20260717 GAINING GOD’S MERCY THROUGH THE GRACE OF PRAYER
17 July 2026, Friday, 15th Week in Ordinary Time
First reading |
Isaiah 38:1-6,21-22,7-8 |
The Lord hears Hezekiah's prayer and heals him
Hezekiah fell ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, ‘The Lord says this, “Put your affairs in order, for you are going to die, you will not live.”’ Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and addressed this prayer to the Lord, ‘Ah, Lord, remember, I beg you, how I have behaved faithfully and with sincerity of heart in your presence and done what is right in your eyes.’ And Hezekiah shed many tears.
Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, ‘Go and say to Hezekiah, “The Lord, the God of David your ancestor, says this: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will cure you: in three days’ time you shall go up to the Temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life. I will save you from the hands of the king of Assyria, I will protect this city.”’
‘Bring a fig poultice,’ Isaiah said, ‘apply it to the ulcer and he will recover.’ Hezekiah said, ‘What is the sign to tell me that I shall be going up to the Temple of the Lord?’ ‘Here’ Isaiah replied ‘is the sign from the Lord that he will do what he has said. Look, I shall make the shadow cast by the declining sun go back ten steps on the steps of Ahaz.’ And the sun went back the ten steps by which it had declined.
Responsorial Psalm |
Isaiah 38:10-12,16 |
The canticle of Hezekiah
You have held back my life, O Lord, from the pit of doom.
I said, ‘So I must go away,
my life half spent,
assigned to the world below
for the rest of my years.’
You have held back my life, O Lord, from the pit of doom.
I said, ‘No more shall I see the Lord
in the land of the living,
no more shall I look upon men
within this world.
You have held back my life, O Lord, from the pit of doom.
‘My home is pulled up and removed
like a shepherd’s tent.
Like a weaver you have rolled up my life,
you cut it from the loom.
You have held back my life, O Lord, from the pit of doom.
‘For you, Lord, my heart will live,
you gave me back my spirit;
you cured me, kept me alive,
changed my sickness into health.’
You have held back my life, O Lord, from the pit of doom.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Ps26:11 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Instruct me, Lord, in your way;
on an even path lead me.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Matthew 12:1-8 |
The Son of Man is master of the sabbath
Jesus took a walk one sabbath day through the cornfields. His disciples were hungry and began to pick ears of corn and eat them. The Pharisees noticed it and said to him, ‘Look, your disciples are doing something that is forbidden on the sabbath.’ But he said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry – how he went into the house of God and how they ate the loaves of offering which neither he nor his followers were allowed to eat, but which were for the priests alone? Or again, have you not read in the Law that on the sabbath day the Temple priests break the sabbath without being blamed for it? Now here, I tell you, is something greater than the Temple. And if you had understood the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the blameless. For the Son of Man is master of the sabbath.’
GAINING GOD’S MERCY THROUGH THE GRACE OF PRAYER
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [IS 38:1-6,21-22,7-8; MT 12:1-8]
Hezekiah fell dangerously ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came and said to him, “The Lord says this: ‘Put your affairs in order, for you are going to die; you will not live.'” Upon hearing these words, “Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and addressed this prayer to the Lord: ‘Ah, Lord, remember, I beg you, how I have behaved faithfully and with sincerity of heart in your presence and done what is right in your eyes.’ And Hezekiah shed many tears.” Hezekiah was terribly shaken by this news and wept bitterly. All appeared to be doomed. He was brought face-to-face with his mortality, and there was no apparent possibility of saving his life. Even doctors were not able to heal him, because the Lord had already determined that his end would come soon. What was he to do? He had only reigned for nine years. Furthermore, Hezekiah had been a good and faithful king. He was a holy king who sought to be faithful to the Law and the Covenant. So, how could this happen to him?
Indeed, we can all empathise with his predicament and his great disappointment with God. As we often say, why do good men always suffer instead of evil men? We all know what it is like to receive negative news from a medical check-up. If we are told of a terminal illness like cancer, many of us would find it difficult to accept. More often than not, the discovery of cancer is sudden and advanced. Even with medical treatment, the chances of survival can be slim–not to mention the pain, loss of appetite, and massive disruptions to our daily lives and work. Like Hezekiah, we might ask, “How could this be possible?” We feel God is unfair because we have been helping the poor and the Church. How could God do such a thing to us when we have been faithful and observant of His commandments? In these moments, God seems unjust in how He treats His servants.
