Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Scripture passages are reminding us that we must always be centred on God and be faithful to Him, and not to allow the temptations of worldly desires, attachments, or our pursuits of worldly glory to detract and mislead us all down the wrong path in life. This is why we must always remind ourselves that above all else, it is the Lord our God Who is the true centre and focus of our lives, and in whatever capacity and area of life, we must not allow ourselves to be swayed by those temptations that we end up causing hardships to others because of our selfish ways and actions.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Samuel, we heard of the moment when the people of Israel were very indignant and insistent before the prophet Samuel, who was also the Leader and Judge over the whole people of Israel, demanding that a king should rule over them just like those of the other nations and states around them. Why did the people make such a demand from Samuel and God? At that time, God was the One Who was King and Ruler over the Israelites, and even after the days of the kings, the Lord was indeed still the one and only true King over them. He exercised His power and authority through the Judges whom He had called and chosen, in a line of Judges up to the prophet Samuel. But, the people insisted that they must have a king over them, likely because to have a king to rule them brought the people much prestige and power.

Despite the prophet Samuel trying to persuade them otherwise by stating how the people might be exploited, oppressed and unjustly treated by their kings, especially if those kings were corrupt and selfish, with all the details that we have heard in our first reading passage today, the people of Israel were still very adamant and insisted that a king be appointed to rule over all of them. The Lord listened to those demands and told Samuel that He would choose a king to rule over His people, ending the days and time of the rule and guidance of the Judges. But eventually, what Samuel had predicted and told the people of Israel would come to reality as some of those kings who would rule over them were tyrannical and selfish, exploitative and harsh in their rule and the exercise of their power.

That is what they got for putting their faith and trust in man instead of in God as they should have done. They refused to listen to the Lord and decided to take things into their own hands, choosing to follow the whim of their desires and ambitions, the temptation of worldly glory and fame all around them rather than to listen to the words of the Lord and His Wisdom speaking in their hearts and minds. As such, this was why many of the people of God fell into the path of sin, which has also been highlighted in our Gospel passage today as well, when the Lord Jesus healed a paralysed man that was brought to Him by his friends through the roof of the place where He has been preaching and teaching to the people, facing disapproval and criticism from the Pharisees who happened to be there with Him.

In that occasion, the Lord was teaching to the people assembled to listen to Him when the paralytic man was brought to Him through the roof since there were so many people that were assembled to listen to the teachings of the Lord, that those people were likely unable to enter into the house. The Lord had pity of the paralysed man and was touched by the faith which he and his friends had, in putting so much effort to bring him to His side, even climbing up the house to the roof in order to do so. And that was when the Lord proclaimed that he was healed from his afflictions and he has also been forgiven from his sins, to the criticism and disapproval from the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who were there because those people argued that only God alone can forgive sins.

Yet, they failed to understand the words of the Scriptures and the prophets, all of whom had pointed out everything that the Lord Jesus would do, and they hardened their hearts and minds against God and His truth. Like their ancestors, they chose to follow their own judgments and ways, thinking that they, being knowledgeable about the Law and the Prophets, knew it better than the Lord Himself, and thinking that their ways and thoughts could not have been wrong. Hence, that is why they failed to understand the significance of the Lord’s actions in forgiving the paralysed man his sins and healing him from his afflictions.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have heard in our Scripture passages today, we are all reminded that we must not allow pride, ego and worldly ambitions, temptations and all those things from distracting us and keeping us away from the path of the Lord and His righteousness. As Christians, we must always keep in mind that we have to remain focused on the Lord, and keep ourselves open-minded, and be humble in our ways and thoughts, in our actions and interactions with one another. Otherwise, our pride and ego, our greed and desires will easily lead us down the same path of ruin which the people of Israel and those Pharisees had treaded upon, in failing to follow and obey God’s will.

Let us all therefore lead by our own examples in life, in striving to live our lives with humility and faith from now on. Let us all seek the Lord with contrite hearts and open minds, like that of the paralysed man and his friends, who went through the trouble and efforts to bring him close to the Lord, that he might be healed from his afflictions. Each and every one of us are also afflicted with the afflictions of sin and other forms of troubles we have in life, and we should seek the Lord, our most loving God and Father, and entrust ourselves to Him, rather than to trust in worldly means and attachments we have. May the Lord be with us all, at all times, and may He continue to empower each and every one of us, in living our lives worthily and full of God’s grace and love, now and forevermore. Amen.