Thursday – 3rd Week of Lent – A

This is what the prophet Jeremiah laments regarding the rejection that God has received at the hands of his people whom he loves. In the first reading, God reminds Israel of the foundation of the covenant: “Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people” (Jeremiah 7:23).

This relationship between God and his people is not primarily ritual or identity based, but rather founded on listening and obedience. But the prophet Jeremiah describes a long history of refusal: “They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts, and turned their backs to me and not their faces” (Jeremiah 7:24). They ignored all the prophets whom God sent to them untiringly.

So the tragedy of Israel is not ignorance. It is stubborn resistance to a voice that has been repeatedly offered to them.

My brothers and sisters, when we move to the Psalm for today, we are presented with a moment of decision. The Psalm reframes the whole issue in the present tense: “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Psalm 95:7–8).

And this is key. The Psalm is saying that the story of Israel is not just history—it is happening again today. Because we are the new Israel, the people of God, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9), we who have decided to follow Jesus.

So all of us who have decided to follow Jesus are presented with this invitation: “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Psalm 95:7–8).

The Psalm warns us that seeing God act does not guarantee faith if the heart is hardened.

Then we come to the Gospel for today, where we see that the same rejection happens right in front of Jesus, God in the flesh. Jesus performs an undeniable miracle: he drives out a demon and a mute man speaks. The crowd is amazed. Yet immediately people refuse to accept the obvious. Some attribute the miracle to Satan. Others demand another sign.

And this mirrors Jeremiah perfectly. God sends prophets and his people refuse to listen. Now God himself comes in Christ—and they still refuse.

The problem is not lack of evidence. It is a hardened heart that refuses to acknowledge the truth. And this can happen to any one of us unless we guard our hearts and ensure that they remain open to God's grace and cooperate with it when he sends it.

Jesus then reveals the real spiritual battle. He says: “If it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20).

This phrase, “finger of God,” deliberately recalls Exodus 8:19, when Pharaoh’s magicians recognized God's power. So Jesus is essentially saying that the same divine power that defeated Egypt is now present in him.

The kingdom has arrived, but its arrival forces upon each of us a decision.

Jesus ends with a stark statement: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Luke 11:23).

This is the climax of the theme in today's readings. In Jeremiah the people refuse to listen. In the Psalm we hear the warning: “Do not harden your hearts today.” And in the Gospel the decision must now be made about Christ himself.

In other words, neutrality, indifference, and complacency are impossible.

God has always spoken to his people through the prophets, but now he speaks definitively through Christ. And the human heart must decide whether to listen or resist.

May you, my brother and my sister, be among those who listen to him. If you listen to him, your life will become a splendid life in Christ—serving your brothers and sisters in love—and when your eyes open on the other side, he will embrace you unto himself forever.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Go in peace.