Changing the paradigm

Gospel: Mt 20:17-28

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022824.cfm

As we’ve been going through this Lenten journey, I find myself reflecting on these gospels through the lens of Matthew 5:45: “...for God makes the sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” 

It’s not about power and prestige; it’s about what you do. We shouldn’t constantly put labels on others for being good and bad or just and unjust. Yes, we should strive for more justice and more goodness, but this should not be a comparative analysis. We are not earning anything by being more just or being more good, we are bringing the Divine Will into being. This Divine Will goes beyond our ego and is applies to all. It is a return to the image in which we were created. We are the ones who have turned our back on that by not seeing the Divine image in ourselves and others.

We should not act with justice and goodness for an eternal reward for us individually but should be doing it for the abundant goodness for all. None of us earn our salvation, but we all contribute to the salvation and the damnation of all by how much we teardown and build up the Kingdom. We are responsible for the inequalities we see in the world. We can overcome these inequalities by taking a servant approach and focusing on what we can do and not on what makes us better or separate from someone else. We are not earning a higher position in heaven; we are striving for a world of equality and generosity.

Love transcends our desire to be “better than.” Let’s strive to see others as “equal to” and find ways to live and love more generously.