Readings
I - Gen. 17: 3-9
II - Jn. 8: 51-59
TRUST IN THE LORD
In the first reading, God gives a new identity to Abram by changing his name as Abraham - meaning ‘the father of many nation’. God enters into a covenant with Abraham and promises to make him into nations from whom all kings would come - a race set apart to behold the Messiah. The genealogy of Jesus begins from Moses! Abraham trusted and everything was done to him. In the Gospel passage Jesus promises of eternal life to humankind and the Jews wouldn’t believe but call Jesus as ‘possessed’. The Jews considered Abraham their forefather as someone great and argued that Abraham too had to encounter death. In spite of the explicit explanation of Jesus, the Jews adamantly refused to trust in Jesus and in his promise about eternal life.
Abraham trusted in the words of God and so was everything done to him. The Jews had placed their trust in the God of their own ideology, principles and mindset. Therefore they refused to trust in Jesus and hence they had to miss the Messiah for whom they waited so long even for generation after generation. In this light let us examine our lives to find out where we have placed our trust: ideology, power, wealth, position, status, people and strength or are we open to the promised of the Lord in the Scripture, from the people and through the events.
Task: The Bible says, “Blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust” (Ps. 40: 4). Take some quiet moments to examine: Where and in what have I placed my trust?
Prayer: In the silence of heart keep repeating the prayer “Lord Jesus, I trust in you”.
