Discernment: Rendering ourselves Unreceptive

DISCERNMENT:  God’s messages, as in today’s Scripture readings, Jer 26: 1-9 and Mt. 13: 54-58, many times ring in our ears as: “Who are you to bring me that message, to say such a thing, to question me?”  Rather than hearing what God is trying to tell me, many times I attack the messenger. I do not want my life disturbed. I am comfortable, going about my business, doing what I want to do.  Is it possible, though, that God is calling me to a deeper commitment,  to a ministry/career change I have been avoiding, to a relationship I have been less than willing to reconcile, to pursuing a relationship that would be mutually rewarding, to  a vocation I have been resisting?  When Jesus enters our lives through a messenger, wanting to bring us Good News, and we react with “who does he/she thinks she/he is; I’m not called to that? I’m not going to consider such-and-such; or leave me alone, I have my mind made up”   it is not Jesus who is hindered in His work in our lives. By our reaction and unwillingness to listen, we render ourselves unreceptive.