Hurts Shmurts

The first Mass reading caught my ear today.

For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice for ever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

The former things shall not be remembered. Think about that. How wonderful would it be if we could practice that in our lives? All the pains, wrongs, injustices, sins that we have suffered, and caused other to suffer, could be relegated to "The former things shall not be remembered."

People live their lives all caught up in the pains and miseries of their past. Most are not even aware of it. Those who are, usually don't know what to do to be free of it. And those who get free of it sometimes wonder what they are supposed to do now that there is nothing clogging up their life.

But that is counteracted -- almost -- by Jesus being, well, a class one A-hole to a father focused on saving the life of his child.

When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea,
he went to him and asked him to come down
and heal his son, who was near death.
Jesus said to him,
"Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe."
The royal official said to him,
"Sir, come down before my child dies."
Jesus said to him, "You may go; your son will live."

Hmmm, Jesus gave him a smartypants answer and the official completely blows it off and says, "Sir, come down before my child dies." The official didn't care about signs and wonders or theological questions of infinite magnitude, he just wanted "Sir come down before my child dies." What if he'd got all hurt and upset by Jesus answer and held on to it like we hold on to hurts everyday of our lives, that happened so long in the past we have to polish them daily just to keep from forgetting them.

How stunned Jesus must have been by this. I wonder if the verse came to his mind

I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,

from the first reading? I don't know, no one knows, but these two reading taken together present us a rather interesting picture of the promise made, and the promise kept. The official just kept at him until Jesus said your child will live. It doesn't say the official went away scarred for life by his encounter with Jesus. He went away believing.

Do you believe Jesus can act in the same way in your life? May God bring us all to such faith that we no longer block the acts of our great and glorious savior. Amen.