He Has Done All Things Well

Written by Rev Fr. Don Mendoza | 21 August 2012

TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
(Green) Cycle B, Year II (September 9, 2012)
Is 35:4-7/Jas 2:1-5/Mk 7:31-37

When somebody is congratulated out of the work that he has done, certainly he is happy and he becomes inspired to even continue his good work. We have seen this event many times in the lives of some famous people like Manny Pacquiao with his boxing achievements, Dolphy Quizon with his hundreds of comedy movies, Charice Pempengco with her singing career, to name a few of our compatriots. Many words of praises and plaques of recognition are given to them for their inspiring performances.

In the gospel, Jesus Christ is also praised by a lot of people who have witnessed His performances. They say: "He has done all things well" (Mk 7:37b). Like Manny, Dolphy and Charice, Jesus Christ is well applauded for His performances and many people follow Him to listen to His new teachings and to witness His miraculous deeds. But what makes Christ different from the likes of Manny, Dolphy and Charice? These famous people are praised because they have done well the things that they are good at, usually in their talents – Manny for his boxing, Dolphy for his acting and Charice for her singing performances. Jesus Christ on the other hand has no specific talent and the people praise and follow Him not simply for His words and deeds but most especially for His personality and, to be exact, for His very person.

Jesus Christ does well not only what He usually does like the other famous people, but also all the other things that He does. And He does them well not only in the material quality of His actions but most especially in the spiritual quality of those things. Jesus performs things for the love of God and He glorifies God His Father through all the things that He does. In other words, what makes Jesus different from Manny, Dolphy, Charice, other famous people and even us is that He does all things well. And Jesus does all things well because everything that He does, He does for the love and the greater glory of God.

Because what Jesus wants is to glorify God, He becomes aware of the needs of His neighbours. For this reason, Jesus is sensitive to the needs, the sufferings and illnesses of the people. He does everything to address their needs, to cure their sicknesses, and alleviate their sufferings. By loving God through His neighbours, especially the needy, Jesus is freed from all His needs and pains as He surrenders His very life to God. Such love for God and service to the humanity is best demonstrated when He opens wide His arms on the cross in an act of great and unselfish self-surrender.

As Christians, we are all called to follow the footsteps of Jesus. We are called to love God by serving our neighbours in need. Since Jesus has set us the example, there can then no genuine Christian love of God without expressing such love through the service of the needy. And so we examine ourselves how do we treat the poor and the needy? What do we do to help those who are around us especially the ones who are marginalized due to poverty, sickness, imprisonment, etc? We have to remember that in the end, what matters is not what the people will say about us but what God will say to us. Certainly, it is a great achievement that, after all our sacrifices and pains in following the footsteps of Christ, He will say to us the same words spoken to Him: "You have done all things well" and add "Come to your heavenly inheritance."