＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Amos 2:6-10, 13-16

Yahweh says this,

“Because Israel has sinned, not once but three times; and even more, I will not relent; They sell the just for money and the needy for a pair of sandals; they tread on the head of the poor and trample them upon the dust of the earth, while they silence the right of the afflicted; a man and his father go to the same woman to profane my holy name; they stretch out upon garments taken in pledge, beside every altar; they take the wine of those they swindle and are drunk in the house of their God.

It was I who destroyed the Amorites before them, whose height was like the height of the cedar; a people as sturdy as an oak. I destroyed their fruit above and their roots below.

It was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness to take possession of the land of the Amorites.

Behold, I will crush you to the ground, as a cart does when it is full of sheaves. The swift shall be unable to flee and the strong man shall lose his strength. The warrior shall not save himself nor the bowman stand his ground. The swift of foot shall not escape nor the horseman save himself. Even the most stout-hearted among the warriors shall flee away naked on that day,” says Yahweh.

 

Ps 50:16bc-17, 18-19, 20-21, 22-23

Remember this, you who never think of God.

 

 ＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊ 

Matthew 8:18-22

When Jesus saw the crowd press around him, He gave orders to cross to the other shore.  A teacher of the Law approached him and said, “Master, I will follow you wherever you go.”   Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, let me go and bury my father first.”   But Jesus answered him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.”

 

Gospel Reflection：

Burning Bridges Behind

To leave the dead to bury the dead might look too cruel a demand; but when it comes to following the Lord, it only signifies an immediate and absolute commitment. That’s how the first disciples followed him too:”immediately”,” leaving the boat and their father behind “(cf. Mt. 4:22).

 

One must burn the bridges to the past, be it good or bad; Christ becomes the one and only focus thereafter. Jesus has further made it clear when he said, “No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (LK 9:62). As David LIoyd George remarked, “Don’t be afraid to take a big if one is indicated.

 

You can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps.” Following Christ is one full, long, hard leap-a leap of faith across the chasm of life. We must jump with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and all or mind (cf. LK 10:27)to land in his bosom where we can lay our head.