NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

There's an old saying that no good deed goes unpunished, and under some circumstances, there couldn't be anything truer. Some people try their hardest to make a difference in the world by telling the truth and doing the right thing, but there are times when that decision blows up in their face and they seem left with nothing but regret.

Jeremiah has been called “God’s unpopular messenger,” battered, ridiculed, and even scourged, for sharing God’s message with the people of Israel. They denounce his negativity and judgments, turning a deaf ear to his warnings. Yet, his attitude might be summed up in the words of the Trappist monk, Matthew Kelty: “I don’t care what God does. I know God loves me.” Thus, Jeremiah remains faithful despite arrest, imprisonment, and public disgrace. He simply knows that God will rescue him and vows to continue singing God’s praises, no matter what.

We know Jesus’ “good deeds” were also seemingly punished. Even with all the miraculous healings, he was challenged by the religious leaders and crowds at the temple. Jesus asks, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?” (Jn 10:31) They excuse their lack of faith on religious grounds. Jesus takes up this challenge by quoting Scripture, yet his enemies refuse to be persuaded by the obvious logic and persist in their self-righteousness. Jesus withdraws to the wilderness where many come to him, seeing in him everything John said about him to be true (Jn 10-42).

Mother Teresa, with all the good deeds she was doing, was once told that her sufferings were simply kisses from God. She reportedly replied, “I wish he would stop kissing me.” Yet she loved, even when God seemed so far from her.

“O LORD … who test the just, who probe mind and heart” (Jer 20:12) there are so many things we don’t fully understand as we try to walk in the ways you have called us. A cynic might ask how we can possibly believe in love “despite all of the evidence” around us; the pandemic, unemployment, homelessness, violence, human trafficking, where’s God’s love?

In these final days of Lent, let’s consider our own level of faith, hope, and love. Can we love in the face of persecution? The times when we’re challenged by the cynic, questioned by our children who have fallen away, challenged by friends and others who only have the church scandals and flaws on their mind and in their heart. While it may seem that no good deed goes unpunished, here in our earthly sojourn. Know this, no matter how dark it may seem to get, by remaining faithful to God’s will for us, His love will always have the final answer.