Isaiah 7:1-9 / Matthew 11:20-24
When faced with a hungry person, it is utterly useless to preach to him about the love of God.
The most sensible thing to do is to give him some food and that will indeed show him the love of God.
Hunger
has no logic and hence people will not listen to whatever promises of
food that will be coming. The hunger has to be addressed immediately.
If hunger has no logic, then fear can cause panic. In the face of mortal danger, fear can make people hysterical.
In
the 1st reading, we heard that the hearts of king Ahaz and the
people of Judah shuddered when they got the news that the enemy was
approaching to attack them.
The immediate thing to do
would be to run away and save themselves and to each his own. For those
remaining, they could panic and be hysterical as they wait for death to
fall on them.
Yet in all that chaos, the Lord spoke.
And He assured His people that what the enemy planned to do won't come
true; it would not be. But on one condition: But if you do not stand by
me, you will not stand at all.
The people will have to decide - either to stand by the words of the Lord, or give in to fear and panic.
Yet
in the gospel, the story was quite the opposite. The people had seen
the miracles of Jesus, and yet they refused to repent. And as it is,
those places mentioned in the gospel now lie in ruins.
And for us, we have heard the words of the Lord; we have seen His love for us in the Eucharist.
We now have to make the decision - either we stand by Him, or we won't stand at all.