It
is interesting that 2500 years ago when the first reading from Job
(7:1-4, 6-7) was written, they were asking the same questions that we
still ask today? ‘Why do we have to work so hard? What
is the point of it all? Why is our life often so difficult?
Why is it that good people often suffer so much for no apparent
reason?’ Throughout the centuries you’ll find that people
continually ask the same questions. Sometimes it takes a
dramatic event like a tsunami or an earthquake where thousands are
killed in an instant, to make people ask themselves these questions.
One minute all those people were just getting on with their daily
lives, the next minute the tsunami struck and they were gone.
If we can suddenly be snatched away like that, then what is the
purpose of our being here? Is there any purpose, or is it all
chance? The Lord teaches us that there most certainly is a
purpose to our being here.
During
his life on earth Jesus continually worked extraordinary
miracles—just as we read in today’s Gospel—and as a result
thousands of people were drawn to him looking for healing, just like
we do today when we hear of someone who has been given a gift of
healing, but this was not the main purpose of Jesus’ being here.
Of course he was happy to heal people because he had extraordinary
compassion for people, but primarily he wanted to teach people, to
teach us about God and about the reason why we are here. When
you think about it all the people he healed and even brought back to
life from the dead, they all eventually got sick again and died.
So he wanted to teach us that we are loved by God and we are not here
by accident; that our life has a purpose and is going somewhere; that
it is worth keeping going even when we are suffering, and above all
the mission of his life was to die for us so that we could get to
heaven when we die.
When
the disciples found him alone praying the first thing they told him
was that everyone was looking for him. There was so much work
to do, so many people to heal. But look how he responded: ‘Let
us go elsewhere, to the neighbouring country towns, so that I can
preach there too, because that is why I came.’ That is why
I came: to preach and teach. But why is it so important to
teach us? Wouldn’t it be much better just to heal us?
Physical healing is important and Jesus knew that, but he also knew
that if we have meaning, if we have purpose, that is much more
valuable to us.
When
I began my ministry as a priest I worked as a hospital chaplain, I
remember meeting a man who had been suffering for most of his life.
He had had operation after operation and he was in pain most of the
time. But when I met him he was smiling and he said, ‘Father
I have so much to be grateful for.’ It was very humbling to
hear this. Why was he grateful? Because he had faith and
he had purpose. He understood that his life had meaning and
that it was going somewhere. He believed that this life was not
everything and that it was worth persevering. Having that
purpose is what makes all the difference. And that is what our
faith gives us. It doesn’t take away the pain, but it helps
to make sense for us of why we are here. It reminds us that God
does want us to be happy, that that is what He created us for.
It also reminds us that it is worth putting up with the various
struggles we have to go through because they are often what make us
into better people. The suffering will not last forever.
Sooner or later we will cross over to the next world where our
happiness will be complete. Having that hope is what makes all
the difference and that is why Jesus kept moving around and teaching
people, so that they would have the strength to keep going especially
when times were more difficult.
Meanwhile
we will continue to pray and look for healing and it is right that we
do, but it is also good to remember that the hope we have in God is
actually worth more than the physical healing, because that is what
will keep us going. Remember the words of Jesus: ‘Do not let
your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still and trust in me.’
God knows what He is doing.
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