Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Hai tuần 24 Thường Niên Luke 7:1-10
Khi viên đội trưởng nhờ người đến cầu xin Chúa Giêsu đến để chữa lành người đầy tớ của ông, ông nghĩ rằng ông không có hy vọng là Chúa Giêsu sẽ chú ý đến lời cầu xin của ộng ta; Ông chỉ tin rằng nếu Chúa Giêsu muốn, Ngài chỉ nói một lời thì mọi sự sẽ xảy ra. Viên đội trưởng này đã cầu xin Thiên Chúa những điều thật tuyệt vời vì những gì ông ta xin không phải xin cho ông, nhưng ông đã xin cho một người đầy tớ của ông.
Là một người ngoại giáo, viên đội trưởng có thể đã cảm nhận được rằng Chúa Giêsu, là Đấng đã khá nổi tiếng sẽ nghĩ rằng ông ta chỉ là một người ngoài cuộc; Thật vậy, tuy nhiên, khát vọng lớn lao của ông là muốn được thấy người đầy tớ của mình được ơn chữa lành như ông đã cố công cố sức với các nỗ lực để yêu cầu mọi người giúp cho ngưòi đầy tớ của ông được lành. Khi viên đội trưởng này biết rằng Chúa Giêsu là người có uy quyền và sức mạnh của Thiên Chúa, Ngài có thể làm nhiều việc kỳ diệu và ông tin rằng Chúa Giêsu không cần phải đến nhà ông, Vì nếu như Ngài muốn, Ngài chỉ cần phán lên một tiếng thì người tôi tớ của ông sẽ được chữa lành.
Lòng tin của viên đội trường trái ngược với lòng tin của Thánh Tôma, người cần thấy rõ bằng chứng hiện hình rõ ràng trước khi tin rằng Chúa Giêsu đã sống lại từ cõi chết. Giờ đây và một lần nữa, Chúa Giêsu nhắc nhở chúng ta là chúng ta cần phải tin tưởng vào những gì chúng ta không thể nhìn thấy. Bằng chứng về sự hiện hữu của Chúa Giêsu thường được tranh luận. Cũng như quan niệm riêng của chúng ta về Thiên Chúa khác với con người Thiên Chúa thực sự. Sau khi thắc mắc quá nhiều câu hỏi về Thiên Chúa, chúng ta có thể đi đến với một câu trả lời không thể tránh khỏi: Thiên Chúa là một Đấng bí ẩn. Và khi chúng ta đi đến kết luận này, điều gì sẽ đảm bảo cho chúng ta tin rằng Ngài là đấng hiện hữu mà không cần phải lên trên các báo để loan tin tức, để mọi người thấy, hay đưa hình ảnh của Ngài trên internet, quảng cáo trên truyền hình, hay đưa các chi tiết về một phép lạ nào trên video. Nhưng với kinh nghiệm đức tin riêng của chúng ta làm cho chúng ta chắc chắn biết và tin rằng Ngài chính là Thiên Chúa.
Đức tin tập trung vào Thiên Chúa là đối tượng rất hợp lý. Đức tin không đòi hỏi đối tượng phải nhìn thấy. Hầu hết tất cả niềm tin đòi hỏi một tình yêu, và lòng nhân hậu như đức tin của viên đội trưởng, là một ân phúc cho người khác. Còn chúng ta, chúng ta đã làm được gì trong đức tin của mình? Xin hãy tự trả lời.
When the centurion asked Jesus through other people to heal his servant, he did not expect him to come. He simply believed that if Jesus would only will it, it would happen. He asked great things from a great God. Yet what he asked was not for himself but for someone who worked for him.
Being a Gentile, the centurion probably felt that Jesus, who was already quite famous at that time, would think of him as an outsider. It was, however, his great desire to see his servant healed that he made the effort to ask people for help. Knowing that powerful people could do many things, he believed that Jesus need not come to his house, for he only had to will it and his servant would be healed.
The believing centurion is the opposite of Thomas who needed physical proof before believing that Jesus did rise from the dead. Time and again, Jesus would remind us of our need to believe in what we could not see. Proof of esus' existence is often debated upon. Also our own notion of God is different from who God really is. After asking too many questions about God, we come up with one inevitable answer: God is a mystery. And when we come to this conclusion, what would assure us that He is there and He is in charge would not be news reports of sightings, pictures on the internet, ads on TV, detailed miracles on video but our own faith experiences which make us sure that HE IS HE.
Faith focuses on God as its proper object. It does not require visible audience. Most of all faith, like the faith of the centurion, is a blessing for others. Have we taken a leap of faith?
“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.” Luke 7:6–7
What’s interesting is that these humble words, spoken by a Roman centurion, were not actually spoken by the centurion to Jesus. This is because the centurion did not believe he was even worthy of going to Jesus himself. Therefore, he sent some of his friends to speak these words to Jesus on his behalf. In a real way, the friends of this centurion acted as intercessors before Jesus. Jesus’ response was to express amazement at the centurion’s faith. Jesus said to the crowd who was with Him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” And at that point, the servant was healed by Jesus from a distance.
Most of the time, if we have an important request to make of another, we do so in person. We go to the person and speak face-to-face. And though we certainly can go to our Lord in prayer, face-to-face, person to Person, there is something very humble about bringing our needs to our Lord through the intercession of another. Specifically, there is something very humble about asking for the intercession of the saints.
