“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” Lets this verse  a little differently.

Whoever is not with Truth is against Truth, and whoever does not live by Truth scatters.

Consider also the fact that Jesus is The Truth.

We all have a natural aversion to truth. This stems from Adam, who tried to play the blame game, by twisting the truth like the Snake, but to preserve his self-image before God. He did not want to come about as someone who erred and someone who did do the action, with intent.

Compare this to Abraham. Doing the wrong things in many ways, to out looking good and right, Yet God calls him righteous, because He was ready to learn and ready to accept his faults. King David also was another individual, having many faults, yet God called Him a man after His own heart. Not for the many good and right things he did, but when confronted with truth, we did not shy away from it, not try to save his image. He owned up to his faults.

In the First reading, there is Jeremiah asking people to mend their ways, accept the truth and be reconciled to God. And the words fall on deaf hears, they are concerned with self-image. The same is true for the Pharisees and authorities during Jesus’ time who called him Beelzebul, they have rejected the Truth shown them in the signs and wonders done by Jesus.. the new and even mightier Elisha. So to coverup their folly, they term Him as Beelzebul.

But the center of the message in today’s Mass Readings is found in the Verse Read Before the Gospel…

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

Effective what Joel 2:12-13 is saying is that, what is past is past. God does not brood over it. Come now today is a day, a day you can engage God with all your heart and be satisfied.