When we don’t understand

Today’s gospel shows us that Jesus does not reveal everything to us because he wants us to be conscious and sensitive to him – to his teachings, to his ways, to his love.

Jesus enjoined them, "Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod."
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
"Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?

We can see that Jesus was not referring to physical bread. The warning was not because they were not able to bring bread. He was able to feed thousands, why should he be concerned about their bread? In Matthew 16:11-12, we see that he was referring to the teaching or beliefs of the Pharisees, Sadducees and Herod. These people have their hearts closed to Jesus. They were not living in the light. They rejected Jesus and his teachings. This is why Jesus is warning his disciples to be on their guard that they don’t act like these people.

Sometimes we too don’t understand. We forget the great things Jesus has done for us, and we tend to worry about material things, about things in this world. The Lord’s prayer asks us to pray in faith and confidence ‘Give us this day, our daily bread.” When we pray, we should have faith that God will provide. If we serve God, if we seek his will, we can be sure that all other things will be given to us (Matthew 6:33). May this give us strength and inspire us to continue to trust in God.

We also don’t understand why we are tempted. We question God why he is tempting us, or why he is testing us. The book of Job tells us that God allowed the enemy to tempt us (Job 1:12) but God did not do it. Today’s reading tells us further that God do not tempt us..

No one experiencing temptation should say,
"I am being tempted by God";for God is not subject to temptation to evil,
and he himself tempts no one.
Rather, each person is tempted when lured and enticed by his desire.
Then desire conceives and brings forth sin,and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.

As we can see, sin starts with an evil desire. This brings us back again to the gospel – to look what is in our hearts, to see what we believe in, because these beliefs inside us are what causes us to sin. May we pray for faith to trust in God’s will and his perfect plan, even if we don’t understand everything, and may we pray that God continue to bless our hearts to seek and follow his will in our lives, knowing that our lives would be more meaningful once we live in the light of Christ. Like the psalmist says “ blessed the man you instruct, O Lord”

 God Bless!