Authority, Faith, Miracles

In today’s Gospel, Luke 7:1-10, we are given the example of a centurion, a foreigner, believing in Jesus’ power to heal his slave, or anyone for that matter.  Not feeling worthy to approach Jesus, recognizing Jesus’ authority and power, he does not personally come into Jesus’ presence but asks his elders to take his request to Jesus.  The centurion recognizes the importance of authority and respects authority. He himself, in fact, occupies a position of authority. He tells  Jesus that his soldiers go where he tells them to go and that his slaves do what they are asked to do.  Jesus was amazed at the faith of this centurion and says: “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”  And when the centurion’s messengers returned to the house, “they found the salve in good health.”

Am I respectful of authority? Do I recognize the importance of authority or am I resentful of persons who have authority over me? Does my attitude toward authority get in my way of believing in the miracles that come from being cooperative and forgiving, of praying for those in authority, especially for those whose commands I find difficult to carry out?  Does my resentment of authority and my exaggerated importance of my own authority obstruct my openness to Jesus’ authority to heal, to do the impossible in my life, in the life of others, in the church, the world, the society in which I live?  In other words, am I the centurion or one of the Israelites in today’s Gospel story?                                 

Cornerstones in Living according to God's Will

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the chief priests, the scribes and the elders a parable of “a man who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey. ” At the proper time he sent servants to the tenants to obtain the produce. The tenants beat some of them and killed others. Then the farmer sent his only son, thinking that they would respect him and give him the produce for which the farmer sent him. Instead of respect, they treated his son worse than the servants and, in fact, killed him as well.  Jesus reminds the chief priests, the scribes and the elders of the Scripture passage that states: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes.” Then and there, they wanted to arrest Jesus but didn’t dare because of their fear of the crowd. So they simply walked away in sad and anger.

Ever find yourself in a situation where someone brings you a message that you do not want to hear? And when that happens, have you ever felt tempted to lash out, to attack that person to his/her face or behind that person’s back, attempting to prove his/her message false?  The person God sent may very well be “the cornerstone,” upon which we are able to build a firm foundation in the faith, live in the truth, transforming our lives into lives worthy of the Kingdom.

Lord, open my eyes to the messengers you send my way, especially those whom I am tempted to dismiss and/or even abuse verbally.