For Others

Those who seek our help may not be those we want to help.

When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; and there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean." He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, "I do choose. Be made clean!" Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Then Jesus said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress." And he said to him, "I will come and cure him." The centurion answered, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to anHow other, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and the slave does it." When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, "Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; let it be done for you according to your faith." And the servant was healed in that hour. When Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever; he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him. That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and cured all who were sick. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, "He took our infirmities and bore our diseases." - Matt. 8:1-17

Of the three people healed in today's Gospel reading, which, if any, was Jesus sent to help?

You could argue Peter's mother-in-law is one.  She is one of the children.  And perhaps the leper, since Jesus told him to go show himself to the priest.

But is this the type of healing Jesus was sent to do?

He healed them physically.  

But they already had faith.  They just showed it to him because they already believed in him.

No wonder Jesus laments over the children of Israel.  They may be hearing his message, but are they changing their ways?

How often do we get discouraged by the results of our efforts?

We can't always tell how effective we are, can we?

Jesus was reluctant to have those he healed talk about the healing because he wanted them to share the message of faith.

But it was the healing that brought the people.

Jesus learned something about human nature.  We tend to be selfish creatures, looking to help ourselves rather than others.

Occasionally, we encounter someone who puts his or her life on the line for the sake of others, like Jesus did, but we don't think them special, do we?

We think of it as a job.

There is something deep down inside those who think of others first.  That is the message Jesus came to share, wanting us to want that in us.

The centurion was an example of that, going out of his way to seek help for his servant.

He was the one we should strive to be like.

More to come...