The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friends in Christ,

In today's Gospel reading, we find St. John the Baptist imprisoned by King Herod. He is not being punished for proclaiming Jesus but for simply condemning immorality. King Herod married his brother's wife in incestuous adultery. St. John publicly denounced him, was imprisoned, and was soon to be decapitated.

St. John's disciples still do not understand that Jesus is the Messiah. They imagine St. John is Him, despite all that St. John tells them. As with most worldly-minded people, we compete when we should be complementing. St. John's disciples saw Jesus and His disciples as competition.

To dispel their false notions, St. John sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He is the One or if we are to look for another. St. John has no doubts. He has been able to see and recognize the Savior from the time he was in his mother's womb. He foretold His coming when he was in the desert. He pointed Jesus out as the Savior when He came to be baptized in the river Jordan. There is no hesitancy or doubt in the mind of St. John the Baptist. The doubt is in the mind of St. John's disciples.

Jesus knows all this. Rather than answer the question directly, which would have been perceived as boasting or pride and vanity, Jesus directs them to observe Him and compare what they know about the Messiah and what they see in Jesus. The miracles and good works of Jesus speak for themselves if we only observe them with open minds. When we have become prejudiced by false teachers, it is increasingly more challenging to see the Truth, even when it is right in front of us. The disciples of St. John heard and witnessed the many things that Jesus said and did. This was the source of their rivalry. However, on this occasion, they cooperate with the grace of God and open their hearts and minds to see and believe.

After showing us His wonderful works, Jesus adds that we are blessed if we are not scandalized in Him. It was a terrible situation that St. John's disciples allowed themselves to enter. It was another blessing or even a miracle that they could now overcome their animosity toward Jesus and come to love and follow Him.

After St. John's disciples had departed, Jesus instructed us in the goodness of St. John. Jesus did not wish to fill St. John's disciples' heads with pride and vanity, so He waited for them to depart. We are assured that there is no competition between Jesus and St. John. St. John was the greatest of the prophets. He was the unshakeable guide leading us to the Son of God.

We should strive to see and understand that God has created everyone, and we all have a purpose in His divine plan. No one was made for Hell. Hell was created for those who choose not to love God and enter eternal happiness with Him. The differences in our qualities or attributes are not designed to create competition. Instead, we are deliberately made different and unequal so that we may complement and complete one another.

When each of us brings forth the qualities that God has given us, and we unite them with the qualities God has given others, we find a more perfect manifestation of God in our lives. We become one body manifesting ever more perfectly the life of Jesus in this world. Where two or more are gathered in My Name, I am there with them (St. Matthew 18: 19-20).

The devils work on both extremes. It is the devil's will to divide us constantly. We find differences and magnify them by competing against each other for power or supremacy. Where God wants us to unite and work together, complementing each other, the devils want to divide us with strife, jealousy, hatred, envy, etc. On the other extreme, where God has made us different, the devil wants to wipe out all differences and distinctions. It is a demonic suggestion that we are all equal and the same. Our modern society wants to remove the two sexes of male and female or at least make everyone neutered or neutral. The God-given blessings of male and female to unite in this life to bring forth new life in the image and likeness of God are being erased from the world around us.

The same can be said of riches, power, nationality, race, etc. The differences allow us to work together — completing and complementing one another in the more perfect manifestation of God in our lives. The devils want us to tear down every distinction and make everyone and everything equal — insulting the designs of God. Or they attempt to inspire hatred and war with each other because of our differences.

May we never be scandalized by Jesus or any of the goods God has given us or others.

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