Yes, I’m Talking To You
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be sure of this:
if the master of the house had known the hour
when the thief was coming,
he would not have let his house be broken into.
You also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
Then Peter said,
“Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” (Lk 12:39-41)
There are some times that I imagine Jesus thumping Himself in the forehead when His followers asked Him some of the questions that they asked. Today’s would be one of them.
“Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?”
Really?
There are a couple of levels to that question. First of all, if it’s “for us”, Peter could very well say, “Why just us?” as if to say that he thought they had already done enough. If Jesus said “for everyone”, Peter very well may have said, “including us?” as if it were meant for other people and the disciples did not have to pay attention to it.
That is the way our nature works, isn’t it? We hear the rules and immediately we think, “Do those rules apply to us as well?” We also think, “Why should they apply to us? Haven’t we already done enough? Shouldn’t other people need to be more attentive than us?”
We always try to deflect onto others.
The message and reminder to us today is that the Good News is for everyone. So are the commandments. So are the parables. So are the exhortations.
We are not exempt from a single word that Jesus uttered.
The day that we try to exempt ourselves is the day that we begin to lose our way.
We must hold firm. We must embrace all of the Lord’s teachings. We must never exempt ourselves from the teachings of Christ.
FAITH ACTION: Make an examination of conscience today and ask yourself if you have been exempting yourself from some of the teachings and/or obligations of your faith. Ask God to give you the grace to embrace Him completely this day.