Suy Niệm Thứ Ba tuần 6 Thường
Niên
Làm thế nào để chúng ta có thể đối phó với sự cám dỗ? Có một số tội cụ thể mà chúng ta cảm thấy rất là khó khăn để tránh phạm hay chống lại? Qua bài đọc thứ Nhất hôm nay, chúng ta thấy Thánh Giacô Tông Đồ đã đưa ra những bàn luận vấn đề này của con người. Thật sự đó không phải là một cái tội khi phải đương đầu với sự cám dỗ, thậm chí Chúa Giêsu cũng đã bị cám dỗ. Tuy nhiên, Đấy là tội nếu chúng ta để cho mình tự rơi vào sự cám dỗ và làm những điều gì xúc phạm đến Thiên Chúa. Cám dỗ thường liên quan đến một lời nói dối hoặc chỉ nói một nửa sự thật. Những sự cám dỗ (ma quỷ) luôn cố gắng để đẩy kéo chúng ta xa lìa Thiên Chúa với những lời hứa suông ngoạt ngào.
Qua bài Tin Mừng, các môn đệ đã chứng kiến hai hai phép lạ mà Chúa Giêsu đã làm là hoá bánh ra nhiều để phân phát cho những người đang trong cơn đó khát. Tuy nhiên, các môn đệ cũng còn gặp phải những khó khăn để hiểu được rằng Chúa Giêsu cũng sẽ ban cho họ những nhu cầu riêng của họ. Những điều gì là sự cám dỗ lớn nhất trong cuộc đời của chúng ta? Chúng ta có tin rằng Chúa sẽ ban cho chúng ta những thứ cần thiết để giúp chúng ta loại bỏ những gì là tội lỗi và biết chọn những gì là tốt đẹp cho cuộc sống đời sau?
Chúa Kitô mời gọi chúng ta kiên trì trong việc nắm giữ những gì là tốt đẹp và tìm kiếm những gì là thực sự đầy ý nghĩa. Những sự cám dỗ đến và đi. Nhưng sự hiện diện và chân lý của Thiên Chúa thì luôn ở lại và hiện diện với chúng ta mãi mãi. Vì vậy, khi chúng ta bị cám dỗ, chúng ta có thể đến trước Chúa Giêsu, với tấm lòng chân thành dâng lên Chúa tất cả những những sự yếu đuối của chúng ta. Chúng ta hãy khiêm tốn để cầu xin Chúa ban thêm cho chúng ta có sức mạnh để chống đỡ những cơn cám dỗ.
Christ invites us to persevere in holding on to what is good and to seek what is truly fulfilling. Temptations come and go. God’s presence and truth are with us forever. So when we are tempted, we can come before Jesus just as we are, in our weakness. We can humbly ask for strength. Jesus truly provides us with the grace we need to say ‘no’ to sin and ‘yes’ to God.
In the Gospel, the disciples have already witnessed two instances where Jesus provided food for people who were hungry. Still, it is difficult for the disciples to understand that Jesus will also provide for their own needs. What is the greatest temptation in my life? Do I believe that Jesus provides me with what I need to reject what is sinful and choose what is good? Give us this day our daily bread and lead us not into temptation.
How would you answer these questions that Jesus posed to His disciples if He had posed them to you? It takes humility to admit that you do not yet understand or comprehend, that your heart is in fact hardened, and that you fail to see and hear all that God has revealed. Of course there are various levels to these struggles, so hopefully you do not struggle with them to a grave degree. But if you can humbly confess that you do struggle with these to a certain extent, then that humility and honesty will gain you much grace.
Jesus posed these questions to His disciples within the larger context of a discussion about the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod. He knew that the “leaven” of these leaders was like a yeast that corrupted others. Their dishonesty, pride, desire for honors and the like had a seriously negative affect upon the faith of others. So by posing these questions above, Jesus challenged His disciples to see this evil leaven and to reject it.
Seeds of doubt and confusion are all around us. It seems these days that almost everything the secular world promotes is in some way contrary to the Kingdom of God. And yet, just like the disciples’ inability to see the evil leaven of the Pharisees and Herod, we also frequently fail to see the evil leaven within our society. Instead, we allow the many errors to confuse us and lead us down the path of secularism.
