MONDAY EIGHTEENTH WEEK IN
ORDINARY TIME YEAR II
JEREMIAH 28:1-17, MATTHEW
14:22-36
WHY DO PEOPLE EASILY BELIEVE
LIES?
The Christian faith is fast
becoming a competitive religion with many people who claim to be pastors and
men of God. They go about with their teachings of prosperity that seems to
captivate anyone who listens to them. The truth does not easily sell, falsehood
does. It is therefore very easy to deceive people with lies because it is what
many people want to hear.
In the first reading of
today, we hear how the false prophet
Hananiah lied to the people with his false prophesies and they believed him
because people like the easy way to everything.
Many Jews were on exile in
Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzer had carried away many people from Israel and
treasures from the temple. Hananiah told them that God would restore everything
to them in about 2 years. This was not true. God never spoke to Hananiah. As
Jeremiah said, priests and prophets who speak about repentance, suffering,
forgiveness, peace and tranquility are not popular. It is those who preach
progress, breakthrough and prosperity that people believe whether they come to
pass or not.
A friend called me, lamenting
that his pastor had told him in January that he will buy a car before the end
of June. As we entered the month of August few days ago, he does not see any
sign of it happening.
God truly speaks and he speaks
words of progress, prosperity and breakthrough, but this is not devoid of moments
of pain as well. In the gospel reading, we see how Jesus intervened in the life
of his disciples who were afraid of the wind and storm as well as seeing a
ghost, not knowing that it was Jesus.
Fear has made many of us to run
to various wrong places to seek help and we get deceived by false prophecies
and promises. Jesus tells us not to be afraid because he is there for us in our
moments of need. God help us. Amen.
Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie MSP
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