Scripture:
Isaiah 65:17-21
John 4:43-54
Reflection:
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus returns to Galilee, and when He is there, a royal official comes to Him and says, "Sir, come down before my child dies." Jesus replies, "You may go; your son will live." Then John tells us that "The man believed what Jesus said to him and left." The Gospel passage goes on to recount that the man’s faith was justified; his son was made well, at the time Jesus told him.
What strikes me about that story is the man’s faith. What Jesus tells him is enough for him. He believes, and goes home to his son. Is what Jesus tells us enough for us? Perhaps some of you may be thinking, "Jesus hasn’t told me anything. I have not seen any apparition, nor heard any voice coming out of the clouds. There hasn’t been any dramatic demonstration of Jesus communicating with me." That hasn’t happened to me, either. But if we look at the Cross, Jesus is speaking His love to us. If we take the time to look at our lives, we may recognize various times during which Jesus spoke His love to us, even when we didn’t hear Him then.
But is that enough for us? I think sometimes we look to all sorts of people in all sorts of places for a guarantee that we are loved. Yet all we need to do is look at the Cross. We will not find judgment there so much as mercy! We will not find despair there so much as hope! We will not find defeat there so much as victory! Most of all, we will find love. This Lenten season calls us to trust in that love, just as the royal official did. May God’s words of love in Jesus Christ be enough for us to turn us back to Him.
Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P. is pastor of St. Mary’s Parish, Fairfield, Alabama.