Where are you letting your beliefs stop you from seeing better ways to live?
“Yet even when you saw that you did not later change your minds and believe him.” ~ Mt 21:32
Today, I’m also talking about the Gospel, which is Matthew 21:28-32.
It talks about Jesus sharing with the chief priests a, a parable about a father asking each of his two sons for help.
The first one says he won’t do it but changes his mind. The second agrees to help but doesn’t.
All priests agree the first son did the right thing. Then, Jesus turns it around and simply says, “well, you haven’t noticed that you are like the second son.”
The part I want to reflect on is verse 32. The part where he says, “Yet even when you saw that you did not later change your minds and believe him.”
The priests didn’t believe John’s message even though many tax collectors were changing their minds about God.
To me, this is about ego or pride. It’s the chief priests seeing the fruits of God’s labor. They saw people changing their lives because of John’s message, but they chose not to believe it, to stick to their ways, and ignore the evidence right in front of their eyes.
I use this scenario to reflect on my life.
Where are the places in my life where I am, in a way, letting my ego hide from me the evidence of the good news? Whether it’s a better opportunity for life, a better perspective on things, a greater peace, or proof that there is something beyond me that is in control and wants the best for me.
When I first read these Gospel, or hear similar examples, it’s very easy to be the third person and say, “oh, this person did the right thing…this person did the wrong thing.” We do it all the time with the news, with famous people, we do it everywhere. It’s very easy to be the judge outside of it.
But, once I put myself in the picture, once I put myself in this scenario that I’m supposedly judging as an absolute ruler of the right or wrong, things change. Once you are in it, it’s very difficult to see what’s real and what is not.
My reflection for today is to pay attention to where are the places in your life where you could be letting your past beliefs, your habits, or your pride to hide from or prevent you from seeing evidence of something better. Whether that’s friendships, God, job opportunities, it doesn’t really matter. The objective is to notice where could those places be where you simply aren’t seeing what’s right in front of your eyes.
It’s about taking a little bit more time to consider there are better alternatives to living life than the way you’re doing it right now. This is not to say you’re doing something wrong, it’s simply to pay attention and to shift the way you see your role in life and how you engage with the rest of the people on earth.
Once you pay attention, you can choose to do things differently or you can choose to continue doing the same thing the way you’ve done it so far.
Thank you for watching/reading and I’ll see you on the next one.
In peace,
~Juan
