DAILY HOMILIES #Athaliah

Today’s first reading continues the story of Joash, the young king who bit the hand that fed him. Despite all that the priest Jehoiada did to protect him from being slain by Athaliah, Joash failed to protect Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada. Another evil of King Joash was his support for idol worship. Under his watch, Israel served Asherim, abandoning God’s ways. Nemesis caught up with Joash when the Syrian army, with only a few men, massacred the great army of Judah.

Do not kill anyone for the sake of the fleeting things of this world. The story of Athaliah confirms Jesus’ statement to Peter on the night of his arrest: “Those who kill by the sword will die by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52). Jesus says that the eye is the lamp of the body. In other words, your life is determined by what you see (the things you focus on). If your eyes are sound (fix your gaze on heaven), your body will be light.

Why tell a lie to make money? Why do you deceive your customers in your business place? Don’t you trust that God can provide for you? “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Consider the lilies of the field and how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon was not arrayed like one of these in all his glory. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you?

The fact that people place value on something does not make it a treasure. It is not a treasure if it can decay (lose value or depreciate) or be stolen from you. It is not a treasure if it will not follow you to the grave (if it cannot be buried with you). Jesus warns: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:19).

Where is your eye? In other words, where are your treasures? What are your priorities? If your eye is on what this world has to offer, then as Jesus says, your eye is unhealthy and your body is full of darkness. This explains why people get involved in all kinds of evil and are prepared to do anything just to “make it big” in this world. If your only goal in life is to “have a lot of cars and houses that you wouldn’t know which one is which” then watch out for darkness in your thoughts, words, and deeds.