Seeking the intercession of the saints before our Lord is not done because we are afraid of our Lord or because He would be offended by us going directly to Him. It is ideally done as an act of the utmost humility. By entrusting our prayer to those who are in Heaven, gazing upon the face of God, we do entrust our prayer to God. But relying upon the intercession of the saints is also a way of acknowledging that we are not worthy, by our own merits, to stand before the Lord and bring Him our request. This humility can be difficult to understand at times, but it’s important to try.
What is it that you need to pray for in your life right now? As you call that to mind, pick a saint to act as your friend and intercessor before God. Turn to that saint in humility and say a prayer to that saint, admitting that you are not worthy of going to our Lord on your own. Then entrust your petition to that saint and ask him or her to present that prayer to our Lord on your behalf. Praying to our Lord, through the intercession of a saint, is a way of also saying that you know Jesus’ response to you is pure mercy on His part. And the good news is that Jesus deeply desires to shower His mercy when we humble ourselves before Him, especially by coming to Him through the mediation of the saints.
Reflect, today, upon the humility of this well-respected Roman centurion. Try to understand the power of his humble approach by which he sent his friends to Jesus on his behalf. As you do, pick a saint in Heaven and ask them to go to our Lord on your behalf and request that our Lord grant you the same humility and faith as this centurion. Doing so will lead our Lord to be amazed at your faith and humility also.
Saints of God, please offer to Jesus my humble request that I grow more in humility and faith. My precious Lord, I do bring this and all my prayers to You. As I do, I acknowledge that I am not worthy of Your Divine Mercy. But through the mediation of the saints in Heaven, if it be Your will that You bestow Your mercy upon me, then I humbly make this request of You through them. Mother Mary, I especially entrust all my prayers to Your holy intercession. Jesus, I trust in You.
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I desire a deep faith like that of the centurion. I believe that your Son, Jesus Christ, can heal me physically, mentally, psychologically, and spiritually. I want to conform my life to that of your Son; I want to think as he thinks. I unite the offering of my life to his sacrificial offering.
Encountering the Word of God
1. The Centurion of Capernaum: After preaching the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:17-49) to both Jews and Gentiles, Jesus returned to his home base in Capernaum. Capernaum was a border town with a customs post (Matthew 5:27) and likely had a garrison of one hundred soldiers under the command of a centurion (see Gadenz, The Gospel of Luke, 139). This centurion was likely subject immediately to Herod Antipas, who was appointed tetrarch by Rome and ruled over Galilee. The centurion in today’s Gospel was in good favor with the local Jewish people. The elders of the Jews told Jesus that the centurion loved their nation and that he had built the local synagogue. “In Acts, Luke will describe another centurion, Cornelius, ‘respected by the whole Jewish nation’ (Acts 10:22), whose baptism leads to peaceful coexistence between Jews and Gentiles in the Church (Acts 11:18; 15:7-11). God’s universal plan of salvation thus unfolds through these two centurions (see Luke 2:30-32; 3:6), as Jesus had earlier foretold by mentioning Naaman, the Gentile officer healed by Elisha (Luke 4:27; 2 Kings 5:1-15)” (Gadenz, The Gospel of Luke, 139). How is God’s plan of salvation unfolding through me and my family?
2. The Faith of the Gentile Centurion: As Jesus made his way to the centurion’s house to heal the centurion’s slave, the centurion sent his friends to Jesus to relay a message about not needing him to enter his house to work the healing. This shows that the centurion was aware of the traditional prohibition for a Jew to enter the house of a Gentile. The message manifested the deep faith of the Centurion. On the one hand, he was deeply respectful of God’s Law given through Moses and the interpretation given by the religious authorities. On the other, he believed that Jesus could heal from a distance and through his powerful word. The centurion truly understands authority. He himself was subject to authority and exercised authority over others. The centurion’s faith surpassed that of many Israelites. Every mass, we imitate the faith of the Centurion and pray: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” The next time I am at mass, can I pray these words with deep faith and reverence?
3. Guidelines for the Christian Community in Corinth: When Paul sent the First Letter to the Corinthians, one of the issues he wanted to address was how the community was becoming careless in their celebration of the Eucharist. There was division in the community, especially between the poor and the rich. “Disunity among the Corinthians contradicts the very purpose of the Eucharist to unify believers with Christ and one another” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament, 301). Paul faithfully transmitted to the community how to celebrate the Eucharist. He taught that it was the fulfillment of the old Passover and now commemorates how Jesus, as the New Passover sacrifice, delivered us from sin and death. It is not an ordinary meal and should not be characterized by class division: “When you gather to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, you must not treat it like a profane dinner party, divided by class or selfishly filling yourselves while others go hungry. It is the Lord’s Supper!” (Prothro, The Apostle Paul and His Letter, 105).
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, reign in my heart today. I welcome you under my roof. I know that I am not worthy to receive you and yet you are here and dwell within me. Remain with me and in me always.
Opening Prayer: Heavenly Father, transform my heart so that I can acknowledge my unworthiness and humbly trust in your healing love and forgiveness.
Gracious in Victory: The Jewish elders interceded for the centurion, a leader in the military rulers of Israel. Why? Because he had shown love and compassion for the defeated people. He helped build their synagogue, allowing them dignity and peace to live out their faith while under military rule. His kindness and mercy endeared him to the Jewish elders. So often our past actions come back, either to haunt us or to help us. Deeds of kindness can lead to mercy and kindness returned to us when we need it most. Our uncharitable actions lead to the exact opposite. How do we treat those under our authority?
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