Yet, even in his illness, Hezekiah showed himself to be a true model of trust in God’s mercy and grace. After coming to grips with his imminent death, Hezekiah responded to God in a way that Scripture portrays as completely different from the Assyrian King, Sennacherib. In the previous chapter, we read how arrogant and proud Sennacherib was during his military expedition, boasting of his strength and military might over the countries he wanted to subjugate. The contrast between Sennacherib and Hezekiah was one between arrogance and humility. Because Sennacherib was proud, the Lord chastised him; his soldiers fell ill, and he was forced to abort his invasion of Judah. Hezekiah, on the other hand, was a model of piety. Although he needed time to come to terms with his diagnosis, he ultimately turned to God for mercy and help, praying for the Lord to remember his faithful service and wholehearted devotion.
We too must learn from Hezekiah–not to demand that God heal us because of the good things we have done, but to trust Him. Demanding rewards was precisely the mistake of the Pharisees and Scribes in the Gospels. They believed they could merit God’s grace, thinking that perfect observance of the commandments would guarantee them a place in God’s kingdom. Consequently, they extrapolated from the fundamental principles of the Sabbath Law given by Moses, applying them to every concrete, imaginable situation just to ensure the law wouldn’t be broken. They became so meticulous that their practice devolved into rigid legalism, honouring the letter of the Law while completely ignoring its Spirit.
Yet the truth remains that God’s mercy is pure grace. It precedes our merits and our capacity to do good. God does not depend on our good works to reward us. What God wants from us is the humility to turn to Him for mercy and help instead of relying on ourselves. He desires our receptivity to His grace. If we are willing to trust Him, God will work marvels in our lives. Because Hezekiah was open to God’s plan, God saw the vulnerability of his faith and sent a surprising message: his life would be extended by fifteen years, and Judah would be delivered from the Assyrians. “The Lord, the God of David your ancestor, says this: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will cure you: in three days’ time you shall go up to the Temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life. I will save you from the hands of the king of Assyria; I will protect this city.”
Hezekiah’s response was entirely different from that of King Ahaz when he faced a national crisis caused by the coalition between Israel and Aram. When God offered Ahaz a sign through the prophet Isaiah to encourage him, Ahaz refused. Even though he was invited to ask for a sign to help him trust God’s word, he rejected both the sign and God’s plan. Insisting on his own way, Ahaz maintained an alliance with Assyria, which brought detrimental foreign interference and cultural influence into his kingdom. While this weakened his kingdom, it did not immediately fall to Assyria like the Northern Kingdom of Israel did; instead, it eventually fell to Babylon.
Hezekiah, however, was submissive to God’s will. He was ready to believe in the sign God offered for his recovery and the protection of his nation. God instructed Isaiah to tell Hezekiah, “Bring a fig poultice. Apply it to the ulcer and he will recover.” Hezekiah asked, “What is the sign to tell me that I shall be going up to the Temple of the Lord?” Isaiah replied, “Here is the sign from the Lord that he will do what he has said. Look, I shall make the shadow cast by the declining sun go back ten steps on the steps of Ahaz.” And the sun went back the ten steps by which it had declined. God was truly merciful to Hezekiah, not only healing him but also providing a miracle to bolster his faith at a critical moment in his life.
We too are called to place our trust in God, whether we are facing a personal crisis or a trial that affects our work and leadership. God’s healing of Hezekiah reminds us not to question God or try to rationalize how He could “change His mind” simply because of a prayer. Because God is omniscient, Psalm 139:16 reminds us that all our days were written in His book before one of them ever came to be. Can prayer change the mind of God? This incident teaches us that God can heal anyone, even from a terminal illness. Nothing is impossible for those who believe–words first spoken to Mary by the angel at the Annunciation and reaffirmed by Elizabeth. As St. James reminds us, “Pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). God is all-knowing (omniscient) but He is also all-powerful (omnipotent); we must not limit the way He works. As St. Paul wrote, “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor? Or who has given a gift to him, to receive a gift in return?” (Rom 11:33-35). Indeed, if we are surprised by the way God healed Hezekiah, it is not because God contradicts Himself, but because we suffer from a defect in our own theology.
This is exactly what the Gospel teaches us as well. Jesus exposed the narrow-mindedness of the Pharisees. They were intent on keeping the Sabbath–which was meant to give life–but their preoccupation with the letter of the Law prevented them from seeing its bigger picture. Jesus came to set them free from this legalism. He cited the example of David, who broke the law when he and his companions were hungry and the priest allowed them to eat the consecrated showbread. He also pointed to the priests, who were exempted from standard Sabbath restrictions so they could carry out required Temple rituals. Ultimately, we must put God’s mercy and love for our fellow human beings above rigid rules, for love is the true Spirit of all the laws given to us.
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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