Many will come from the east and the west

3 DECEMBER (Mt 8,5-11)

Jesus is the Messiah of men, not of a man. Anyone can go to Him to draw on the sole source of salvation. Rather, everyone must, if they want to find true salvation. All Ancient Prophecies about the Messiah of God contain this vision of universality. Never is the Servant of the Lord seen in a dimension of small particularity. Even the presentation of the Messiah is so broad and wide as to become a cosmic vision. The entire universe for him goes back to its real life.

But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, A spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord. Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide, But he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips. Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the cobra’s den, and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair. There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord, as water covers the sea. On that day, The root of Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, The Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall be glorious. On that day, The Lord shall again take it in hand to reclaim the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria and Egypt, Pathros, Ethiopia, and Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the isles of the sea. He shall raise a signal to the nations and gather the outcasts of Israel; The dispersed of Judah he shall assemble from the four corners of the earth. The envy of Ephraim shall pass away, and the rivalry of Judah be removed; Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not be hostile to Ephraim; But they shall swoop down on the foothills of the Philistines to the west, together they shall plunder the Kedemites; Edom and Moab shall be their possessions, and the Ammonites their subjects. The Lord shall dry up the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and wave his hand over the Euphrates in his fierce anger And shatter it into seven streamlets, so that it can be crossed in sandals. There shall be a highway for the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria, As there was for Israel when he came up from the land of Egypt (Is 11,1-16).

The Church does not want us Christians to shut ourselves up in the prison of our small, petty home peculiarity, which makes the coming of the Lord consist in a tree or in a nativity scene set up in a house. Christmas is a cosmic event, of all peoples, of the whole universe, of the heavens and the earth. There is not one man on earth for whom Christ is not born. Christ Jesus is of every man. He is his. Today, the Gospel shouts, announces and proclaims this truth through the story of the centurion that comes to Jesus’.

When he entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven.

This pagan man recognizes that Jesus is all-powerful. The entire creation obeys his voice. It suffices one of his commands and everything submits, listens, executes the order received instantly. The Centurion is also a severe condemnation towards all Christian people, that today have forgotten their Saviour, because they no longer search for him, because they no longer believe in Him, because He no longer turn to him. In eternity, the Centurion will condemn us because we have lost our true faith in Jesus the Saviour and Lord. Advent is needed for this: to rediscover and reclaim the true faith in Christ Jesus.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints give us the true faith in Christ.