23rd Sunday Ordinary Time B 8 September 2024 Salvation
Every problem has its solution. If we are thirsty here is a drink, tired here is a bed, lost at sea here is a helicopter etc
Every problem has its answer and that answer could be called a form of salvation. We are saved from the problem when we find and apply the solution.
(One could refuse to take the solution which means the problem remains. It also means that one problem compounds with another and what a tangle that can be.)
Saviour is one title we have for Jesus as He comes among us. He is a walking solution. Everything about Him is good and serves to make things better than they were before.
He wanted to lead people to an understanding of what they most needed in life. It was not just bread, nor physical healing, but to be reconciled with God, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit; so they would be people who once walked in darkness, but now in the light (Is 9,2).
In Jesus we find the solution to each problem, and the whole big problems of where we are heading, the meaning of life, the fulfilment of our potential as children of God.
Jesus came to save us, and demonstrated His power and His general intention by working miracles; whereby people would sense that there is a better way altogether than they have been living.
So Jesus heals the blind, meaning that we can see more clearly what is good and what is not.
He heals the deaf, meaning that we can hear God's word and come to a deeper understanding of what it means for us.
He sets free from demons, meaning that we can be free from sin in all its forms. Set free to live a better life.
The biggest problem we can have is not to know God. There are people who need saving but they may not know it; or if they do know it they will put it off for another day.
We have to grasp the urgency of the situation, just as we would if we were in physical danger. We do not have the luxury of time; we need to be right with the Saviour around about Now!
It is not that difficult to take the spiritual relief once we get a taste of what is available.
We can learn from the way others have responded to the offer of salvation.
We see the joy of instant conversion when someone realizes both his need and the fulfilment of that need in the one moment.
Cf St Matthew, Zacchaeus – both tax collectors, St Paul, the Good Thief, the one leper who came back, Mary Magdalene - set free from seven demons. And others in every age.
These people could see something that can escape others. They could see the essential goodness of God, His desirability, His lovableness.
They could see the green fields instead of the usual desert (first reading, Is 35,4-7a).
We cannot rely just on human goodwill, but if we take hold of God's grace we can rise to a higher level.
Otherwise we keep floundering and despair of any improvement.
We aim for the bigger solution while we make use of smaller ones. For example, drive safely, eat the right foods, keep out of the sun etc - but most of all be a person who needs to know God.
One day within your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere (Ps 84 (83), 10). Lord, where else can we go?(Jn 6,68)
Heaven is not just a paradise full of good things, but a place to dwell for people who have seen the overall solution, that all their being is fulfilled in God.
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