Matthew 9:14-17: Attitude and Perspective
Friday, November 21, 2025
Written on May 19 and posted today as a Favorite . . .
Paraphrasing from Biblia de América: The comparisons with which Jesus responds underline the beginning of a new kingdom that is incompatible with the old way and laws. The new breaks the strict molds of the old. The kingdom that arrives with Jesus cannot be received with superficial reform; rather, it requires a radical change of attitude and perspective.
And so might we all require such a change.
Life is a journey of conversion and in order to bloom in this conversion we must first recognize what it is we need to change about ourselves. What mind-sets do we carry around with us that we need to alter? What attitudes carry us well and keep us on the true path? What perspectives do we have that blind us to others? What viewpoints do we justify with empty logic and “yes, but” statements? Do we use these attitudes and perspectives for self-promotion, for self-defense, for control of others or for kingdom building? This is what Jesus asks today.
We cannot hope to be kingdom-builders by making cursory changes in our lives. We cannot think that we are opening ourselves to transformation when we hold ourselves so tightly that we stunt the burgeoning that might take place. Our blossoming depends on our willingness to open to the new so that the old can transform us into what God dreams for us.
In Acts 13:13-25 – today’s first Mass reading – Paul connects the God who saves the Israelites from bondage with the God who releases us from the slavery of evil. The disciples of John question Jesus in today’s Noontime; Paul reminds us that John himself knew that Jesus was the Messiah. In order to hear this message also, we must be willing to shift our perspective so that we walk with the marginalized rather than those who live in comfort. In order to enact the message we hear today, we must be willing to see the certain reality that our attitude – like that of the disciples in the Noontime – needs daily trimming and pruning. If our blossoming is to bear good and holy fruit, if we are to experience the newness that God has in store for us. We must be open to amending, regulating, adjusting and fine tuning our perspective and attitudes. We must be willing to see the old in a new way and we must be willing to do this constantly.
A re-post from October 27, 2011.
Images from: http://rechabite.com/page/8/ and https://www.vecteezy.com/free-vector/different-perspective
LA BIBLIA DE LA AMÉRICA. 8th. Madrid: La Casa de la Biblia, 1994. Print.
The Noontimes 