Word to the Wise
Thursday, July 8, 2021 - Thursday in the 14th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 44:18-21, 23b-29; 45:1-5 and Matt 10:7-15]"As you go, make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give." [Matt]
One of the major challenges faced by Jesus and, later on, the disciples, was to get the "message" across. The message is clear, "The Kingdom of heaven is at hand." But the message often got lost in people's wonder and awe at the signs and miracles that accompanied the preaching of the message. Several times in the Gospel According to Matthew, Jesus scolds those who seek signs rather than seeking to know the one who is the source of the power. They were like folks who care more about the magic instead of the one who is able to perform it. In Jesus' case, it was not magic, but audiences in his day (and ours) can tend to concentrate on the "magic" and try to figure out how its done. The Pharisees claimed it was because Jesus was demonic! [Matt. 12:24].
In the gospels, Jesus does respond to those who come to him in faith and ask for healing. But he also responds to others who do not express faith before healing. [cf. Matt. 8:14-15; John 5:1-9] I fear that the practice of the church in demanding miracles as a sign of someone's worthiness to be called a "blessed" or a "saint" contributes to the problem. The signs and miracles are testimony to something else. They are not the only testimony to the "Kingdom of heaven." Our own faithful witness, day after day, is more than eloquent. We are all called to be "saints." The miraculous is in a class by itself. The Kingdom of heaven means a daily effort by you and me. AMEN