This Sunday’s Gospel burns the lips of all those “who often say and do not do,” perhaps believers but not yet entirely credible. God’s word sheds a challenging examination that involves everyone, for no one can say they are exempt from the inconsistency between saying and doing.
Is the Gospel a severely demanding, unattainable project? A utopian invitation such as, “Be perfect like the Father” (Mt 5:48)?
Jesus, being all-knowing, fully understands our weaknesses, so he recommends taming our ego and controlling our vain glory. He strongly objects to searching for empty Father substitutes, as we are unquestionably siblings under “our Father.”
Jesus unveils these insecurities because he wants to shed his healing grace, like the potter who, if the pot is not successful, does not throw the clay away but puts it back on the potter’s wheel and reshapes it and works it again. He is always mindful of human fragilities, like when he offered living water to the Samaritan woman at the well – a woman with a history of failed loves and great personal thirst.
Living waters flow from humble hearts like Mary’s, not from the ego. Embracing humility allows us to tap into a wellspring of life-giving mercy that nourishes our souls and those around us.
Though stubborn like the Pharisees, I beg Jesus to melt my heart with his kind smile so that I may become a seed on joyful bonds of affection, where the greatest is the one who serves.