Advent: Week 1: Monday: Year - B

First Reading: Isaiah 2:1-5: The Lord draws all nations together into the eternal peace of God’s kingdom.

Gospel Reading: Matthew 8: 5-11: Many will come from east and west to take their places in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Servant: Receiving and Rejecting Men

The Centurion, the Gentile being the manager, officer, rich and wealthy man having a great faith in Jesus and came to him to plead for his slave or servant to be healed immediately by Jesus.

We learn from the Gospel of Matthew 8: 5-11 the following things:

1. The Centurion came to Jesus with total humility keeping aside his power & position.

2. The Centurion came to Jesus with his unworthiness accepting his sins and failures.

3. The Centurion came to Jesus because he loved & cared his slave, sensitive to the real need of his slave or servant. How many of us love our servants or people?

4. The Centurion had a total faith and hope in Jesus. The faith healed his servant.

5. Jesus said "I WILL" and healed the sick in far away by his Messianic power and appreciated the faith of the Gentile, the Centurion.

So JESUS never rejects or disappoints a person those who come to him with a real need and true faith in the power of Christ JESUS. Let us pray for the sick, sufferings, poor and needy and love our fellow brothers and sisters with our actions and support who are in real need.

Thought: What a lesson for us! Jesus’ great power proves His Messiahship to meet the Centurion’s request as His unlimited power. Jesus encourages us to intercede for poor and needy.

The great need is for intercessory prayer and love for all, no matter who they are and what others may think.

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