Black Saturday.
“Any Israelite who looks upon this bronze serpent and believes in the power of God will be healed. It’s an act of faith… not reason. Faith.”
I wonder why this episode started with scene of Moses and Joshua when people are dying because of the serpent’s bite. Moses is being commanded by God to make a bronze serpent where people will look upon and they will be healed. Joshua didn’t get it and that’s how Moses just said it because he also doesn’t know the reason. He just took action and followed with faith.
It got me thinking when Matthew asked Gaius this question, “What if you were suddenly the only Roman in Capernaum?”, then Gaius answered, “I think I’d change clothes.”, to which Matthew concluded, “Exactly. When you realize that nobody else in the world cares what happens to you, you think only about yourself.”
This made me questioned what Matthew really wanted to say until he had a deep conversation with his mother where he uttered a lot of questions in his head. He had an extraordinary talent despite that probably made his movement different from the norm. He’s a genius and after seeing how Jesus makes miracle, he got confused about the things he had known by his intellect. Perhaps, because he knows his abnormality, he studied everything, sharpened his mind and move away from his town where people doesn’t know about his imperfection. And now, after meeting Jesus, he questioned how impossible things could happen, that he thought he already know everything until he witnessed how miracles happen that no one can explain.
I’m surprised to know that Nicodemus have been invited too to be one of Jesus’ disciples. But he was not being mentioned as one. This could be because he refused the invitation despite of his deep admiration and believe in Jesus’ doing. He may have been agonizing about many things if he follow Jesus being one of the Pharisee leaders and ruler of the Jews. We may really not sure about his reason but this for sure many of us could relate. How our mind thinks of danger can really break someone’s faith.
On the other hand, Matthew was invited by Jesus to follow him in a more unexpected situation – during his working hours. Jesus didn’t explain a thing to Matthew unlike how he explains things to Nicodemus. Yet Matthew, despite of the riches he possess, the comfort life he has, that he could have leave behind by following Jesus, without a thought, left everything and decided to follow Jesus.
With these two invitations, you can determine how you act with faith for something you’re not sure about where it can lead you and how you act with fear or doubt. Have you wonder how you usually take action or make a decision over things especially those with at risk? Are you aware how you sometimes take action with faith and take action due to fear or doubt? How often could it be?
My Choice 