Wednesday, January 23, 2019

2nd Week, Ordinary Time, Thursday, 24-01-19

Hebrews 7:25 - 8:6 / Mark 3:7-12

People came to Jesus for various reasons. Some have heard about Him and so they have come to check Him for themselves.

Others may be curious for the spectacular; yet others may be desperate because of some particular need, eg. for healing, for deliverance, for enlightenment, for direction, etc.

Whatever it was, the reasons were many. And the bottom line is that they want something from Jesus.

As it was then, so it is now and it will always be as such. It is like some kind of consumerism mentality.

Whatever Jesus can give, people would want, and they will want more and more. And they may even crush Him in order to get what they want from Him.

As we heard in the gospel, He even had to get onto a boat to keep Himself from being crushed.

Yes, we all want something from Jesus, and we might not be that ready to take "No" for an answer.

But as we reflect on the 1st reading, it is clear that Jesus is the high priest appointed by God to be the mediator between God and man, and hence His power to save is utterly certain.

Yet as high priest and Saviour, Jesus had to offer Himself as the sacrifice for sinners in order to save them.

Hence, if we truly believe in Jesus as our high priest and Saviour, then we too would follow Him in doing what He had done - to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice so that Jesus can continue His saving work in us.

Hence, it would not be so much as what we want from Jesus, but what we are willing to give up and offer to Him as a loving sacrifice.