In the previous week, the texts of the readings of the Holy Scriptures directed us to the correct relationship to some values of earthly life, such as career, wealth, or managing pride. This week it will be more about clarifying some spiritual attitudes, such as faith and its consequences: prayer, keeping the commandments… and deepening these attitudes. The first reading talks about the healing of the Syrian general Naaman, based on fulfilling the prophet Elizaeus’ request. In the Gospel, Jesus complains that his contemporaries do not accept him as a prophet.
Who is the prophet anyway? Usually, by this word, we imagine someone who predicts the future. A person is curious about his future, and those who claim to be able to predict the future are very sought after – various fortune-tellers, astrologers, and creators of horoscopes. Although the prophets sometimes predicted future events, this is not the essence of their mission. A prophet is above all a person sent by God, he is in the service of God – he receives, listens, knows what God announces, not only to him, but also to many people, and he is looking for ways and ways to familiarize people with the content of this message. And what God tells us is the most important and valuable thing.
Such a prophet in the fullest sense of the word was Jesus Christ. After all, he came from God, communicated directly with God, and translated God’s truth and will into the understandable language of his contemporaries. He did it with words, deeds – even miraculous ones – and his whole life. However, Jesus complains about the reluctance of his contemporaries to accept his words with the belief that God himself speaks to them through him and about the proof of faith to act according to those words. For example, he cites a widow from pagan Sidon during the famine. When the prophet Elijah met her and approached her to give him the last swing of bread, he informed her that if she did, God would provide her with enough flour and oil. This woman staked her life on this assurance, renounced her last assurance, and God miraculously rewarded this trust of hers that saved her life. It was the same with the leper Syrian Naaman and the guidance of the prophet Elizaeus.
Jesus rightly expects us to accept what he tells us with faith and act courageously accordingly – so that God’s saving power can be manifested in us. Do we trust him that God himself speaks to us through him? It is not enough for him that we come to meet him in church, like his teachings, and have a pleasant experience of liturgy or singing. The goal of his prophetic mission is to pass on to us the decisions of the heavenly Father, the acceptance of which is a prerequisite for God’s saving power to work in us.
We prove by whether and how we act according to what he tells us that we believe him and accept his word. ” Faith without works is dead.” Without such a believer receiving the word of Jesus, we would actually let him know that we do not take him as a savior sent by God, thereby degrading him to only one of the religious dreamers, for some good guy to diversify the festive days. Such a relationship with Christ would insult him and would not help us.
Practical instruction: I will ask Christ for the gift of firm faith in him for myself and the people of our time, and I will show faith in the divine truth of his words by applying them in concrete action.
Prayer: Holy God, graciously purify and protect your Church, and because we cannot do without your help, constantly accompany us with your grace through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who is God and lives and reigns with you in union with the Holy Spirit for all ages.
