Bible
Study: Isaiah 35, 1 to 10 and Luke 5, 17 to 26.
A person
who cannot be happy at the fortunes of another has a serious problem. A person
who is always out to criticize and find faults in everything and in everyone
has a serious problem. A person who finds it difficult to praise God but
complains all the time has a serious problem.
What is
this serious problem? It is the sickness of the brood of vipers! In today’s
Gospel passage, Jesus was in a house teaching the word of God and suddenly he
felt the power of God within him to heal. Behold at that same time, four men
assisted their paralytic friend to get to Jesus through the roof of the
building. Jesus not only healed this man, he gave him a complete dosage of healing
by forgiving his sins as well.
This was
supposed to be an occasion for joy; a moment everyone in the building should
put on their dancing shoes and begin to celebrate; a moment they ought to
realize that standing before them was God in human flesh. No human being could
do what Jesus did, no human being has the power to forgive sins committed
against God unless God himself. Seeing that Jesus forgave this man his sins and
cured him instantly means that Jesus is God and the fulfilment of all their
expectation of the Messiah. His ability to do this meant that Isaiah’s prophecy
had just come true. As our first reading today states: “The eyes of the blind
shall be open, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame man leap like
a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.”
Apart from
failing to see that God was right there in their midst, these brood of vipers
failed to see the need to be happy for a man who had been paralysed for years
and would no longer have to depend on begging for alms. Ordinarily you should
assume that when something good happens to you, people should be happy for you.
Isn’t it? That is why we celebrate as Africans; birthdays, marriages, new car,
new house, new job, healing, recovery and so on. We are never too tired and
never too poor to throw parties.
But then,
the bitter truth is that there will always be persons sick of the brood of
vipers’ disease us who do not believe we deserve to be happy. One symptom of
this disease is the speed with which its victims detect errors and flaws here
and there. Another symptom is that people sick of this disease are never happy!
In fact they grow old quickly because of too much face squeezing and they die
before their time.
Watch out
when you begin to become too critical lest you miss Christ this Christmas. Everyone
was happy because they saw God in human form, the brood of vipers were sad because
they saw a young man speaking blasphemy! What an irony!
Let us
Pray: Lord Jesus, may I be an instrument of joy this advent. Amen.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith.
It is well with you. God bless you. Happy new week.
Fr. Abu.
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