In the Gospel reading today, taken from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 15, we encounter a gentile woman from the area of Canaan. She approaches Jesus and asks that he heal her daughter who is “extremely” demon possessed. At first Jesus doesn’t answer. Then after a few moments, realizing that she wasn’t backing down, Jesus explains that he came for the Jewish people and not for the Gentiles. The woman, upon hearing this, pleads with Jesus, by worshiping him and saying, “Lord, help me.” But Jesus answered by way of a metaphor and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” She in turn provides a surprising rebuttal: “Yes, even the little dogs eat the crumbs from their master’s table,” showing Jesus how great her faith was. Finally Jesus healed the woman’s daughter at that very moment.

All physical illness is not a result of sin. Although, sometimes, with proper spiritual guidance, it could be determined that there is a connection. For example, the Gospel of John states that the man who was healed from his blindness (John 9) was not blind due to his sin but rather he was blind for the glory of God. In the Gospel of Luke chapter 13, Jesus healed a woman who had a bent back, which was due to a “spirit” of infirmity. How she got the spirit of infirmity is unclear but we can infer that it might have been due to sin. Whatever the case, the Bible teaches us that sickness can be due to our sin, that is, active participation with sinful behavior, or it could be due to our fallen nature, that is, because to us being born into a world of sin we consequently get ill.

As we bring to a close the first week of the Great and Holy Lent, we are introduced to a leper in the Gospel reading. This leper is an outcast of society, quarantined outside the city limits, and forbidden to have contact with anyone. He is treated as sub-human. Further, society has labeled him as accursed by God. Due to this ill treatment, the feelings of despair and hopelessness set in. Life seems almost not worth living. However, a possible way out of this despair seems to be available--Jesus Christ. This “healing-messiah” has been conducting his healing ministry and the leper wanted to receive healing from him.

Today for the start of the Great and Holy Lent. Christ, on the request of his mother, changes the water to wine, at the wedding at Cana. At the end of the gospel reading, the master of the wedding feast says, ‘normally the best wine is served first then the inferior wine, but here you have saved the best wine for last.’ There is a greater moral inference that lies at the heart of what Christ is attempting to express by way of this miracle, and that is: in life remember that is not how you begin but how you end that matters. For example, the wedding started with less quality wine and ended with better quality wine. Similarly, in life, we always tend to start out with a “bang,” but end up a mess.

ou might be asking what does “Living in the Present” have to do with a Gospel reading that mainly deals with the idea of a  “faithful” servant. As I contemplated the idea of being a faithful servant (or we can say, faithful Christian, faithful person), I asked myself the question, “What makes a Christian a faithful Christian?” Immediately, the Lord directed me to “living in the present.” That is, if a person desires to be a faithful Christian, he or she must live in the present. This means that a person is concentrated on what is happening at the moment. He or she is diligent in completing the task at hand. Future planning and contemplation are necessary but not to the detriment of the present task. Forward thinking is encouraged but not before the reality of the present is handled.