Faithful to the End

~~~ 2 Maccabees 7:1, 20-31 ~~~ Psalm 17 ~~~ Luke 19:11-28 ~~~

 

“What are you waiting for?
I will not obey the king’s command.
I obey the command of the law given to our fathers through Moses.

 

Being a mother, the first reading is heart wrenching to read.

How does a mother remain strong

when each one of her seven sons is slaughtered?

Not only does this mother show extreme courage but the sons too.

How is it possible to become that convicted of your beliefs?

I am not sure.

One thing I am sure of is that this mother would have gladly

 accepted death in the place of her sons.

Yesterday Eleazar, at the age of ninety,

 was killed for remaining true to his faith.

Today we have seven young brothers with just as much faith.

Eleazar had already lived a long good faithful life,

but these seven were in the prime of their life.

These boys had their whole life ahead of them.

 

It does not matter how old or how young you are,

it is possible to have a martyr's faith. 

 

 

The Gospel also draws our attention to being faithful in a different manner.

The servants were faithful to their master.

They took his money invested it wisely and returned the profits to their master.

 

The last servant came forward with nothing more to offer his master.

He feared the reprimands of the master so greatly that he did not take any action.

 

You knew I was a demanding man,
taking up what I did not lay down
and harvesting what I did not plant;
why did you not put my money in a bank?

 

What motivates you to commit? What causes you to take action?

The seven sons walked to their death remaining faithful to the end.

They were encouraged along the way by their faithful, God fearing mother.

The servants were encouraged to act out of fear of their master.

 

The evil master rewards the servant who provided the greatest return to him.

It is our faith in God that motivates us to remain faithful to the end.

 

This evil master takes away the coins from the one who took no action.

Instead he gives those coins to the one who brought

him the greatest return on his money.

 

Evil brought forth more evil.

The deception and the temptation of evil takes courage

and conviction of faith to resist.

 

As you know Jesus himself was tempted by the evil one.

The readings this week confirm that Jesus was not the first one

or the only one to have been tempted.

 

We will never be completely free from temptations.

It is how we respond that is of utmost importance...

I invite you to get into the habit of denying yourself

in small things a few times a week.

Pass up that extra cookie...refrain from the negative comment...

 

The seven sons were able to exercise their faithfulness

because it was modeled by their mother.

We never know when someone might

be inspired by our faithfulness to the Lord.

 

We may not be called to die for our faith, but we are called

to live it to its full extent.

Blessings come in remaining faithful to the end...

It has been modeled for us...we can do it.

Remain faithful!