Gospel: Matthew
8:5-17
When
Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him,
saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” He
said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I
am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant
will be healed. For I too am a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject
to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he
comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it. When Jesus heard this, he
was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in
Israel have I found such faith. I say to
you, many will come from the east and the west and will recline with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven but the children of the
Kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness, where there will be wailing
and grinding of teeth. And Jesus said to the centurion, “You may go; as you
have believed, let it be done for you. And at that very hour his servant was
healed.
Jesus
entered the house of Peter, and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a
fever. He touched her hand, the fever left her, and she rose and waited on him.
When it
was evening, they brought him many who were possessed by demons, and he drove
out the spirits by a word and cured all the sick, to fulfill what had been said
by Isaiah the prophet: He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases.
+ + + + +
+ +
Reflection:
Why is
Jesus a magnet to people most especially to who are in need? Because Jesus
never refused anyone who asked for His help most especially those who are presistent. Jesus was always available, Jesus
would always have time for them regardless of who they are and where they came
from.
The
centurion/soldier in our gospel came from a faraway place and certainly not a
follower of Jesus. But he knew Jesus and he heard of His miracles so he
ventured to see Him. And when he saw Jesus he asked him to cure his servant.
Jesus never had any second thought of helping the centurion; he even offered to
go his house to personally cure the centurion’s servant.
This gospel
episode invites us to reflect if we also make ourselves available to those who
are in need of our help. Often times we are not willing to help because it will
disturb us. It will affect our personal finances and schedules but it’s not every day that
we are asked for help.
The best
way to share our faith and to share Jesus is not though eloquent or bombastic preaching. The best way to share our faith and to share Jesus is when
we make ourselves available most especially to those who are in need. And to
those who can’t give back the help that we’ve given them.
Do you
take time to make yourself available to those who are in need of your help most
especially the poor? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
No comments:
Post a Comment