Word to the Wise
Thursday, January 12, 2023 - Thursday in the 1st Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 3:7-14 and Mark 1:40-45]Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart, so as to forsake the living God. Encourage yourselves daily while it is still "today," so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin. We have become partners of Christ if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end. [Hebrews]
The passage from the Letter to the Hebrews today begins with a quote from Psalm 95: Oh, that today you would hear his voice, "Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion in the day of testing in the desert...." The last lines of the reading refer back to these words and recall the experience of the Israelites in the desert of Sinai when they grew tired of the Lord and Moses. They allowed discouragement to "harden" their hearts. For the Christian faithful, the effort to live out the challenges of Jesus' teachings requires "holding firm" to our commitment. If we are going to be "partners of Christ," we have to hold up our end of the deal!
"Hardness of heart" usually doesn't occur overnight. It comes about incrementally with small compromises for the sake of appearances or attractions until we wake up and realize how deeply compromised our lives have become. In our own day, this takes the form of secular "idols" that offer attractive opportunities which compete with Christian values. These may be political as well as material. The outward observances of worship may or may not remain but the heart is committed elsewhere. The Letter to the Hebrews challenges us to be aware of those "hard" places in our hearts that keep us from being fully committed "partners of Christ." AMEN