How often have we read about Jesus’ healing the sick; restoring speech to the impaired; sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf? Somehow we have become jaded to Jesus’ ability to perform miracles: after all isn’t this what God and the most divinely inspired human can do? I recall having read somewhere that the great mystery of the incarnation of God in Jesus is not his divinity but his living fully in his humanity.
We spent most of this summer reading and discussing John’s Gospel. We delved into what the mystical significance of the Bread of Life; the sharing of the Bread, and what the Word becoming flesh in each of us means.
We strive to be in a “right relationship with God.” This is what being a Christian and living the Word is all about, right? But what does being in a right relationship with God really mean? Let’s close our eyes and picture this for a minute. Note, I use the word “picture,” not “understand,” in an effort to prompt our imagination and senses to feel the words as a palpable, sensory experience, and know what being in a relationship with God actually feels like, tastes like, and smells like.
God fully shared our humanity through Jesus as we through Jesus, fully share in God’s divinity. Anything less than that relationship with God would be reduced to mere acquaintance. So, with this as our premise, we consider Mark 7: 31-37 from the perspective of both the healer and one who is in need of healing. Do we ever think of ourselves as “healers”? Think of the times we listen, comfort and support one another.
Sure, we know what it means to want to be cured or be free of pain, and we can relate to medical professionals who are trained to provide healing and cure. But where does that leave us and what does this have to do with either Mark or the John of our summer and how the two Gospels relate?
There are so many ailments that are outside the bounds of the medical professional’s ability. But yet, somewhere within resides our ability to reach out and heal or be healed. The readings of John help us consider our Gospel in Mark with inspired eyes and ears.
What is required for us to be healed or the healer or both? Why do we resist the potential that resides within each of us? We hear but do not listen while remarkable things happen all the time, and we dismiss them as “coincidences.”
“Our ministering and supporting one another morph into the essence of our being and become who we are, as if they exist as an integral part of us. We become ever changed by their existence. Like an encrusted stone picking up moss while rolling down a hill, we are ever changed with each turn… And at the core is "love" God's love. I suppose, this is what's meant by becoming the Word. We need not speak of what we do, they describe us and speak quietly; and we give thanks for them.” (Ministries RRR 7-28-15)
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