He tells a paraplegic to get up and walk, and he does. A woman with a 12-year period is healed just by touching his robe. He raises a dead girl to life. Two blind men follow him home (which strikes me as a little funny), and Jesus restores their sight. A man struck mute by an evil spirit comes and Jesus casts out the evil spirit and the man regains speech. This all sounds a lot like crazy talk doesn't it.
I mean, think about it. When we hear stories like this today, what do we think? I know what I think and it's very similar to this response by the Pharisees...
"Hocus-pocus. it's nothing but hocus-pocus. He's probably made a pact with the Devil." (9.34)
Now, it may come out more like, "That's just group think. He's planted those people. Nothing has been substantiated. He's ripping people off. I bet he flies off in his private jet to one of his ten mansions."
While I do think that there is rampant fraud in the midst of televangelistic healing services, there are a few phrases that strike me in today's reading: impressed by their bold belief (9.2), risk of faith (9.21) and really believe (9.28). These are phrases used by preachers on television. They offer a sort of prerequisite for Jesus' healing in your life. "If you boldly believe...If you will only take a risk of faith...Do you really believe?" Their message is simply this, sickness and suffering is a byproduct of a lack of faith. If you want to be healed, then you have to have faith...and maybe your healing requires more faith than normal.
Do you have a set of good friends that can call you out when you're lying? They call "bullsh*#" on you? This is sort of what I want to say to the television guys, but am I just a 21st Century Pharisee or is something really different between them and Jesus? Some people do seem to have had a faith that prompted Jesus to act on their behalf? Just in chapter 9, there were three of the healings occurred without a mention of the recipient's faith. What about the people who have faith, but aren't healed? Faith is not a coin for the healing vending machine, is it? What about my friend in Colorado, who has more faith than anyone I've ever met, but cancer is winning the fight? Does my questioning just show my lack of faith?
How do you respond when someone you love is suffering? Have you ever witnessed a "miracle"? What role does faith play in suffering? What does that role have to say about God?
No comments:
Post a Comment