Lent Day 7: ‘Go’ as a word of assurance

Covid was a hard time for all of us. The vaccine and the boosters and the booking online and then the big wait. What was first available in private hospitals were then only available in government hospitals and primary health centers. This then brought about huge queues and uncertainties. Every day became a lottery and people were on their toes. I remember going for my first booster. The first vaccine went well but the second was not so. Searching in vain online and then going to various centers from morning did not give much dividend.

One Saturday the usual search ended in a center a few kilometers from home. But on arrival I figured that there were so many people that getting a vaccine was next to impossible. That was when a friend called and informed that there were vaccines in a place nearby. But we had to rush and there was no assurance that we would get vaccinated. Nevertheless, we rushed to the place but realized that many others had also come. I didn’t want to be rude to the others and so told my wife that we would try our luck another day.

This was when a person standing there held my arm and said, “go!” I was like “that is exactly what I am doing. You don’t have to shout at me.” But I didn’t tell him that. This was when he again held my arm and pointed to a hall and said “go.” I didn’t exactly know what he meant and yet I took my wife and went to the hall he was pointing to. Upon reaching there I realized that they were giving vaccinations there but the other guy could not make a general announcement as he wanted to avoid a rush and the confusion which follows. I also realized that my friend had called him and said that I was coming. He kind of recognized me.

One moment I was thinking that the vaccination would remain a dream and not only did I lose valuable time but I also wasted the time of my wife and we also had to get food for my mother and daughter. The disappointment of having to hear ‘go’, which almost sounded like a ‘get out of here’ immediately turned into relief and joy when I understood what it really meant. In St. John 4: 46-49 we read of an official who begs Jesus to come and heal his son who was at the point of death. In verse 50, Jesus says, “Go; your son will live.” Even though it is written that the man believed Jesus and went his way, he asks his servants when the fever left his son and then he realizes that it was the same time that Jesus told him so. Then it says that he and his household believed, which means, believed in Jesus.

The “Go; your son will live”, must have sounded as a death bell for his son and yet that is not what happens. Jesus sends him on his way, knowing that the son is healed and saved. This lent, we have to first of all believe the “go your way” voice of God. And secondly, we have to offer the assuring voice of go, go in peace, go your way, and go in belief to others. This is not a sending away to nothing but a sending on to everything.  

This season of lent should give us this assurance. That God will not send us away empty handed, disappointed and without hope but that God will bless us immensely and fulfil our needs and fill us with hope. Amen.