Like the time Jesus healed the lover ( pais ) of the Roman Centurion, Jesus ( in today's' Gospel ) is again curing an unknown person. Again an unlikely and perhaps unworthy person is asking this itinerant Jewish preacher to heal a loved one. Again Jesus responds with as much as outstretched arms and all embracing love, curing the dying son of a " royal official".
When Isaiah speaks of "new heavens and a new earth" and when Jesus tells people that they ' are close to the kingdom', are they speaking about the afterlife? Do we have to trudge through each day with whatever seems to be bothering us , putting up with 'idiots' only to be rewarded for our own good behavior when we die and go to heaven? I think it's much more likely that we can have the new world now, heaven on earth if we simply choose to now. As Jesus did not ask qualifying questions ( have you been a good boy? ) or even if the man's son was s good boy and heals him anyway. I might be aggreable with the opinion that if we simply ask God and have faith we can attain heaven now. I am certainly suggesting that minutaie, articles of precise faith and perfect lives need not be a prerequisite for either God's love or the prospect of heaven on earth for you and me.
What we need do is seek out Jesus, or his life and see just how he lived and emulate that. I would guard against those who interpret scripture for their own agenda. The only agenda I could easily agree with is to live as Jesus taught with all embracing, non restrictive love.
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