Gospel: Luke 7:1-10
When Jesus had finished all his words to the people, he entered
Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die, and he
was valuable to him. When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to
him, asking him to come and save the life of his slave. They approached Jesus
and strongly urged him to come, saying, “He deserves to have you do this for
him, for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us.” And Jesus went
with them, but when he was only a short distance from the house, the centurion
sent friends to tell him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy
to have you enter under my roof. Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to
come to you; but say the word and let my servant be healed. For I too am a
person 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 at him
and, turning, said to the crowd following him, “I tell you, not even in Israel
have I found such faith.” When the messengers returned to the house, they found
the slave in good health.
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Reflection:
Do you always favor your rich relatives and friends?
The concern of the centurion/military officer for his slave was very
admirable; just imagine he went to Jesus to ask for healing for his very sick
slave. The centurion/military officer’s love for his slave was very pleasing to
Jesus that’s why Jesus granted his pleading.
To whom can we compare the slave today? The slaves of our time are the
poor people that we know, whose status in life is way way below us. Oftentimes
our concern for the poor is very different from those who are rich.
Many of us have two sets of standards of concern for our friends who are
poor and rich. Many of us lean towards our rich relatives and friends for this
are what is normal for us: go for the rich relatives and friends first.
Jesus would always wants us to help and pray for those who are in need
specially the poor for they are closest to His heart. This doesn’t mean that we
neglect the rich but if there would be a choice to whom would we extend help
first.
It’s no brainer that we go to the poor first, we have to
prioritize them over the rich. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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