“Returning from the district of Tyre, Jesus went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, right through the Decapolis region. And they brought him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they asked him to lay his hand on him…” The quote above shows that Jesus had been on a journey, and not even a short one, as He journeyed into the district of Tyre, which is outside the territory of the Jews. Yet, His love remained unwavering, always ready to meet the needs of others.
This further suggests that He would have been exhausted on His return from the journey.
More so, with the fact that He had done other works on His journey as we see in the gospel of yesterday, “Jesus left Gennesaret and set out for the territory of Tyre…. A woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him straightaway and came and fell at his feet…. he said to her, … you may go home happy: the devil has gone out of your daughter… ” (Mark 7:24-30)
From the above, it is evident that Jesus had every right to claim to be tired and needed rest but He didn’t make such claims for He is a faithful God who fulfils his promise of bearing our burdens. He bears these burdens without complaints, and he is always willing at every point in time to do so. For He says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matth. 11:28)
He continues to bear our burdens no matter the circumstances, and that’s why He still attended to the boy in the gospel of today. “looking up to heaven, he sighed; and he said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened.’ And his ears were opened, and the ligament of his tongue was loosened, and he spoke clearly….”
The biggest mistake we can make in our journey of faith is to think or dictate what God can do and when He can and can not act. Do not fall victim to such thinking for our ways are not His ways (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Bringing it to our everyday experience, we must imitate Jesus who’s actions are inspired by love, and He is never weary of showing love to those in need of it.
St. Valentine, whom we also celebrate today, took that bold step of preaching and showing love to those in need of it, not minding the consequences even to the point of being imprisoned.
Let it not stop with St. Valentine. We, too, can be advocates of love by taking up the work of preaching and showing love to those in need of it without getting weary.
Peace be with you 🙏🏾🙌🏾
Leave a comment