One thing this should teach us is that just because someone has some form of authority or power within society does not mean that they are a truthful and holy leader. And though it’s never our place to judge the heart of another, we absolutely must have “ears to hear” and “eyes to see” the many errors that are held up within our world as good. We must constantly seek to “understand and comprehend” the laws of God and use them as a guide against the lies within the world. One important way to make sure we do this well is to make sure that our hearts never become hardened to the truth.
Reflect, today, upon these questions of our Lord and examine them especially within the broader context of society as a whole. Consider the false “leaven” taught by our world and by so many in positions of authority. Reject these errors and recommit yourself to the full embrace of the holy mysteries of Heaven so that those truths and those truths alone become your daily guide.
My glorious Lord, I thank You for being the Lord of all Truth. Help me to daily turn my eyes and ears to that Truth so that I will be able to see the evil leaven all around me. Give me wisdom and the gift of discernment, dear Lord, so that I will be able to immerse myself into the mysteries of Your holy life. Jesus, I trust in You.
1. Jesus’ Warning: The Gospel reveals that the disciples of Jesus struggled to understand the recent words and actions of Jesus. While crossing the sea of Galilee in a boat, Jesus puts his disciples on guard against the leaven – the hypocrisy and evil intentions – of the Pharisees and Herod. But the disciples think that Jesus is commenting on them forgetting to bring bread for the boat ride. Jesus asks them to look at their hearts to see if they have hardened them. Do they fail to realize who Jesus truly is and what Jesus is doing?
2. Understanding the Bread Miracles: Jesus leads his disciples in a reflection about the two miracles in which he multiplied loaves for the crowds. He invites his disciples to reflect on the numbers involved in both miracles and understand how they refer to Israel and to the Gentiles. The five loaves, the five thousand, and the twelve baskets refer to the five books of Moses (the Torah) and the twelve tribes of Israel. The seven loaves, the four thousand, and the seven baskets refer to the whole world (the four directions) and either the seven days of creation or the seven nations representing the Gentiles in the land of Canaan. Jesus wants his disciples to understand that the wall of separation between Israel and the Gentiles is being torn down. The Old Covenant is passing and is being brought to fulfillment in the New. Both Israel and the Gentiles are called to table fellowship in the one Kingdom of God inaugurated by Jesus and present mysteriously in the Church.
3. Perseverance During Temptation: In the First Reading, James teaches that God is not the cause of temptation. Temptation normally arises from our desires and passions. We can either persevere and not give in to temptation or we can succumb to temptation. The latter leads to sin in our lives. Instead of maturing in the Christian life and persevering on the path to holiness and perfection, the one who allows sin to grow in them is destined to spiritual death and risks eternal separation from God.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, soften the soil of my heart so that I may embrace and welcome your word. I need to die to myself so that I can bear good fruit for your Kingdom. Help me to understand the mystery of your words and actions in the Gospel.
Resolution: God allows and permits us to be tempted. He does not want us, his children, to fail, but rather to resist what leads us away from him and renew our commitment to him. In our battle to overcome temptation and sin, we need to make sure we have not hardened our hearts to God’s mercy. God’s grace is powerful enough to soften our hearts and open them to God. God’s grace does not take away our freedom: we can freely resist divine grace and stubbornly remain in our sin. What will we choose today?
A Faulty Conclusion: The disciples had just seen Jesus heal the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman and the deaf man (Mark 7:24-37). They had just seen Jesus feed four thousand people with seven loaves and a few fish (Mark 8:1-9). Yet the disciples still couldn’t put Jesus’ words about leaven into context. They concluded that he was worried about them having only one loaf of bread with them! The Pharisees had just demanded a sign from Jesus (Mark 8:11), and now his own disciples didn’t understand him. Is it any wonder that Jesus sounded frustrated as he asked the disciples this series of questions? In our own lives, how easily we can become focused on our material concerns and our practical understanding and forget to try to see a situation through God’s eyes. We can struggle with a particular teaching of the Church, and rather than make the effort to form our conscience according to the mind of the Church through study, prayer, spiritual direction, and confession, we simply say that we disagree and leave it at that. We can fail to trust God, and our hearts become hardened into a particular expectation of how a problem should be solved. What would we say if Jesus asked, “Are your hearts hardened?”
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