansed the temple of the traders and money-changers the Jewish leaders question Jesus to trap him. If he says his authority is divine they will charge him with blasphemy. If he has done this on his own authority they might well arrest him as a mad zealot before he could do more damage. Jesus, seeing through their trap, poses a question to them and makes their answer a condition for his answer. Did they accept the work of John the Baptist as divine or human? If they accepted John’s work as divine, they would be compelled to accept Jesus as the Messiah. They dodged the question because they were unwilling to face the truth. They did not accept the Baptist and they would not accept Jesus as their Messiah. Jesus told his disciples that “the truth will make you free” (John 8:31). Do you know the joy and freedom of living according to God's word of truth?

“Lord Jesus, your word is life and truth. Instruct my heart that I may grow in the knowledge of your truth and live according to your word

Saturday 8th Ordinary Time 2018

In today Gospel reading, we witness Jesus withering a fig tree without fruits to its roots even though He knows that it is not a season for fig tree has fruits, It wasn’t time for fig trees to have fruits in that time of the year.

Jesus never worked a miracle for himself, so we know the fig’s tree was not punished for not having fruits to satisfy His hunger. We know, this event immediately precedes his entering the Temple at Jerusalem where he expects to find people busy to pray and worship his Father in the Temple. But instead he finds them occupied the temple area with worldly activity, often fraudulent, cheating and unjust activity at that.

The fruits of honesty and uprightness that Jesus expects to find are simply not there; so in a sense the fig tree symbolizes Jerusalem. Are we honest in our dealings with others? Do we realize that the Lord expects us to bear fruit? Do we invest our time well, in both prayer and action, to this end?

Do we always act respectfully in God’s house where our Eucharistic Lord dwells?

Prayer and action are intimately tied together. Jesus was right in driving the moneychangers and animals from the Temple. Certainly we’re not supposed to busy ourselves with worldly affairs while we’re in church. But it’s very proper to bring our worries and concerns, our joys, successes and failures to Christ in prayer. It’s good for us to ask Our Lord his viewpoint about our concerns and ask for his grace to continue on. And when we do set aside time specifically for prayer to encounter Christ, then we find the strength and desire to spread his message to others. It’s through prayer that we’re filled with apostolic zeal. When we dedicate our day to loving service of God, our day itself becomes a prayer.

Is our prayer the source of interior strength, and is our action a loving prayer?

Let’s ask our Lord Jesus to be with our journey in our lives, and ready to assist us with His grace and presence. Helpus to use our time wisely on behalf of His Kingdom.