Daily Reflection – 6/28/2023
Sacred Scripture
Jesus said to his disciples: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:15-20)
Reflection
Our scripture today contains a warning which must have been very relevant in the early Church but has not lost its meaning in our own day.
Prophets who are wolves in sheep’s clothing. On the outside, they seem to have the image of Jesus, his gentleness and love, but in fact they are religious predators, using people for their own ends. There have been unfortunate examples of this in some so-called ‘televangelists’ who, in the name of the Lord Jesus, ripped off countless numbers of trusting people, many of them elderly and not well off, by making them pledge large sums money they could not afford.
Sadly, we live in a world that is overgrown with bad fruit. In truth it exists everywhere. Be it a Hollywood star, a politician, or even the latest evangelical pastor, we find evidence of false prophets.
They cry for our attention, convince us that they have a way to solve our problem. And more and more people flock to the message. After all, it is a lot easier to believe the slick message than it is to follow Jesus.
How can you recognize them? Jesus tells us that the way that we can distinguish between true and false prophets — since every roving prophet dressed in a sheepskin mantle and looked alike and at first glance sounded alike — is to examine the fruit they produce up close.
By their ‘fruits’, by the way they behave and not just by what they say or the claims they make. It is not that difficult to separate the genuine from the false. As Jesus says, it is not possible for a bad tree to consistently produce good fruit nor for a genuinely good tree to produce bad fruit.
That also means that we should avoid, at all costs, ‘bad fruit.” We must understand that excusing or overlooking bad fruit leads to its multiplication.
We must use the moral standards found in the words of Christ. The fruits of falsehood produce an easy religion which takes the iron out of religion, the cross out of Christianity, and any teaching which eliminates the hard sayings of Jesus, and which push the judgments of God into the background and makes us think lightly of sin.
Good fruit is the result of sound living – living according to moral truth and upright character. The prophet Isaiah warned against the dangers of falsehood: Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness (Isaiah 5:20.).
How do we avoid falsehood in our personal lives? By being true – true to God, his word, and his grace. And that takes character! Those who are true to God know that their strength lies not in themselves but in God who supplies what we need. The fruit of a disciple is marked by faith, hope and love, justice, prudence, fortitude and temperance.
That is when each of us can claim that we know we are tethered to Him, the one, true Vine.
Prayer of The Day
Father, guide and protector of your people, grant us an unfailing respect for your name, and keep us always in your love. Let us be instruments of truth and love to others. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Daily Note
The desire to love and to be loved has been written upon the hearts of all mankind, and it is a far deeper and more intimate desire than any similar one we possess. The world needs true, authentic love. We are called to bring this love to the world; to love our spouses, children, and families as Christ loves the Church, and like Christ, some today are called to literally lay their lives down out of love for the Church .We are called to embrace life, to love it, and to live fully in a common union with Christ.
