UNIVERSAL SALVATION

November 29, Monday

FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT

 

      Today’s message speaks of universal salvation. Isaiah preaches that all are called to believe in God, to worship him, to live according to God’s plans and laws, and to enjoy his peace. Jerusalem stands here for God’s believing people. (In year A, another reading from Isaiah is taken, so as not to duplicate that of the first Sunday A: God will protect the remnant that has been faithful to him and live among his people.)

      The centurion’s faith is remarkable. He is symbolic of the Gentiles who will be called, for the kingdom is open to all, without any privilege of race or culture. With Christ, salvation has become available to anyone of good will.

                       

First Reading: Isaiah 4:2-6

And that’s when God’s Branch will sprout green and lush. The produce of the country will give Israel’s survivors something to be proud of again. Oh, they’ll hold their heads high! Everyone left behind in Zion, all the discards and rejects in Jerusalem, will be reclassified as “holy”—alive and therefore precious. God will give Zion’s women a good bath. He’ll scrub the bloodstained city of its violence and brutality, purge the place with a firestorm of judgment.

Then God will bring back the ancient pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night and mark Mount Zion and everyone in it with his glorious presence, his immense, protective presence, shade from the burning sun and shelter from the driving rain.

 

Gospel: Matthew 8:5-11

As Jesus entered the village of Capernaum, a Roman captain came up in a panic and said, “Master, my servant is sick. He can’t walk. He’s in terrible pain.”

Jesus said, “I’ll come and heal him.”

“Oh, no,” said the captain. “I don’t want to put you to all that trouble. Just give the order and my servant will be fine. I’m a man who takes orders and gives orders. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes; to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

Taken aback, Jesus said, “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all about God and how he works. This man is the vanguard of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions—streaming in from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God’s kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

 

Prayer

Lord God, Father of all,

in your Son, Jesus Christ,

you invite everyone and all to know and love you

and to live in your unending peace.

Keep alive in us the zeal

to bring the light of your truth

and the riches of your life and love to all,

without any distinction

of race, language or culture.

May everyone on earth come to know you

as the merciful Father of all

through our brother and Savior,

Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:
Say a Word, Lord!
To the Jewish mind, Gentiles were untouchables. They were waiting for the coming of the Messiah and the Messiah of their understanding was a powerful King like David, who would establish a Jewish kingdom. Hence, they waited for an exclusive Messiah. Matthew, writing for the Jewish community intends to rectify this exclusivism of the Jewish Christians and hence, present the story of this gentile Roman officer. Jesus not only granted him the grace he was looking for, but also projected him as an example for ideal faith.
A centurion working in the area of Capernaum would have been an officer of the Roman army – certainly a Gentile. Moreover, the Jews must have hated the centurions because they were working for the enemies of Jews who had suppressed them. An observant Jew would no eat with a Gentile, nor even visit the house of a Gentile because they were regarded as unclean. Therefore, It was normal for the centurion to think that, Jesus, a Jewish preacher, would not want to go to his house. Showing due sensitivity, he requests Jesus for help, and pleads for that all important command so that his servant could be healed.
Gentiles in Matthew’s community believed in the risen Jesus as Lord. They had no further proofs for their faith – they simply believed. Acknowledging their strong faith in a person whom they have never seen, Matthew challenges the lack of faith of some of the traditional Jews of the synagogue. They hold on to their traditions and continue to wait for their Messiah. Moreover, those Jews who believed in Christ were expelled from synagogues. That bitterness over the broken relationships between the Jews and Christians is reflected in the graphic imagery that Matthew employs to describe the fate of those who would not believe: outer darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Through the faith of the Centurion, Matthew wants to tell his listeners, that the Messiah has already come and while people from all corners of the world have come to know him, the chosen people of God have missed the bus.
Significant, furthermore, for Matthew was the fact that the centurion’s trust in Jesus was accompanied by a genuine love and care for his paralysed servant boy. Those with faith opened themselves to change, in line with the goodness and mercy of God. 

 

Video available on Youtube: Say a Word, Lord!