Category: Uncategorized

***

We all experience failure… It’s how we respond to it that counts.

***

Look at Saint Peter!

He’s spent the entire night fishing and caught nothing. That’s a pretty big failure for a professional fisherman, who will have to return home with no food or money for his family.

But then comes Jesus, who asks Peter to cast his nets once more.

“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,” Peter says, “but at your command I will lower the nets.”

Suddenly his nets are tearing at the seams.

***

Peter failed on his own, but tried again at the prompting of Jesus.

That’s key to our own spirituality – never giving up.

Like Peter, where have I failed or made a mistake? 

Maybe I lost my temper, fell into an old habit, or prioritized other things over church this summer. 

***

Regardless of our past, Jesus is looking at us now, saying, “Lower the nets.”

Today is a new beginning.

***

“Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever… Jesus stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them” (Luke 4:39-40).

***

One of the worst parts about being sick is the sense of loneliness or isolation that sets in. This is particularly true when we’re desperately ill, say with cancer.

Despite the care of family, friends, and nurses, our world becomes increasingly small – confined to our room, our bed, and even our thoughts.

No one can walk a mile in our shoes.

***

We get this sense of isolation from Peter’s mother-in-law, who is deathly ill.

Fortunately, Jesus meets her in a way that no one else can – he takes her by the hand, heals her, and raises her up. 

The same word used to describe her healing will later be used to describe Christ’s own resurrection.

Both were “raised up.”

What the Gospel’s implying, then, is that Jesus not only brings her physical healing; he also brings her a new perspective on life as she moves from isolation back into the community.

Grateful for his goodness, Peter’s mother-in-law gets up and serves Jesus. We can presume she remained in his service for years to come.

***

In a similar way, when has Jesus come to my aid?

***

Perhaps he answered a prayer, opened a new door, brought me healing, or inner peace.

Our response to the Lord should always be gratitude. With grateful hearts, how can we be of service to others today? 

***

“In the synagogue there was a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out in a loud voice, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?'” (Luke 4:34)

***

Good and evil don’t mix.

So why is there a demon the synagogue?

***

Surely this demon isn’t there to listen to Jesus. 

If anything, it protests Christ’s presence, saying, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?”

***

Perhaps Luke includes this story in his Gospel to teach us a lesson on evil.

If we shaped our view of evil by watching Hollywood horror films, then we could conclude that evil only lurks in the darkness – in the sewer, in the woods, in a graveyard, in a prison.

But this demon is in a synagogue, a holy place!

If demons can appear in the house of God, then they can appear anywhere at any time – even in our own lives.

How often does evil appear in the form of anxiety, depression, addiction, cancer, and even natural disasters? 

Think of Hurricane Dorian – no one’s calling that storm a blessing. 

Sadly, evil surfaces everywhere – most often without our willing it. It’s part of living in a fallen world.

***

But here’s the important point for us. Instead of asking, “Why is there evil in the world?” We should ask ourselves, “How do I confront it?”

***

Turn to Jesus.

The same God who cast that demon out in the synagogue can cure our cancer, relieve our depression, and heal our addictions. 

Though there’s no guarantee, if we never ask, we’ll never know.

Remember, all healing begins with the belief in Christ’s power to save.