Release the Outcome

The idea of a timeline can be used as a tool to help us sort out a sequence of events as are described in the text from the Second Book of Chronicles from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today. Commentators have described this passage as a striking illustration of how a weak man, Joash, is easily influenced by those around him who manipulate for their own motives. This fall into poor judgement and decisions culminates in the execution of Zechariah who was the son of the great priest Jehoiada, who had rescued Joash from death and had guided his early reign. As he dies Zechariah does not seek personal vengeance but calls on the Lord to see and repay the injustice. This release of the outcome of events to God is the message which Susan Naatz shares from her reflection today from the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus continues His Sermon on the Mount. The psalmist resonates this idea in the declaration that people risk forgetting that God is with us through it all. Friar Jude Winkler notes that we need to hear the warning of Jesus that we can not serve two masters in the context of how we are planning for the continuation of our timeline. Are we storing up the things which will open us to accepting life with Jesus or are we storing up things which seem to assume that we will live forever with our temporal and material needs? Being focused on the past glories or failures in our timeline or having unhealthy worry or expectation about the future on that line takes us away from the experience of Presence, Providence and Peace which is offered to us when we can find the Divine in the now!