八月三十一日（路4:38-44）
「我也必須向別的城傳報天主國的喜訊。」（路4:43）
天主之所以是天主，是因為祂言出必行。祗要祂說了，事情就必然發生。當然，天主是生活在永恆之中，而不是在時間之中。所以，祂所說的話，不一定即時實現，但一定會實現。耶穌的說話之中，「必須」出現過很多次（在路加福音共十三次）。例如：「你們不知道我必須在我父親那裡嗎？」（2:49）「人子必須受許多苦，被長老、司祭長和經師們棄絕，並且要被殺；但第三天必要復活。」（9:22）「匝凱，你快下來！因為我今天必須住在你家中。」（19:5）等等。天父為了兌現承諾，有些事情耶穌必須要做。耶穌是天主，自有神力，無往而不利。不難。
我們是凡人，喜歡為自己建立安樂窩，駕輕就熟，省時省力不好嗎？行之有效的程序，犯不著改動它。經營多年的事業，捨不得放手交給接班人。倘若你在葛法翁傳福音很成功，並不表示你到別的城也一樣成功。你要費一番氣力，從頭開始建立你的基地，結識新的朋友，從新建立人際網絡。你願意嗎？耶穌是天主，從頭開始有何難？但我們祗是凡夫俗子，何德何能呢？
可能我們忘記了耶穌也是有血有肉的人，他會感到口渴、感到疲倦、感到挫折和痛苦。福音中不是記載了他在自己的家鄉納匝肋被驅逐（4:29），在經過撒瑪黎雅地方不受歡迎（9:52-53）嗎？此外，在他內的神性與人性之間的張力，是我們很難想像得到的。耶穌比我們任何一個傳福音的人所負擔的，更重。
朋友，你是耶穌的門徒嗎？你還埋怨嗎？
聖父啊！願祢的旨意，奉行在人間，如同在天上。亞孟。
生命恩泉
"I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also." (Luke 4:43)
God is God because his words shall not return to him empty. Whatever he says shall be done. Of course, God lives in eternity and is beyond time. Therefore, what he says may not happen immediately but will definitely come to pass. Among what Jesus says, "must" appears many times (13 times in the gospel of Luke). For example, "Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" (2:49) "The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." (9:22) "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today." (19:5) etc. The Heavenly Father has promised and thus there are things Jesus must do. Jesus is God and is almighty. It is not difficult for him.
We are mere mortals. We like to build up our comfort zones and our habits. Is not saving energy and time good? Why bother making changes to procedures that work in the past? It is not easy to let go your enterprise to successors. If you had been successful preaching the gospel in Capernaum, it does not follow that you would be as successful in another town. You needed to work very hard to start from scratch to build a new base, to make new friends and to build up a new network. Would you? Jesus is God. It is not difficult for him to create from scratch. But we are mere mortals. What guarantee do we have?
Perhaps we have forgotten that Jesus was also a man of flesh and blood. He would feel thirsty, exhausted, frustrated and painful like us. Doesn't the gospel mention that he was chased away in Nazareth (4:29), was not welcomed in Samaria (9:52-53)? Moreover, the tension between the divinity and humanity inside is difficult for us to understand. The burden Jesus bore is heavier than the burden any evangelist bears.
Friends, are you Jesus' disciples? Do you still complain?
Heavenly Father, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
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