Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.
Today's Gospel: Mark 1:29-39
“For this purpose, I have come.”
Those are our Lord’s words to His disciples. He had just cured Simon’s mother-in-law, healed many others who were sick, and drove out demons from those who were possessed. Then, as He so often did, He went off to pray alone, to be with His Father in heaven. As God, Jesus would have had boundless energy for His ministry. But as a human, I can imagine that He would become very tired after a long day of healing and teaching. It can be taxing to give of oneself for hours on end! So, Jesus’ retreat is understandable from both a spiritual and physical perspective.
His quietude didn’t last long, however. His disciples noticed His absence and went looking for Him. The crowd also had noticed He was gone and wanted Him to come back. It could be that there were more people waiting to be cured, or perhaps the recipients of the miracles wanted to express their gratitude and honor the Healer. Jesus could have gone back but chose not to. He didn’t want pats on the back for what He had done or to admire His own success. He wanted to move on to the next challenge, the next step in carrying out His ministry.
“For this purpose, I have come.”
These are words we should repeat to ourselves daily. Of course, Jesus had a purpose because He was the Messiah. We may not be the Messiah, but we have a purpose just the same. Our purpose was designed by God from all eternity, given to us with great love, and is unique to us. No one, now or ever, has the same purpose as we do. We should not look back at past successes but instead look forward to new challenges.
Ponder:
What is my God-given purpose and how will I know I am fulfilling it?
Pray:
My Lord, I want to be as purpose-filled as You were while You were on earth. Help me to discover and fulfill the purpose God has given me.
Copyright 2024 Marge Steinhage Fenlon
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