Say
to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he
comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you. Then will
the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; Then will the
lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing. Isaiah 35:4-6A
And
some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; they were trying to
bring him in and set him in his presence. But not finding a way to bring him in
because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher
through the tiles into the middle in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their
faith, he said, “As for you, your sins are forgiven.”
Luke 5:18-20
Piety
Advent Prayer By Art Laffin
In the beginning
was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus was in
the beginning with God, all things came to be through him. (John 1: 1-3)
Jesus, light of the
human race, light overcoming darkness. It is You who we seek during this
Advent-time. For You are the
Word made flesh – who dwells among us. It is You, Jesus, our Savior, that we
will follow and no other earthly principality or power.
May Your spirit of
love, mercy and nonviolence take root in our hearts, and the hearts of people
everywhere, as we strive to make God's reign of love and justice a reality
in our world.
Jesus, Son of God,
Human One, Healer, Peacemaker, and Redeemer, help us to disarm our hearts and
our world of violence, racial hatred and fear. Empower us to
eliminate all weapons, abolish war, end the death penalty, torture and indefinite
detention, protect our environment and safeguard all life and creation.
Help us to respect
the dignity of each person, welcome the immigrant and refugee, and transform
structures and policies that cause and perpetuate dehumanizing poverty, division
and suffering.
Help us, dear
Jesus, during this holy season, to make Your Word flesh, to rid ourselves and
our world of all that wounds, demonizes and destroys, and to become channels of
Your peace, justice, mercy, and reconciling love. Amen!
Study
Isaiah promise much but two things which are
included are vengeance and vindication.
However, these are not on the agenda that Jesus brings to Nazareth. They eyes of the blind will be opened. The ears of the deaf will be opened. The lame – like the man passed down from the
roof – will walk.
However, if the people of Nazareth and all of
Israel are waiting for a king to ride in on a stallion and depose the Romans
and their army, they will not get such vindication. Jesus comes as predicted by the prophet of
old, but he comes as the Prince of Peace not of war. He comes to heal the world, not to inflict
more harm. However, Jesus does not
belong to this world. He was in the world…but the world did not know him.
Jesus answered [to Pilate], “My
kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world,
my attendants [would] be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the
Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.” (John 18:36)
Rather than fighting the Pharisees, Jesus
spends his time teaching and healing.
Today, the man on the stretcher is healed, not because of HIS OWN faith,
but because of the faith of his friends.[i] When
Jesus saw their faith, he said, “As for you, your sins are forgiven.”
If Cursillo were around then, I would say he was lowered through the roof by
his Group Reunion.
“Then astonishment seized them all and they
glorified God, and, struck with awe, they said, “We have seen incredible things
today.” Luke 7:26
But you have not seen everything that Jesus
has in store. Just wait. In a few verses, Jesus is going to call a tax
collector to follow him. Jesus is going
to continually shock and amaze people.
Action
How would Jesus react to your faith? Would he
find enough evidence to cure your friends? Would he find enough evidence to astonish you? How persistent are you? Would you keep looking for a way in if the
door was blocked? Or would you give up
and head to Starbucks?
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