Wednesday August 31, 2016 22nd Week in Ordinary Time.
First Reading: 1 Cor 3: 1-9 Gospel Reading: Lk 4:38-44
Leaving the synagogue, Jesus went to the house of Simon. His mother-in-law was suffering from high fever and they asked him to do something for her. Bending over her, he rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and waited on them.
At sunset, people suffering from many kinds of sickness were brought to Jesus. Laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Demons were driven out, howling as they departed from their victims, “You are the Son of God!” He rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, for they knew he was the Messiah.
Jesus left at daybreak and looked for a solitary place. People went out in search of him and, finding him, they tried to dissuade him from leaving.
But he said, “I have to go to other towns to announce the good news of the kingdom of God. That is what I was sent to do.” So Jesus continued to preach in the synagogues of the Jewish country.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
Why did Jesus silence the demons even as they were saying, “You are the Son of God”? Was their knowledge of Him as Son of God not enough reason for leniency? Probably not! In Hebrew, knowledge means experience; experience develops into acceptance or possession (McKenzie, S.J., Dictionary of the Bible). Their knowledge of Jesus was not of this kind. It was the practice then to control a powerful spirit by mentioning its proper name. They called him “Son of God” hoping to control him.
How many of us know Jesus the way demons do? It is said that the greatest chasm lies between the mind and the heart. Since the heart is not always privy to the affairs of the mind, the conviction of the mind does not necessarily result to persuasion of the heart.
The only bridge that can be built across this great chasm is charity. Where no bridge is built a person suffers conflicting orders from two command centers. He will be torn between what the mind is convinced of and what the heart beats for. He lives the split- level Christianity that the Book of Revelations condemns (Rev. 3:15-16). Our God is not the God of the dead. If faith without good works is dead (James 2:20), God will vomit anyone with unsubstantiated faith.
“Devil” read in reverse is “lived”. Nice! Lucifer used to have life before he rebelled. There’s commonality between the devil and the person whose faith is dead. Both profess Jesus as Son of God but do not accept Him in their hearts. God will silence both with this warning: “Not all who say ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 7:21). –(Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM, MMExM, MAPM, REB. Email:dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
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