What God Can Do with a “NOBODY”…

July 9, 2023 – 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070923.cfm)

Of all human vices, pride is the greatest and highest evil. Compared to selfishness, greed and lust, pride is more dangerous. For example, temper is what gets us into trouble, but pride is what keeps us in trouble. As what the man who caused a bad accident with road rage on others, said: “Good for him. He has been road-cutting & racing with me. See, who is the best of us, now?” (“Ahh, maayo ra pud. Sige man gud na siya’g mikiglumba nako. Na tagam. Unya kinsa may hawod nato ron, bi?)”

Jesus in the Gospel gives praise to his Father for his love of the simple and the humble. After proclaiming the Good News to different towns & villages, and revealing Himself as the Son of God, Jesus was rejected & not recognized by most people except some few others. “I thank you Father,” he says, “that you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to simple people.” He said these words because of his experience of pride that corrupts the proud-hearted, and also those who are pained & devastated due to the pride of others. Jesus did not condemn intelligence; what he condemns here is intellectual pride, that does not only cause people to sin & in the state of sinfulness, but above all, blocks people to receive & recognize the Good News being offered right in from of them.

Due to pride, our hearts, minds, souls, & persons may be corrupted, closed, stony & even beyond redemption. And whenever we think or consider ourselves better, more, or superior than others, the sin and vice of pride are at work, and always dangerous. And so, be warned & beware of our Pride for it would take lots of humbling experiences for us to finally swallow or surrender our pride.

That is why Jesus praised the humble & simple-hearted little ones, because they are open to recognize & receive God’s graces & blessings in their lives. Because they know that they don’t know & accept their ignorance & limits, the humble & meek ordinary people are wise-enough to be familiar with & to readily recognize the Messiah-with-us whom God reveals to us. God’s grace is really upon us & remains always with us, in humility, not pride; with the humble, not the proud.

Jesus also challenges us here to be humble, simple & ordinary with our faith in Him. He calls us to deny ourselves, carry our crosses & follow Him. Meaning, he simply what us to live our lives with Him. He does not require us to study or understand, but to accept, recognize & believe in Him. Not to bear Him in our pride & sinfulness, but to take on the cross & responsibility for His mission of redemption for all. And we can only fulfill all these by means of our humble, simple, ordinary faith & life witness, & not through our pride.

A biblical scholar once said, “Moses spent forty years thinking he was Somebody, then he spent another forty years in the desert realizing that he was Nobody; but finally, he spent the last forty year of his life, learning what God can do with a Nobody! 

Remember, even the most uneducated or illiterate among us could understand and live with the mysteries of God’s kingdom, if we are simple and humble of heart and mind before God and others. 

Lord, remove pride in our hearts & keep us always humble & simple, and Your better plans, ways & will be done in us always & forever. Amen.