We have all heard the saying “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” The prophet Haggai in today’s first reading challenges some of his fellow Jews who have put off the work of rebuilding the Temple. “The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” Haggai challenges them because they have time to build their own houses but they claim they have no time for the house of the Lord, the Temple: “Is it time for you to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins?” Haggai then challenges the people, particularly the rich, to “Reflect on your experience.!” Haggai calls the people to put God and the things of God first.
In today’s Gospel we hear that Herod the tetrarch is intrigued by Jesus but puts his own power and glory before the ways of God. When Herod “heard about all that was happening…he was greatly perplexed…and he kept trying to see Jesus.” Sadly, he was never able to move beyond his own wonder and perplexity to faith and trust in the new things God was doing.
Both readings today call us to faith and trust in God and to strive to discover and to discern the ways of God. The journey of faith begins with wonder and even perplexity about Jesus. The journey continues with a searching and questioning. We ask the question of Herod: “Who then is this about whom I hear such things?” Ultimately, we need to put our trust and faith in Jesus and in God. We may not be able to answer all our questions about God and the ways of God, but God asks us to trust him and to accept the gift of his love: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (John 3:16). We need to remember the words of St. Paul about the powerful love that God has for us: “What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword…For I am convinced that neither death, nor life…nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35, 38-39).
As Paul reminds us, now is the time to accept this gift of God’s love. “…you know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11). Let’s not put off until tomorrow what we can do today.
Image: “Hour Glass” by Ömer Ünlü is licensed under CC BY 2.0.