What Do We Do With Healing?
A reading for Wednesday, March 12, 2014: Mark 1:29-45.
Truth be told, we aren't sure what to do with Jesus' healing stories. Today's lesson has three such stories, consecutively. Jesus heals Simon's mother-in-law. He heals "many who were sick with various diseases" from the whole city turning out in response. Finally, he "chooses" to heal a leper who was an outcast. By the end, Jesus himself is an outcast, literally trading places with the healed leper.
As modern, enlightened people we know that healing from disease is about science. Still we pray for healing, and sometimes we are surprised when something miraculous happens, but mostly we rely on the ability of physicians and modern medicine to heal. That's a gift from God by the way. God "chooses" to heal us in such ways.
But what then are we to do with stories like this from scripture in which Jesus heals as a major focus of his work and ministry? Maybe we should all become doctors?
Truth is, healing comes in various ways, and it doesn't always have to be medical. Healing can be teaching someone to do something they don't know how to do. It can be listening to a person who has nobody else. Healing can be noticing a neighbor's yard and helping them with it while they are in a rough patch. It can be a financial gift for an unmet need. The examples are endless...
Perhaps the reason we aren't sure what to do with healing stories is because our definition of healing is too narrow. We think of it only in medical or science terms, when healing can include a whole host of things that help a person or group of people "become sound or healthy again," which is the definition of healing.
A disciples of Jesus, we are called to heal in the name of our Lord. Jesus has literally taken our place and offered us the chance to be healthy again. May we offer others the same in his name.
Truth be told, we aren't sure what to do with Jesus' healing stories. Today's lesson has three such stories, consecutively. Jesus heals Simon's mother-in-law. He heals "many who were sick with various diseases" from the whole city turning out in response. Finally, he "chooses" to heal a leper who was an outcast. By the end, Jesus himself is an outcast, literally trading places with the healed leper.
As modern, enlightened people we know that healing from disease is about science. Still we pray for healing, and sometimes we are surprised when something miraculous happens, but mostly we rely on the ability of physicians and modern medicine to heal. That's a gift from God by the way. God "chooses" to heal us in such ways.
But what then are we to do with stories like this from scripture in which Jesus heals as a major focus of his work and ministry? Maybe we should all become doctors?
Truth is, healing comes in various ways, and it doesn't always have to be medical. Healing can be teaching someone to do something they don't know how to do. It can be listening to a person who has nobody else. Healing can be noticing a neighbor's yard and helping them with it while they are in a rough patch. It can be a financial gift for an unmet need. The examples are endless...
Perhaps the reason we aren't sure what to do with healing stories is because our definition of healing is too narrow. We think of it only in medical or science terms, when healing can include a whole host of things that help a person or group of people "become sound or healthy again," which is the definition of healing.
A disciples of Jesus, we are called to heal in the name of our Lord. Jesus has literally taken our place and offered us the chance to be healthy again. May we offer others the same in his name.
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