30TH JUNE 2022
WAITING IN FAITH FOR THE GOOD THAT YOU KNOW AND EXPECT.
AMOS 7:10-17
PSALM 19:8-11
MATTHEW 9:1-8.
Since the man in today's Gospel reading cannot walk, his friends bring him to Jesus confident of his ability to heal. Prior to this passage, Jesus has already send demons into a herd of swine who run down and drown themselves in a river. This incident prompts the local people to tell Jesus to leave their village and he leaves by a boat.
When the friends of the paralyzed man bring him to Jesus, we are left wondering for how long they were waiting for him. For how long can you wait for someone or for something to appear and then positively take advantage of that appearance?
Is waiting difficult? Is waiting tiresome? Is waiting time limited? Can not knowing the end result of waiting make you give up on waiting? Do you believe that waiting is meant for others and not for you in a world that wants instant results? What's the value of waiting?
Matthew tells us that just after Jesus makes arrives and comes into his home town, the friends of the paralytic are there waiting for him. Did they see him leave a day before and set up camp, trusting he would come back? Did they peer for hours on end towards the horizon, getting excited each and every time they saw the outline of a boat? Had they left just one scout at the beach who came running to town to find them as soon as Jesus came to the shore?
We do not know. What we know is that these friends were so confident of the ability of Jesus to relieve the suffering of their companion that they were right there, ready and waiting as Jesus came to town.
Their waiting entails faith, their faith entails following Jesus and their following entails confidence. It means that waiting and following are not just ideas in the mind but they involve action that is spurred by faith and that is why it is written that when Jesus saw their faith he told the paralytic," Take heart, your sins are forgiven."
The end result of their waiting in faith is finally meeting Jesus and asking him to heal their friend.
Waiting creates space in your life, precious time to get in touch with what is going on inside you. What affects a person closer to you also affects you and makes you think deeply on how it affects your spirituality, your relationship and other areas of your life. How will the paralyzed man socially relate with his friends?
His friends love him, and while going to Jesus to heal their him, it was also a moment to think of their expected encounter with Jesus.
As much as we are impressed by their concern and faith and waiting, we should know that the person or the thing being waited for is what matters because the one being waited for gives credence and meaning to the one waiting this making the reason for waiting clear and understandable.
The act of waiting following Jesus in faith is given credence by the healing of their friend. When you are in a restaurant and you pay or tip the waiter, you make his or her work worthwhile.
Waiting is not something that happens once. It is a way of life and a posture of the heart. Waiting is humility and reverence in action.
When we chose to wait upon God we acknowledge God's power to heal us, to forgive us, to acknowledge us and to affirm and confirm our faith. We just have to discern the right time to do the needed thing as the friends of the paralyzed man did.
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