God is most worthy of our trust (HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE 2ND WEEK OF LENT

Homily for Thursday of the 2nd week of Lent 

Jer.17:5-10; Ps.1; Luke 16:19-31

Theme: God is most worthy of our trust

We live in a world where the quality of life is measured by different standards. One of such standards is the caliber of people one associates with. The assumption is when you associate with people of high pedigree, you are invariably influential. This has contributed to the usual rolling-out of the profile of dignitaries at occasions, to indicate that the one who is celebrating, for whom the dignitaries are present, is of high social class. In the readings of today, the Lord wants us to be very careful when we evaluate the quality of life by such standard.

In the first reading, we are discouraged from putting our trust in man. It is not possible and non-encouraging to live life without trusting. Even those who have been betrayed are often advised to try trusting again. So, trusting in man is not the issue here per say. What the Lord discourages is an absolute trust that is due to God alone. When we entrust our lives to man in a way that is due to only God, we make a grave mistake. This is because, no man has the willingness and capacity to love us as God does. No matter how influential a man is, he is not as influential as God. No matter how much a rich man loves you, he cannot be as sacrificial as God. The point is, there is a limit to which man can help. So, if our absolute trust is in man, we become stranded (cursed) when that limit is reached.

Instead, our complete trust should be in God. God’s love has no limit; and so, we can never be stranded. The first reading went on to speak about the deceitful nature of the heart. You cannot completely tell what is in the heart of another. So, you cannot always detect the hidden motives behind the good man does sometimes. This is a major reason we must be careful in trusting men. Someone can be very nice to you, just to entice you to let go of what is most valuable to you. An employer can be very generous to the staff, just to keep the staff’s eyes off greater opportunities out-there. Someone can give you peanut from his/her abundance as if he/she is giving you their all; yet they will demand all the loyalty from you. The point is, you cannot be so certain how pure the motive of man is when he shows kindness.

Lent is a time to trust God more because He is the most just. He neither deceives nor can be deceived. When men denial us kindness or lie that they cannot help, God will always give us His best. God will not bring us into a bargain and fail to fulfill His part. In the gospel reading, though Lazarus was poor and sick in the eyes of men, he was rich in the eyes of God because he was faithful. After death, God fulfilled his own part of the bargain by rewarding Lazarus with heaven for his faithfulness on earth. Beloved, you cannot trust God and start hearing stories. God is the Best.