"When Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever; he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him." Matthew 8:14-15
The qualified witness of authentic Christians brings us face to face with the choice of faith. It is only when we choose to believe that we are ready to have an experience of Christ, which will give us the certainty that our faith is not in vain (1Corinthians 15:17) and that He is alive and active in our lives.
Personal experience of Christ
It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world. (John 4:42)
It has never ceased to amaze me that Paul, the greatest herald of faith in Christ in apostolic times, was not technically an apostle because he was not one of the twelve; he could not even have replaced Judas in the apostolic college, like Mathias could, because he did not meet the set requirements: he was not one of those who accompanied Jesus from John’s baptism to Christ’s ascension (Acts 1:21-22).
Although he was a contemporary of Jesus, he did not know him personally, therefore he could not technically say, like the other apostles, "what we have seen and heard and touched with our hands we testify this to you... "(1John 1:1-3). However, Paul speaks of his experience of Christ with a realism that is in no way inferior to those who have seen, heard and touched Christ (Galatians 1:11-19).
He is just the first of countless others who, over the course of 2000 years, on every continent, in countless languages and in the context of the most varied cultures, had a personal experience of Christ that it drastically changed their lives to the point where they were willing to give their lives for Him. This is proven by the thousands of martyrs who bore witness with their blood to their personal and intimate relationship with Christ. This fact alone would be proof enough that Jesus of Nazareth was and is a reality, he lived, died, rose again and is alive. But if this is not true, then never have so many been fooled.
Salus
We have known since Sunday school that Christ came into the world to save us, and that he died and rose again for our salvation. If you ask most Christians what salvation means or what it consists of, they will tell you that it means not going to hell but going to heaven. "Salvation" is a word that is so overused that people hear it without saying much.
In Latin, salvation is salus, and salus does not primarily mean salvation but rather health, and also security and well-being in general. Christ is not only salvation for the second stage of our life, "heaven can wait", he is also our health, that of the body and soul, here and now; our security, the only true security in a constantly changing world; he is also our well-being, our joy and happiness.
Jesus was not just concerned with the salvation of the soul, but with health in general; that is why he not only cured the blind, the lame and the deaf and dumb, but also forgave sins and fed the crowds with bread and fish; and since wine in the Bible often means joy, he also transformed people’s lives from watery and sad to intoxicating joy.
In the gospel, all those who met Christ, all those who had a relationship with him felt saved, healed, fed, their sins forgiven, and they found security, joy and well-being.
Metanoia
Peter's mother-in-law, the lame, the blind, the deaf and dumb, the lepers and the demoniacs, they all found physical and mental health; the sinner who shed tears at the feet of Jesus, the woman caught in adultery waiting to be punished, Zacchaeus, and the prodigal son found moral and spiritual health; the Samaritan woman was freed from her obsessive and addictive coming and going to the well, and found the freedom and autonomy of a water that springs from within; the 5000 found satiety in the multiplication of loaves; and the wedding guests at Cana rejoiced, in good wine and conviviality; the good thief at the hour of death found eternal salvation. Yesterday, today and tomorrow, no one meets Christ without experiencing a radical change in his or her life.
The Greek word metanoia means a change of mind, to change one’s way of thinking, or simply to change your mind, as we would say colloquially. Since it is the ideas and ideologies that inspire our day-to-day behaviour, changing our minds means changing our lives.
There is a psychological therapy that is based on this intuition: REBT (rational emotive behaviour therapy). According to this theory, almost all emotions and behaviours are the results of what people think, believe and assume to be true concerning themselves, others or the world in general; if these beliefs are irrational, the feelings and behaviours will be inadequate. The therapist’s job is to confront these beliefs with the reason to destroy them.
By confronting our way of thinking with the gospel, we acquire Jesus’ way of thinking and over time, we begin to act, embody, and incorporate the gospel, with the view of one day being able to say like St. Paul, "It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me." (Galatians 2:20)
Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC
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