Universal salvation
Today’s message speaks of universal salvation. Isaiah preaches that all are called to believe in God, to worship him, to live according to God’s plans and laws, and to enjoy his peace. Jerusalem stands here for God’s believing people. (In year A, another reading from Isaiah is taken, so as not to duplicate that of the first Sunday A: God will protect the remnant that has been faithful to him and live among his people.)
The centurion’s faith is remarkable. He is symbolic of the Gentiles who will be called, for the kingdom is open to all, without any privilege of race or culture. With Christ, salvation has become available to anyone of good will.
Reading: Isaiah 4:2-6
And that’s when God’s Branch will sprout green and lush. The produce of the country will give Israel’s survivors something to be proud of again. Oh, they’ll hold their heads high! Everyone left behind in Zion, all the discards and rejects in Jerusalem, will be reclassified as “holy”—alive and therefore precious. God will give Zion’s women a good bath. He’ll scrub the bloodstained city of its violence and brutality, purge the place with a firestorm of judgment.
Then God will bring back the ancient pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night and mark Mount Zion and everyone in it with his glorious presence, his immense, protective presence, shade from the burning sun and shelter from the driving rain.
Gospel: Matthew 8:5-11
As Jesus entered the village of Capernaum, a Roman captain came up in a panic and said, “Master, my servant is sick. He can’t walk. He’s in terrible pain.”
Jesus said, “I’ll come and heal him.”
“Oh, no,” said the captain. “I don’t want to put you to all that trouble. Just give the order and my servant will be fine. I’m a man who takes orders and gives orders. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes; to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
Taken aback, Jesus said, “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all about God and how he works. This man is the vanguard of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions—streaming in from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God’s kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Prayer
Lord God, Father of all,
in your Son, Jesus Christ,
you invite everyone and all to know and love you
and to live in your unending peace.
Keep alive in us the zeal
to bring the light of your truth
and the riches of your life and love to all,
without any distinction
of race, language or culture.
May everyone on earth come to know you
as the merciful Father of all
through our brother and Savior,
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
