Thursday – St Barnabas

Gospel – Matthew 5:20-26

Ugly Words

Jordan River, Caesarea Philippi

A Rabbi was coming from Migdal Gedor, from the house of his teacher, and he was riding leisurely on his ass by the riverside and was feeling happy and elated because he had studied much of the Torah.  There chanced to meet him an exceedingly ugly man who greeted him, `Peace be upon you, Sir.'  He, however, did not return his salutation but instead said to him, `RAQA (you useless and empty thing), how ugly you are.  Are all your fellow citizens as ugly as you are?'  The man replied: `I do not know, but go and tell the craftsman who made me, "How ugly is the vessel which you have made.'  

I made it a point on the first day of every class I taught; some words were never to be spoken!  Idiot!  Shut up!  Liar!  Or words to that effect!  And for the most part my students would respect each other enough to follow that simple (but difficult) rule!  But not always!

Raqa!  We hear that word in today’s Gospel.  It literally means empty-headed, foolish, a waste of space and air!  Idiot!  I wonder how many times we have uttered the same word, or something similar, or worse.  That car that cut us off in traffic!  That guy who casually threw the empty soda can on our lawn! 

That drunk who wandered into our backyard in the middle of the night!  All those many situations and people who draw anger out of us as if we were a broken water faucet and we can’t simply turn it off.  Every day we face conflict; every day we resort to name-calling, or worse.  Every day we fall into the same trap!

Jesus calls us all today to reconciliation and forgiveness.  He calls us to see the good in ourselves and in others.  He reminds us that God (the craftsman) made us and we are all beautiful in our own way. 

Great Spirit, be with me today as I walk the Red Road.  Calm my rebellious heart and angry mouth.  And when I stumble and fall (and I will) remind me always to be loving, respectful, courageous, honest, wise, truthful and humble.

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