First reading 2 Kings 17:5-8,13-15,18
There was none left, but the tribe of Judah only
The king of Assyria invaded the whole country and, coming to Samaria, laid siege to it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah on the Habor, a river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
This happened because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the grip of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshipped other gods, they followed the practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed for them.
And yet through all the prophets and all the seers, the Lord had given Israel and Judah this warning, ‘Turn from your wicked ways and keep my commandments and my laws in accordance with the entire Law I laid down for your fathers and delivered to them through my servants the prophets.’ But they would not listen, they were more stubborn than their ancestors had been who had no faith in the Lord their God. They despised his laws and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the warnings he had given them. They pursued emptiness, and themselves became empty through copying the nations round them although the Lord had ordered them not to act as they did. For this, the Lord was enraged with Israel and thrust them away from him. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
Responsorial Psalm 59(60):3-5,12-13
Hear us, O Lord, and help us.
O God, you have rejected us and broken us.
You have been angry; come back to us.
You have made the earth quake, torn it open.
Repair what is shattered for it sways.
You have inflicted hardships on your people
and made us drink a wine that dazed us.
Will you utterly reject us, O God,
and no longer march with our armies?
Give us help against the foe:
for the help of man is vain.
Gospel Matthew 7:1-5
Do not judge, and you will not be judged
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged; because the judgements you give are the judgements you will get, and the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given. Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the plank in your own? How dare you say to your brother, “Let me take the splinter out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own? Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.’
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Judge not
Today’s Gospel passage challenges us to look honestly at ourselves before we look at others. Jesus tells us, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged…Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the plank in your own?” Very often, we judge others by noticing the “splinter” of small mistakes and weaknesses of others, while ignoring our own “plank” of attitudes and habits.
Jesus invites us to examine our own hearts first, before correcting others for their faults. We need to let God reveal our “plank” and allow Him to transform us so we can grow in humility and mercy. May we be slow to criticise or speak badly about someone, and instead choose to let Him change what needs to be changed in us.
Reflective question:
What is one concrete “plank” in my life that I need to allow God to transform?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year A” by Sr Maria Jose FMVD
