24th Sunday of the year, cycle B

Jesus, the "messiah", the "anointed one


To be a messiah, one is expected to be the deliverer.  Deliver from what?  In the Jewish tradition, God delivered Israel from slavery to freedom.  We are always in the state of "unfreedom" - in our relationships and even in ourselves.  Jesus delivers and grants us liberation, especially from sin!

The second connotation of "Christ" is "the anointed".  Here we further see two pictures aptly describing Jesus - that He is the Holy One of God and that He is the great healer. To be anointed means to be chosen or elected to do the Father's will.  Everything Jesus did and continues to do is pleasing to the Father, especially the offering of his life.

To anoint with oil means "to heal".  Jesus is the great healer.  Think of the many instances that Jesus healed, not only physically but integrally.

If we fix our eyes on Jesus, we would know that it is only through him that we are healed, that he chose us as well to do God's will and that all our actions would lead us to true freedom of becoming the sons and daughters of the Father.

Comments