+ In our first reading today Amos, the reluctant prophet of the Lord, makes it clear that it was not his idea to become a prophet. He neither was a member of a prophet's family, nor did he attend a prophet's school. He was a shepherd who God handpicked to go and warn the people of Israel that sure punishment and exile from their nativeland would be their lot unless they changed their hearts and minds and turned once again completely to God and his will and ways. This he did! And the people still did not repent and they were indeed expelled from their land! But in all this: the judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just: God gives fair warning before he does anything drastic or far reaching.
The gospel passage shows Jesus healing a paralytic, and at the same time forgiving his sins. This shows Jesus' power of nature and sin. In so many ways people are still exiled from their spiritual homeland – and they become paralyzed spiritually, and crippled in so many other ways because of their sins, because of their willfulness, because they insist on having things their own way! Simple faith in Jesus, Son of God, Son of Man, can bring forgiveness and wholeness into one's life.
May we today, just a little bit more than yesterday, let go of our willfulness, confess our sinfulness, profess our faith in Christ Jesus and receive the blessings and health that he has to offer us.
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation!
No comments:
Post a Comment