Obstinate Hearts

Homily for Friday of the 1st Week in Ordinary Time

This morning, we’ve just heard the famous Gospel passage where the friends of the paralytic lower him down through the roof so that he could be placed in front of Jesus in order to be healed. It was an act of extraordinary faith from the friends of this man. But it also was an eye-opening moment for some of the Scribes who saw it happen. It challenged their whole belief system about Jesus and witnessing this event brought them to a moment of confrontation with the reality of their obstinate hearts toward Jesus.

The Scribes were seeing firsthand the miracles that Jesus could perform, the healing that He was able to bring to others. They had heard the message that He was preaching and witnessed how it had changed people’s hearts. And yet, they still couldn’t bring themselves to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. They still couldn’t believe that He was the Savior.

This should bring us to a point of reflection for ourselves. In what ways are we like the Scribes?

All of us have, in some way, witnessed miracles. We have seen how Jesus has worked throughout history; we have heard about how people’s lives have been changed by a relationship with Jesus. And yet, sometimes we lack the faith to believe that Jesus can change our lives. We sometimes lack the faith to believe that Jesus can heal us.

Today, Jesus is bringing us to an internal confrontation with the reality of our own lack of faith. We are about to witness the greatest miracle…bread and wine will be transformed into the Body and Blood of Jesus. When we receive Him in the Eucharist, let’s ask Him in a very particular way to heal our lack of faith. Let’s ask Him to bring us to a moment of healing. He wants to heal us. He wants to bring us to wholeness. Will we trust Him and acknowledge His ability to do that, or will we stay stuck in our obstinacy? We have a choice to make. What will yours be?