Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
(I Corinthians 3:1-9; Luke 4:38-44)
“If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” This saying sounds sacrilegious and
violent. Actually, it is wise and meant
to preserve people from having false hopes or, one can say, “false messiahs.” “Meeting the Buddha” refers to a spiritual
experience of enlightenment. If one can
see the Buddha, he or she is having a physical experience, which is ipso
facto false. In today’s gospel Jesus
likewise removes false ideas about who he is.
Jesus has begun his ministry of taking back the world from
Satan. He has cast out demons and cured
Peter’s mother-in-law. When the demons
leave the possessed, they shout out that he is “the Holy One of God” or “the
Son of God.” What do they mean by these
titles? Because everyone will have her
or his own idea, Jesus chastises the demons not to say anymore. In due time the people will see that being
the Son of God means full and faithful love.
We should not be inhibited to call on the name of
Jesus. He is present not to heal us of
every woe but to save us from the claws of sin and death. For the time being, our encounters with him
are largely spiritual, but that does not mean inconsequential. Indeed, calling on Jesus will bring us to a
full meeting with him.
