A visiting priest at a church was extremely long-winded. Worse, every time he made a good point during his homily a member of the congregation would always respond, “Amen.” The priest would get fired up and launch even into a longer and longer homily every time he heard the amen. Finally, the pastor of the parish started responding every few sentences with, “Amen, Pharaoh. Amen, Pharaoh.”

The guest priest wasn’t sure what it meant, but after several more “Amen, Pharaohs” from the pastor he finally concluded his very long, long homily. After mass had finished, the congregation had gone home, the visiting priest turned to his host pastor and said, “What exactly did you mean when you kept saying to me “Amen, Pharaoh?” The pastor replied, “I was telling you let my people go.” I promise to let all of you go very soon.

Today’s gospel clearly speaks to me one powerful message. The consequences of fidelity and faithfulness to the Lord is this: We must be different. There’s a beautiful story that captures this reality. Every morning Marie accompanied her friend, Janet, to the newsstand. Janet would greet the newsman very courteously, but in return always received gruff and discourteous service. Despite the rudeness, Janet would always wish the newsman a very good day after the paper was shoved rudely in her direction.

As the two friends one day walked down the street Mary asked, “Does he always treat you so rudely?” “Yes, unfortunately, he does,” replied Janet. “And you’re always so nice and polite to him.” “Yes, I happen to always be nice and polite to him.” “It’s just that why are you always so nice to him who is always so rude to you?” And she replied, “Because I don’t want him to decide how I’m going to act. I don’t want him to decide how I’m going to act.” What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? We need to sense the value of our own person. We need to sense the value of other people.

Thomas Merton, the well-known Trappist Monk, once said, “We’re not at peace with ourselves because we’re not at peace with others. We’re not at peace with ourselves because we’re not at peace with God.” Don’t ask yourself, “Does God have a place in my life?” Ask instead, “What place does God have in my life?” Not always a popular question by today’s standards. It may even cause division. But remember, no one can go back and start a new beginning. But starting today we can make a new ending.