Oct. 26th

 2013

Two men go into the Temple to Pray (Lk18:9-14)

I would add this to the gospel message for this week.

The second reading of the past few weeks has been taken from Paul’s letter to

Timothy. And one of the general themes of this letter is to encourage Timothy to keep

UNTAINTED the gospel of Jesus Christ which Paul taught. So asking my bible study

mates what the summary of Paul’s gospel message was, one person said “love and

forgiveness.” I knew that this was not exactly correct. The message of Paul had to have

the expressed words of Jesus Christ in it. So love and forgiveness did not satisfy.

Also in his letter to the Romans, Paul speaks of Jesus as the Promise of God, and says

that it is only through His Name that a person can obtain salvation

As the group were discussing this, we looked at the message of the Gospel for this week.

Two men go up to the temple to pray etc. How is it that Jesus says of the humble man

that he has been justified through his prayer, (without this man ever mentioning Jesus)?

This was my question. Can one obtain heaven by just asking God for mercy – and what

about Paul’s message?

And here’s what happened next. As one lady was giving her thoughts, I felt in my left

ear, the whole explanation being revealed. It was not words, per say, but it was words

with a clear explanation of what Paul means and how this Gospel story tied in.

The explanation in my ear ‘said’ “the humble man in the temple knew and believe in

the Promise of God, and (in that awareness) he was asking God to have mercy on him.

I understood that the graces that flowed from the actuality of the Messiah on the earth

flowed backward and forwards in time, and were accessible to all who believed. So

salvation was available to all.

Next, I asked within myself, how does this apply to Muslims or those who have never

heard of Jesus, etc, and the answer was: “as long as people understand that they can

not save themselves and need God to save them, they will be saved. When the Muslim

approaches heaven, he/she will experience Jesus as the Promise of God and through His

Name, they will gain entry into heaven.

I can tell you I had a sense of wonder at the experience, and was utterly delighted to

know that indeed Paul’s message is wholly correct. Jesus Chris is the Promise of God,

the Savior of the World.