"Must good be repaid with evil?”

Jer. 18:19

Being a prophet was not exactly the same thing as taking a holiday cruise. To the contrary, it was no fun-filled festival at sea. Prophets knew a lot rejection, suffering and in many cases death. Today Jeremiah is imploring the Lord to help him in his call to be the mouthpiece for God. The people are plotting against him, carefully noting his every word thus seeking to destroy him by his own tongue. He laments that they are digging a pit to take his life. Not exactly a luxury cruise, huh? In the midst of pouring out his heart to the Lord for whom he speaks at the risk of his own life, Jeremiah asks, “Must good be repaid with evil?”

Results. We all want good results from our efforts. I want good results. I want to see everyone surrender to Christ and follow God’s will so the fullness of the Kingdom of God may be established. I want every person to live according to God’s love and enter into the infinite life of the Trinity. But what about all the times when people do not choose the grace of God?

I think about my own preaching. I speak to thousand’s of people. In it all, I hope and pray that it is always God speaking through me. And I hope too many people do not fall asleep during the middle of my riveting homilies (smile). In the end, I just want people to accept God’s word and do his will. I look for the results. I want my preaching to move people into the heart of Christ. But God shows me that I must not focus on the results. There is the saying, “Do your best and leave the rest (to God)”. I just must do my best in praying and preparing and leave the results to God. I know that everything is a gift but it is my job to use my gifts to the best of my ability in effort and preparation. If I have done that, then I can sleep in peace about what I have done- even if there are no results from my preaching.

Brother and sisters, we must continue to try to do the good. We do the best with the gifts God as given us and we leave the rest/results to him. We focus on what God is calling us to do, we do it and then we rest in peace each night. I am sure you have your examples in your life where you were just trying to do good and the good did not seem to return to you. One that comes to mind is how your loved ones have turned away from God and the church when you tried to do all you could with your gifts to accept the grace of following God in the church.

We look to Jesus who inspires and perfects our faith. He did not focus on results. His results were not very good. Many close friends denied and abandoned him when times got tough. Many others just flat out rejected him. What about his torture and crucifixion? If any one ever had the right to ask the question, “Must good be repaid with evil?” it was Jesus. Jesus, in his perfect outpouring of goodness repaid with total evil hanging him on the cross. But Jesus just did his best, which is God’s will, and left the rest to God. Like Jesus, we just focus on doing our best and leaving the rest and results to God.

God’s will!
+Fr. John