May the Lord give you peace.
Are we jealous when others are blessed?
We reflect on Genesis 21:5, 8-20 and the Gospel from Matthew 8:28-34.
God has no choice or option in loving us.
Choices we make either bring happiness or pain in our lives. As soon as we get something good in our lives, whatever kept us thus far good whether it is a person, an event or a moment or a memory is dumped, replaced, or suppressed.
The moment God blessed Sarah with the child, she chases the servant girl with the offspring of Abraham into the desert, but God kept on blessing and protecting the mother and Ishmael. Sarah’s mind was on the inheritance of Abraham if Ishmael and Isaac would have to continue in the same house.
Jealousy and hatred toward Ishmael are growing in Sarah and so she persuades her husband Abraham to send the boy and the child away. This saddens Abraham, but he does as she wishes. At the end of the reading, we see that Ishmael too will be a great nation because he was the son of Abraham.
God has a great plan for each one of us no matter who hates us. God’s graciousness, greatness and magnanimity will provide us with a way out in times of hatred and jealousy. God, in supreme goodness and generosity shares God’s inheritance for the abandoned family.
Whoever abandons us in our life, God will never forget us and leave us. God provides everything to us emerging where we are dumped and deserted. It is better to work with God than to fight with the one who has dumped us. People from family and friend circles could be greedy, selfish, unkind, malicious, or narcissistic yet God remains loving, caring, gentle, and generous all through.
In the Gospel, after a miracle of casting out demons from a person, people asked Jesus to leave their place. As Sarah asked Hagar to leave, so the people did to Jesus. When there is a lack of gratitude, there is a shortage of love and faith.
At times, we too have the attitude of asking Jesus to leave us alone. May we be able to look right inside of us and deal with those feelings of getting rid of people after having got help from them.
It is not enough that we are sorry for getting rid of people in our life out of jealousy, suspicion, and hatred but to make sincere efforts to take them on board to have peace of mind and blessings through them and with them from God. We all need one another to relate, worship and love.
Have a peaceful day. God bless you.