Malachi 2: 1-9 Leviticus 26:14-45 Ezekiel 37: 26
One of my biggest pet peeves I have is when we settle. I hate settling for something, especially when I know that I am right. I hate being mediocre in my words just to know that people like me…. But most of all, I hate when I give in just to make others happy.
Could you imagine what would happen if we never settled, if we always stood up for what is right and we never let people hear what they wanted to hear so it made them happy. Honestly, what are they learning if we just keep telling them what they want to hear?
This is exactly what the priests are doing at the beginning of Chapter 2. The priests, instead of preaching the Truth, they are settling and telling the people what they want to hear. What kind of example is this for us? That we are to settle for what everyone around us wants us to hear, rather than standing up and stating the truth?
And if you do not take to heart giving honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts,I will send a curse upon you and your blessing I will curse.In fact, I have already cursed it,because you do not take it to heart. 2a
If our priests are setting this example of settling for mediocrity, and we are to use these examples as we go out to spread the Word of the Lord- we are then going to settle for mediocrity. Tell me, how many times when you take something to the heart, was something that was mediocre. Also, this is where our priests and where we have crossed the line. This is infuriating to the Lord. Every parent lays out a set of rules for their children; Say please and thank you, wash your hands, eat your food, don’t stick your hand in the toilet bowl...well you get the picture. The Lord gave us the ten commandments as a covenant between us. And by settling for mediocrity and giving the people what they want, the Lord has some serious consequences in store.
But you know what blows my mind, is that when we are baptized we are baptized priest, prophet and king. So, this passage isn’t directly talking to the priests we see on the altar every day at mass… this is talking about us.
So, not even just the priests settling to ‘give the people what they want’ but you in your day to day encounters may be settling and telling others what they want to hear.
I was very fortunate growing up, through high school, to not struggle in my faith or be tempted out of it. There were a few times though, when I did struggle, instead of standing up for what I knew was right and settling and letting those people hear what they wanted because it was cool. Therefore, I was not cool in the Lord’s eyes and these situations do not make Him happy.
But you see, when we agree to follow the Lord’s rules and to ‘lock into’ the covenant with him. That is where we have gone wrong. A covenant is not something that should be easily broken, yet it is...because we are settling for something much easier. Mediocrity is easy. Settling is easy. Giving people what they want is easy.
But being in this covenant with God is hard. So therefore, standing up in those moments where we could easily settle, this will be hard, and if we do settle, we see the Lord will not be happy. Yet, the Lord is so pleased and our covenant with him then remains unbroken and strong. And we aren’t mediocre, we never settled, and we didn’t give people what they wanted to hear. We instead challenged them to be a priest, prophet, and king just as we are.
So, are you going to settle today? Or are you going to not be mediocre and challenge those around you to listen to the truth and live in the covenant with the Lord?
