12th Week in Ordinary Time
I will do it. (Matthew 8:3)
Lord, how awesome is that little word will. So much greater than “can,” so much more hopeful than “shall.” You will!
Jesus, I know that you have the power, for by your death you destroyed the one who had held us captive (Hebrews 2:14). By that power, the Father raised you from the dead and seated you in heaven, above all other power (Ephesians 1:19-22). You have the authority, Lord, because God himself has given it to you (Matthew 28:18). And you have the right, for he has put all things under you (John 13:3).
Lord, you will! Not simply because you can or may, but because you choose to! You choose to heal. You want us restored to you. It is your desire to see us happy, at peace, fulfilled in you. When the man with leprosy said, “If you wish, you can make me clean,” you rejoiced at the chance (Matthew 8:2). You must have been tired, from having taught and cared for so many people, yet you didn’t give a halfhearted “Okay, I’ll do it.” No, you exulted, “I will! I delight in it! Be healed!”
Jesus, should I expect less? You came to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth, a kingdom in which sin and sickness are unknown. You died to usher in—here and now—your reign in that kingdom. Let it come, Lord! Let it be so in me! You are pleased to forgive and heal. Lord, if you wish, you can make me peaceful. You can soothe the anger lodged deep inside me. You can drive out my anxiety and fill me with hope.
Jesus, you care. You cared that this man’s skin was covered with sores. You were concerned that he was friendless and alone. You care about the things that trouble me as well. You are pleased to open my ears so that I can hear you speak. You rejoice to open my eyes so that I can see what you are doing in and around me. You delight to touch my life. Lord, if you wish, you can fill me with your divine life and love.
“Today, Lord, let me hear you say, ‘I will do it!’ ” Amen!
Genesis 17:1 When Avram was 99 years old Adonai appeared to Avram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai [God Almighty]. Walk in my presence and be pure-hearted.
9 God said to Avraham, “As for you, you are to keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation. 10 Here is my covenant, which you are to keep, between me and you, along with your descendants after you: every male among you is to be circumcised.
15 God said to Avraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are not to call her Sarai [mockery]; her name is to be Sarah [princess]. 16 I will bless her; moreover, I will give you a son by her. Truly I will bless her: she will be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” 17 At this Avraham fell on his face and laughed — he thought to himself, “Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah give birth at ninety?” 18 Avraham said to God, “If only Yishma‘el could live in your presence!” 19 God answered, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you are to call him Yitz’chak [laughter]. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 But as for Yishma‘el, I have heard you. I have blessed him. I will make him fruitful and give him many descendants. He will father twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Yitz’chak, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.” 22 With that, God finished speaking with Avraham and went up from him.
Psalm 128:(0) A song of ascents:
(1) How happy is everyone who fears Adonai,
who lives by his ways.
2 You will eat what your hands have produced;
you will be happy and prosperous.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
in the inner parts of your house.
Your children around the table will be
like shoots from an olive tree.
4 This is the kind of blessing that will fall
on him who fears Adonai.
5 May Adonai bless you from Tziyon!
May you see Yerushalayim prosper
all the days of your life,
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