Reflections in Ordinary Time

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - July 3, 2005

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.

Matthew 11: 28-30

What Is God Like?

Jesus must have had something like X-ray vision to be able to look inside people and see how much they needed to be comforted. Everywhere he went he saw people who were hurting and he reached out to them. Actually he had something even better than X-ray vision. He could look into everyone's heart with the eyes of God and see a beautiful child to be loved and nurtured.

He came upon a man possessed by demons so violent that he was uncontrollable. Everyone was afraid of him and would not go near him. He could not even be restrained with chains. But Jesus looked at this wild man and saw someone who did not want to live like a beast but wanted to be human. So he drove his demons out of him and made him a man again.

Jesus met a leper who was disfigured by his uncleanness and excluded from contact with anyone. But Jesus did not see him as unclean. He saw in him a man who did not want to be untouchable, who longed for human contact, for someone to throw her arms around him and kiss him and tell him she loved him. So Jesus touched him and took away his disfigurement and made him clean.

A sinful woman entered a gathering where Jesus was at table. Everyone knew what kind of woman she was and wanted nothing to do with her. She came up to Jesus sobbing with remorse, and she bathed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. Everyone was appalled that he let her touch him. But Jesus saw how much she was hurting, how she hated what she had become, and how she wanted to change. So he spoke kindly to her, and assured her that her past was over and done with, that her sins were forgiven, and that God's love was still there for her.

Jesus came upon a tax collector sitting in a tree of all places. He wanted to see Jesus so badly, but he was short and he could not elbow his way to the front of the crowd, so he climbed a tree to try to get a look at him. Everyone despised this man and considered him a traitor. He was an agent of the foreign power that occupied their homeland and imposed heavy taxes on them. And this man collected those taxes and made a profit at it. He was hated by everyone. But Jesus looked up at him sitting in the tree and saw someone with a lot of heart. He did not judge and condemn him like everyone else did. He even invited himself to dinner at his house.

A man sought out Jesus to get help for his son. Something was terribly wrong with the boy. Some evil spirit would take possession of him and throw him to the ground and cause him to grind his teeth and foam at the mouth. Sometimes it would even throw him into water or into a fire. Jesus saw right away how heavily his son's affliction weighed on this man. His heart went out to him and he cured the boy.

The stories go on and on. The blind are brought to Jesus to have their sight restored. The deaf want their hearing back. Paralytics want to walk again - and run and jump and dance. And those possessed by demonic afflictions of every sort want to be set free.

And what about us? Maybe not everyone feels the need to seek out the Lord. Maybe some have everything under control. Maybe they have the best of everything and can take care of themselves. But I'm not one of them. And perhaps you're not either. It seems to me that the Jesus we know from the Gospels spent more time healing and comforting than anything else. I think he did it to show us what God is like.

Read a prayer of encouragement.