Hard to hear the message

The Roman Catholic Lectionary today offers some reflection on our reaction to the message which disturbs our understanding of the way things should be. Jeremiah complains that the message he brings to the people from God to repent and change their ways has brought threats against him the messenger. Friar Jude Winkler poses the question of our expectation that when we do good for God we should receive good compensation for our actions.  The prayer of the psalmist to be commit his spirit into the the hand of God is the path when trying to understand what to expect. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is foretelling His fate in Jerusalem for the third time. He is quite graphic about His Passion and gives little detail about be raised on the third day. From our point of view, it is difficult to understand why the Apostles, who Winkler mentions were highly respected by Matthew, missed this message of Jesus and even changed the direction of the dialogue from the self giving sacrifice anticipated by Jesus to self aggrandizement in seeking positions in the "kingdom" to be established by Jesus. The "worthless idols" which distract us from receiving the full impact of the intimacy to which we are invited with the Divine include our own need for recognition, affirmation and even control. We might argue the necessity of these attributes to accomplish the good "Christian" works but the example of the Servant Leader indicates our continued need for instruction in listening to hear the message.