Scripture: I Corinthians 3:1-9. Psalm 33:12-13.14-15.20-21. Luke 4:38-44.
Lectionary # 433:

Having a sense of belonging is extremely important to each one of us,
especially in our religious commitments to church, synagogue or mosque. The
warmth of welcome that we feel there is a sure sign that you are in the
right sacred place. Hopefully, we all take care to provide such a sense of
family and community in sacred spaces where we worship. St. Paul was aware
of this in the many domestic churches that he started or prompted to start.
Today we see him being concerned about the family and community of the
Corinthians. They need to be formed slowly into the Christian way of life
that he displays among them, hence he feeds them with the milk of
instruction till they are ready for more solid food. His sense of
confidence in their listening to him will be rewarded as we continue our
reading of Paul's community oriented epistle given to a charismatic and
diverse community of members. He wants them not to form cliques dedicated
to those who work with him, Apollos, Cephas, or himself. Christ is to be
their center and their focus for identity. Jealousy and quarrelling with
one another only hurt the family spirit that should be shared and enjoyed.
The Psalm also helps us to have a sense of belonging to God. Its
response for today is, " Happy are the people the Lord has chosen to be his
own." The Lord is confirming our sense of belonging as members of a family.
The inspired words of the Psalms help us to feel and pray with a sense of
belonging to God and to one another.
Jesus, too, needs to have a place where he feels at home. He
probably visited Peter and his wife many times in their home at Capernaum.
Today he heals Peter's mother-in-law and then she, once cured, goes and
ministers to all who are present. The verb used is the same from which the
word deacon issues, namely, diakonien. Diakonia is service to the members
of the church. In the evening we hear that more people come to the home of
Peter in order to be both welcomed and cured of their afflictions whether
they be of the body or the spirit.
Jesus does not stop there. He moves on to other places in order to
establish through his teaching, healing, and preaching a sense of belonging
to the kingdom or realm of God. We all are called to such membership in
the family of God and in the kingdom of God. By living out the
commandments of love and reverence for God and for one another we are
already in the kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is only a continuing of the
kingdom here on earth.Its sense of welcome in heaven is where the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will welcome us home. Our citizenship is in
heaven. Amen.