Post-feast of the Exaltation of the Cross; Holy Great-Martyr Euphemia, the All-Famed (303);
Ephesians 4:14-19; Mark 11:27-33
Read Mark 11:27-33
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
An important tenet in the spiritual life is to have a desire and zealous thirst for the truth. Jesus teaches the importance of persistence, faithfulness and zealous thirsting in many of his parables. Seeking and staying hot for the Lord is important for the moment we cool off we become indifferent to the truth and begin to drift away from it. The chief priests, scribes and elders show themselves not only as indifferent to the truth, but show contempt also. They refused to knock and seek. The Lord says, “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. ” (Matt 7:7-8).
St. Augustine says, “they not only had not knocked that it might be opened, but by their denial they barricaded the door itself against themselves.” (Tractates on John 2.9). They did not want to humbly submit to God for this would require them to change their life. They barricaded the door in order to prevent God from coming in.
To progress in the spiritual life not only do we need desire, zealous thirsting for truth, but we also need to be ready to accept that truth even if it means being inconvenienced by it. Even if it means I have to be challenged and changed by it. For God will certainly mold us, stretch and shape us so we become reflections of the Truth. Remember that the Truth is not a concept, an idea, but a person. Jesus is the incarnate Word and Wisdom of God. He says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6).