Saturday November 23, 2024

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Good News Reflections:
Making scripture meaningful to your daily life
by Terry Modica

Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher, you have answered well.” And they no longer dared to ask him anything. (Luke 20:29-40)

Good News Reflection for:

Saturday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time
November 23, 2024

Today’s Readings:

Revelations 11:4-12
Psalm 144:1-2, 9-10
Luke 20:27-40
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112324.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-november-23-2024

Is There Danger in Unintentional Idolatry?

The scribes and Sadducees thought they had given Jesus a trick question in this Saturday’s Gospel reading. He handled it with grace, though. Of course. (Don’t we all wish we could do that as easily?)

An often over-looked but funny part of this scripture is near the end: “Teacher, you have answered well.” I mean, really guys? Who’s the teacher? The scribes gave their approval as if Jesus were the student. Clearly, they didn’t recognize Jesus’ superior wisdom, and certainly not his divinity.

We see the same thing happening all around us today. It’s called the “idolatry of self”.

The idolatry of self reveals itself most often in moral relativism. People fail to recognize Jesus’ superior wisdom when deciding for themselves what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s a sin and what’s not a sin (if they even think of the word “sin” at all). What God says is evil is now considered good, and what God says is good is now considered evil and anyone who takes God’s side publicly is believed to be evil (we see this happening in the controversies about abortion, homosexual marriage, and transgenderism).

But it’s not just the non-Christians who are caught up in the idolatry of self. We all need to examine our consciences about it. If we pray for God’s help and then tell him how he should help, getting angry or disappointed if he doesn’t do it our way, we’ve succumbed to the idolatry of self. This happens because we don’t truly and completely believe that God loves us and wants what is best for us.

If we disregard scripture-based Church teachings because they are inconvenient, we’ve succumbed to the idolatry of self. This happens because we don’t truly understand that the bottom line and goal of all Church teachings (from the official Church Magisterium) is always love.

In everything, we need to trust God’s love and recognize Jesus’ superior wisdom.

Someone once asked me: “I had my first marriage annulled, but my new wife never had her first marriage annulled. Therefore, we could not get married in the Church, but I was disappointed when I asked my pastor to bless the rings we were going to use for our wedding and he told me that he couldn’t bless them. Can you please explain to me why he was not able to do that?”

This is a good question! The man asking about it was humbly seeking greater understanding. He was standing on the bridge between the idolatry of self and the holiness of doing things God’s way even though it felt inconvenient.

Over the years, I’ve seen many similar situations in which loving couples lacked understanding of the path to holiness and the happier, deeper marriage that Jesus offers. Therefore, I’d like to share with you the answer I gave to this man’s question. Please click through to the WordBytes article “The Danger of Unintentional Idolatry in Marriage” @ wordbytes.org/marriage-and-family/the-danger-of-unintentional-idolatry-in-marriage.

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