In our civilised society where there is law and order, it is an offence to carry a knife of a certain length which is categorised as an offensive weapon.
The punishment for such an offence can be quite severe, especially for carrying offensive weapons.
But even a kitchen knife can be turned into an instrument of harm if it is in the hands of someone with a harmful intention.
But in our civilised society, we won't carry a weapon like knife even if we intend to hurt someone. But we carry those "knives" in our hearts.
And those "knives" come out of our mouths in the form of abusive and hurtful words, slandering and disparaging words, lies and deceiving words.
So hammering swords into ploughshares and spears into sickles may only eradicate weapons that harm and kill.
But the weapons that we carry in our hearts are more dangerous as they can inflict invisible injuries and torment the lives of others.
But in the gospel, we hear of a centurion, a solder who is familiar with weapons and bloodshed, approaching and pleading with Jesus to heal his servant.
The centurion knows that weapons can harm and kill, no weapon can ever heal and save. He had to abandon whatever weapons he had, whether in his hand or in his heart, and turn to Jesus who came to heal and save.
May we be able to discover what are those "weapons" that are hidden in our heart and to surrender them to Jesus as we begin our Advent preparation.