Jesus said, “With God, all things are possible.” This is the message that the Lord conveys through the prophet Zechariah in today’s first reading. He will renew Jerusalem. The children of Israel have been scattered. They are but a shell of their former glory. Only a remnant remains. And perhaps hope had been lost. But God’s promises remain forever. As it says at the end of today’s first reading, “They shall be my people, and I will be their God, with faithfulness and justice.”
In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 9, the disciples were arguing about which of them was the greatest. Now, we might turn up our noses at this notion, but that would be false humility. It is part of the human condition to want acccolades. And for many of us, when we get a taste of that, we want more and more. But Jesus tells the disciples, “For the one who is least among all of you is the one who is the greatest.” Almost sounds kinda backwards, doesn’t it?
You’ve heard the old saying “Less is more.” It means that sometimes keeping things simple is the best way to go. This is very true in life as well. We too often think we need more. More money. More notoriety. More sex. More Facebook friends. More…well, you get the picture. But perhaps the old saying is true. Less is more. Because when we have less of all that other stuff, we have more room for God in our lives.
Father, forgive for wanting more of the stuff of the world. Help us to understand that, when it comes to all that stuff, less is more. Teach us to want more of You. Amen.
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