The Response to Evil

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary offer two responses to evil experienced by groups and individuals. Micah who Friar JudeWinkler tells us was a contemporary of Isaiah uses the eyes of the prophet, which see situations the way God sees them, to speak out against the extortion and theft of land from people thus reducing them to poverty by the powerful military in the countryside around Jerusalem. The action of bringing these atrocious acts to light condemns them with the great power of word and prayer. The clear distinction of these acts as being against the will of God hastens the time when justice will be done. Jesus learns of the plots of the Pharisees against Him in the text from the Gospel of Matthew. He cites the poems of the Suffering Servant from the Book of Isaiah and lives as that Servant continuing His mission with healing compassion and mercy for the people. Friar Jude tells us that these poems were well known among the Jews. The servant role that Jesus claims for Himself would have been associated with the prophets and people of the Hebrew Testament. The message of Jesus is that the Covenant with the descendants of Abraham and Moses is being extended to be the hope and promise to all people, the Gentiles. Evil is combated by good people reasserting the mission of inviting more to intimate relationship with Good.