Friday, 28th Week in Ordinary Time
One night a fire broke out in a house and an eight-year-old boy, who was alone, ran up to the roof. By the time his father reached the house, the whole house was aflame and covered with smoke.
The father could see his son on top of the roof but the son could not see anything. When the father shouted to his son, “Jump straight ahead and you will fall right into my arms!” The son hesitated. He could not see a thing.
The boy shouted, “Daddy, I cannot see you!” “That’s okay, my son,” shouted the father, “I can see you. Just jump straight in front of you and I will catch you!” The son put aside his fears and jumped into the arms of his father.
The Christian life is something like that. There are times when we are covered with ‘smoke’ and we cannot see anything but ‘flames’. We are referring to the series of problems and crises that we encounter: trouble at home, business not going well, bills piling up, breakup of a relationship, somebody in the family getting ill, losing a loved one…the list goes on. We do not know who is going to help us…We do not see who is going to save us.
Though we can only see the smoke and flames, but our faith tells us that God sees us and loves us and he would never want what is not good for us. All the Lord is asking is to let go and let God…to do what the son in our story did: jump through the smoke and into God’s arms. The question is: Can we jump into the ‘smoke’? Can we take a leap of faith, firmly believing and trusting that our Father’s loving arms would be there to catch us? Can we entrust or ‘handover’ our life – completely, totally – even though we cannot see God’s hands?
Jesus, in today’s gospel, talks about faith that is made manifest in our trust in God. Jesus does not promise comfort and convenience in following him. However, Jesus assures us that God will take care of us – saying: “Even the hairs of your head have all been counted.” “Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.”
“Do not be afraid…” These words are not meant to be a guarantee that we will not experience any troubles in life. Jesus is simply assuring us that whatever befalls us will ultimately turn to our good if we have faith in God and faith in him.
Parokya ni Osong 