26th Sunday Ordinary Time – Audio Reflections

One final, brief word study to offer a lovely image. Matthew makes this amazing connection with this passage and another key part of the gospel through the choice of the verb, proago, “to go into, to go before.”

Matthew 21:31            Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

The tax collectors and prostitutes lead, direct, and guide the chief priests & elders (and each of us) like the Star of Bethlehem that led the Magi!  How cool is that!  These are the true Stars of Bethlehem!!!

Each of them was an outcast and knew it.  Each of them discovered a welcoming hand from Jesus and responded.  It’s what the chief priests & scribes would not do – admit their own alienation from God and receive an outstretched hand from Christ.  

Matthew 2:9             When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.