Because for this purpose I have been sent

5 SEPTEMBER (Lk 4,38-44)

The mission of Jesus is not for few men belonging to one people or nation. His is a real universal mission. The ancient prophecies announce that he must bring the light of truth and justice up to the most remote islands. Every man must know God’s salvation. Together with the light he must also recreate man, remaking him in his heart, his soul, and in his very body. The way man made and daily makes himself, is in death, in slavery, in total blindness, in the prison of ignorance, and in the prison of infidelity. The Messiah must operate a full liberation. The true salvation of all humanity is in Him, with Him, and for Him.

Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, Upon whom I have put my spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations, Not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench, Until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching. Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spreads out the earth with its crops, Who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk on it: I, the Lord, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness. I am the Lord, this is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols. See, the earlier things have come to pass, new ones I now foretell; Before they spring into being, I announce them to you. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth: Let the sea and what fills it resound, the coastlands, and those who dwell in them. Let the steppe and its cities cry out, the villages where Kedar dwells; Let the inhabitants of Sela exult, and shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord, and utter his praise in the coastlands. The Lord goes forth like a hero, like a warrior he stirs up his ardor; He shouts out his battle cry, against his enemies he shows his might. (Is 42,1-13).

Man only wants to make of Jesus a healer of diseases of the body. He does not want him a giver of light and true justice, a true revealer of the Father’s will. He almost wishes he could compel, subdue him to his will. Guiding him in things to do. On the contrary, Jesus does not let himself be enslaved by anybody; and he affirms even before an army of sick people, leaving them in their illnesses, that the Father sends him elsewhere and that he must lend him immediate obedience. He abandons everything and goes elsewhere.

After he left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever, and they interceded with him about her. He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them. At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them. And demons also came out from many, shouting, “You are the Son of God.” But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Messiah. At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.” And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Between Jesus and all his disciples the difference, and the distance that separate us are these. Jesus is always from the will of the Father. We, his disciples, are almost always from our will. He is from the divine needs. We are from human needs. He is from eternity. We are from time. His pastoral is always most pure obedience to the Word of the Father. Ours instead is obedience to history, to the issues of men, their urgencies and needs. Until our pastoral does not become in all similar to that of Jesus, most pure obedience to God; never might there be any salvation or redemption, because the Lord wants only one thing: perfect obedience to his will. Then He will be the one to give man every other thing. The Lord gives all grace to men, provided that we give him our total submission to his will. He saves the world who obeys God. He redeems it who submits to his divine will.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints make us of prompt obedience.