“Hearkening to the Words of the Lord, in our journey of faith: ‘Just have Faith in Me and Obey My words!’”
(Based on Isa 29:17-24 and Mt 9:27-31 – Friday of the 1st Week in Advent, Year B)
A little child, during a forest expedition, was asked by his father to get across a letter urgently to the village.
The father pointed over a trail, over which the boy had never gone.
“But Father” protested the child, “I have never been through this way.
I do not even see the path that will reach our village.
Will it be reasonable for me to travel along this path? “
“Do you see the trail” replied the father, “as far as that big tree down there?”
The boy replied, “Oh, yes, I do see that far”
“Well” continued the father, “when you get there by the tree, you will see the trail a little further ahead; and so on, until you get within sight of the houses of our village.
Just have faith in me and obey my words!”
This is the journey of our Christian life…
… where the element of faith has to take over the aspect of seeing!
… where the element of obedience has to take over the aspect of rationality!
The Gospel of the Day is a beautiful exposition into these insights, which are highly essential for our life as a Disciple of Christ and a Missionary of His Kingdom.
The Gospel passage under consideration is the healing of the two blind men in the Gospel of St Matthew (Mt 9: 27-31)
One of the strange aspects that we could notice in this incident is what happens after the healing has taken place.
St Matthew says that, after their eyes were opened, “Jesus sternly charged them, ‘See that no one knows it'” (Mt 9:30)
He forbids the two men from making his fame known to others.
The Greek word that is used here for “sternly charged” is very interesting and revealing.
St Mathew uses the word, “embrimaomai”.
“Embri-mao-mai” literally means to snort with anger/displeasure (like a horse)!
In other words, Jesus “roared with rage” when He ordered the men to not proclaim about Him.
Why did Jesus adopt such an “angry stance”?
The Jewish people were longing for a Messiah who would save them from the pagan Roman Rulers.
Their understanding of the Messiah was purely from a temporal perspective – a prince who would wage a war and destroy the Roman enemies
If it was known outside that the Messiah, the much-awaited King had arrived, many Jews would undoubtedly seek to enthrone Him.
They would make efforts to usher in a physical kingdom with a violent expulsion of the Roman rulers!
We see such a tendency on many occasions in the Gospels, but more explicitly after the multiplication of the loaves in the Gospel of St John
“Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry Him off to make Him King, He withdrew to the mountain alone” (Jn 6:15)
But, such a move would have jeopardized the Mission of the Lord!
He came not to be a king as any other king…
… rather He, the King of kings, came to reign over the hearts and lives of people!
He came not to be someone who would merely rescue from material oppression…
… rather, He came to be the Saviour who would free the world from sin and every bondage!
It is also to be seen that the two blind men addressed Jesus as “the Son of David” (Mt 9:27b)
This was the first time, in the Gospel of St Matthew, that Jesus was proclaimed by someone as “Son of David”
“Son of David” clearly pointed that Jesus was the Messiah.
The two blind men were confessing that Jesus is the Messiah!
Therefore, if the two men, excited and overjoyed as they were, with their miraculous healing, had gone around proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah…
… there was a grave danger, that the people would be instigated to a rebellion against the Romans
(Such an explanation is also supported by the fact that while healing or performing wonders among the Gentiles, Jesus did not forbid them.
The Gentiles, unlike the Jews, did not have any Messianic expectation as such.
For eg: After healing the Gerasene demoniac, Jesus tells him, “Go home to your family and announce to them, all that the Lord in His pity has done for you” – Mk 5:19)
There is also another point of consideration…
Jesus was the Perfect Physician.
He knew that the blind, when healed, cannot be exposed to the light, all on a sudden.
The exposure to the Light has to be gradual.
Jesus, the doctor-par-excellance and the Light of the World (Jn 9:5) knew, that there was great danger, if these spiritually blind would try to immediately go and spread about their experience with the Light
The Light would only end up harming them and also those to whom they preached!
And therefore, “Jesus sternly charged them, ‘See that no one knows it'” (Mt 9:30)
What do these things entail for us?
A very important principle as Missionary of Christ and His Kingdom is implied here:
“Go only when we are sent to and to whom we are sent to”
This is one of the important basics of any publicly ministry of the Kingdom!
We need to know and realize…
The Mission belongs not to me… the Mission belongs to the Lord
The works and ministry are not my initiatives… they are solely entrusted to me by the Lord
It is His Work… It is His Ministry… it is His Mission!
We are to be His active instruments… We are to be His lively tools… We are to be His dynamic channels!
This realization is highly essential for an effective and faithful Missionary life.
Such a realization, therefore, directly implies the necessity of Faith and Obedience!
Yes, our life as a missionary ought to be one..
… where the element of faith has to take over the aspect of seeing!
… where the element of obedience has to take over the aspect of rationality!
May our Blessed Lord touch and open our eyes, to “see the trail” that is on ahead of us, in our journey of faith…
… and may hearken to His Words, “Just have Faith in Me and Obey My words!”
On this First Friday of the last month of 2020, let us renew our consecration, obedience and love in the Sacred Heart of our Blessed Lord.
Let us also seek the intercession of St John Damascene – the Saint of the Day
He is a Doctor of the Church known especially for his defence of Sacred Arts, especially icons.
He is the champion of that article in the Creed which says, “I believe in the Communion of Saints.”
He is also known for his poetry and his devotion to Blessed Mother Mary
May his words inspire us:
“In former times, God, who is without form or body, could never be depicted. But now when God is seen in the flesh conversing with men, I make an image of the God whom I see. I do not worship matter; I worship the Creator of matter who became matter for my sake.”
“Because of the Incarnation, I salute all remaining matter with reverence! The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God”
“Our Lady is rest for those who work, consolation for those who weep, medicine for the sick, harbour for those assailed by tempests, pardon for sinners, sweet relief for the sad and succour for those who implore!”
God Bless! Live Jesus!
Quotable-quote-a-day-with-St Francis de Sales (SFS) – “When God sends inspirations into a
person’s heart…
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