WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:08.560 In today's first reading, God says to his people, I remember the devotion of your youth and how you loved me as a bride. 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:10.240 Think about that image. 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:12.000 God remembers. 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:16.079 He remembers the days when Israel first fell in love with him. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:27.120 He remembers leading them out of Egypt through the desert, providing manna from heaven, water from the rock, and his presence in the pillar of a cloud and fire. 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:32.000 He remembers a relationship that had marked was marked by trust. 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:34.240 But then something changed. 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:36.560 The relationship grew cold. 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:40.240 The love that was once alive suddenly faded. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:44.240 That is why the Lord speaks with such tenderness. 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:51.200 He's not speaking like an angry judge, he's speaking like a wounded husband whose bride has drifted away. 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:59.920 Scripture often describes our relationship with God as a marriage, not because God needs us, but because he desires our love. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:01.759 Love cannot be forced. 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:04.319 You can't force someone to love you. 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:07.040 Love must be freely given. 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:11.760 Then God identifies a tragedy with one of the most powerful images. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:14.640 My people have committed two evils. 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:23.439 They have forsaken me, the source of living waters, and they have dug for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that hold no water. 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:35.920 Imagine standing beside a crystal clear spring where fresh water flows endlessly and choosing instead to drink from a cracked, muddy hole in the ground that can't even hold water. 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:41.519 Sounds absurd, yet God says that's exactly what sin is. 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:49.040 Every sin is the decision to leave the living God in search of something we think will satisfy us more. 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:54.719 Money, power, pleasure, success, approval, comfort, things. 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:57.920 But none of these things is evil in itself. 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:05.920 But the moment we expect them to give us what only God can give, they become broken cisterns. 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:11.680 We keep pouring ourselves into them only to discover that they will never satisfy us. 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:18.159 How much of modern life is spent digging through broken cisterns? 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:29.360 We convince ourselves, if I just have a little more money, if I can have a bigger, more comfortable house, if if I can just receive that promotion, then everything's going to fall into place. 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:32.479 If I can just find the right relationship. 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:37.120 Then we finally arrive only to discover that the thirst remains. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:40.000 There's still that hunger, that void in my life. 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:40.560 Why? 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:43.759 Because the human heart was created for an infinite God. 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:50.159 Nothing finite, nothing from this world can ever satisfy an infinite longing. 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:53.759 That leads beautifully into today's gospel. 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:58.719 Disciples ask Jesus, Why do you speak in parables? 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:01.360 His answer surprises us. 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:05.039 He says that some people look but they do not see. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:07.919 They hear, but they do not understand. 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:08.960 Why? 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:11.039 Is Jesus hiding the truth? 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:12.080 Well, no. 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:15.599 He's revealing a profound spiritual principle. 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:19.680 The problem is not with their eyes, the problem is not with their hearts. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:25.360 A closed heart can stand before the greatest miracle and remain unchanged. 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:27.199 Think about the Pharisees. 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:29.759 They watched Jesus heal the sick. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:34.240 They saw the blind, receive sight, they witnessed demons being cast out. 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:36.479 Still, they refused to believe. 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:38.240 The evidence was there. 00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:40.319 The openness was not. 00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:44.240 Faith is not merely an intellectual exercise. 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:46.719 It is a disposition of the heart. 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:51.439 The humble recognize God's voice because they are willing to listen. 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:56.960 The proud often cannot hear because they have already decided they know better. 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:05.680 And that's why Jesus tells his disciples, Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:10.400 Notice he does not say they are smarter than everyone else. 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:12.240 He says they're blessed. 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:14.560 Faith itself is a gift. 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:18.399 The ability to recognize Christ is a grace. 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:21.519 That realization should make us humble. 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:26.000 None of us came to faith simply by our own brilliance. 00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:37.360 God has patiently opened our eyes, little by little, often through parents, through grandparents, through priests, through teachers, friends, and countless hidden graces throughout our lives. 00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:42.639 So perhaps today these readings invite us to ask simple questions. 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:46.959 First, where am I digging through broken cisterns? 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:54.639 What have I been expecting to satisfy me that can never truly be satisfied? 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:58.879 And second, has my heart remained open to the voice of Christ? 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:04.959 Or have I become so distracted by the noise that I can no longer recognize his voice? 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:10.560 The beautiful thing about today's first reading is that God never stops calling back his people. 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:14.959 Even after they abandoned him, he still speaks with tenderness. 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:18.959 He said, I remember the devotions of your youth. 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:20.879 That's the heart of God. 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:23.199 He never stops pursuing us. 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:25.199 He never stops inviting us home. 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:31.279 He never stops offering us the living water that alone can satisfy the deepest thirst of our human heart. 00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:35.279 So today, stop drinking from broken cisterns. 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:41.680 Let us return to the only source that never runs dry that crystal clean font. 00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:46.079 Because for Jesus, it's not merely someone who gives living waters. 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:48.160 He is that living water. 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:52.079 And whoever drinks deeply of him will never thirst again. 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:53.040 Amen.