THE LORD CARES ABOUT YOU

READINGS: FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

In the Gospel of this 5^th Sunday in Ordinary Times, Year C, (Luke 5:1-11), Peter was awestruck when Christ turned from preaching to the people to asking him to cast his net into deep sea for a huge catch. He was amazed that Jesus would care about his daily struggle and understand his needs as a fisherman. Christ knew that Peter and his colleagues had fished all night without catching anything and knew the disappointment they felt in their hearts. Yes, God is interested both in saving us spiritually and in lifting off the burdens of our daily needs. 

Sometimes, we have the tendency to separate salvation from our everyday worries, as though, our day-to-day anxieties are not God’s problem. The truth of the matter is that they are. In the Gospel of Mark, we read about the disciples saying to Jesus, “Don’t you care if we drown?!” (Mark 4:34-41). In the Gospel of Luke, Martha asked Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” Many a time, it seems to us that Jesus doesn’t care simply because He is not reacting to the situation the way we are reacting to it.  We are even, sometimes, like that with each other. Christ cares about us so much and that is why Scripture says, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” and “Cast all your cares upon Him for He cares for you.” 

We deal with all kinds of anxieties daily and the Word of God is asking us to cast every anxiety unto the Lord. The verb “cast” means “to throw upon” and indicates a decisive action to put something down and leave it there. Scripture says that Jesus was “a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3) and in Hebrews 4:15-16, we are told, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Approach, therefore, the throne of grace with confidence to obtain… needed help” Jesus knows our every weakness and He is not there to judge but to help. He knows we need help. As the Psalmist says, “You know my reproach and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you” (Psalm 69:19). Christ cares about us since He knows that we are in constant struggle with sins and tribulations, and He knows what that struggle feels like. All He needs in order to help is our obedience to His commands. He knew Peter and his colleagues had caught nothing all night and yet His first instruction to Peter was to pull off the shore a little so that He could teach the people and Peter obeyed. Then, at the appointed time, He told Peter to cast the net into the sea for a catch, and Peter did. It is all about obedience to the Word. Many a time, we want Christ to react to our situation the way we are reacting to it. Yet Scripture says, “My ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts”. 

God doesn’t want us to carry our burdens all by ourselves. He knows we will eventually collapse under the weight and pressure of it. Therefore, He invites us to hand them over to Him in obedience. We just need to trust Him to know what to do with our situation and be mindful that delay in His response is not denial to our request. As Scripture says, “If it delays, wait for it. It will not disappoint” (Habakkuk 2:3).