Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost
October 11, 2021
The Invitatory
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
Praise ye the Lord.
The Lord's Name be praised.
Reading: Matthew 9:27-34
As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, crying loudly, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David!’ When he entered the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’ They said to him, ‘Yes, Lord.’ Then he touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith let it be done to you.’ And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus sternly ordered them, ‘See that no one knows of this.’ But they went away and spread the news about him throughout that district.
After they had gone away, a demoniac who was mute was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the one who had been mute spoke; and the crowds were amazed and said, ‘Never has anything like this been seen in Israel.’ But the Pharisees said, ‘By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons.’
Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones
What is healing? How does it come about? In these days of the 21st century it is impossible to imagine healing taking place absent physicians and nurses and outside of a modern day hospital with state of the art medical equipment, operating theaters, medication, labs, etc. And, if we have seen too many television episodes of House or Chicago Med, the healing takes place in less than an hour, without any pain, suffering, scarring or generally speaking, yucky stuff. What does the patient face in terms of care after the hospitalization? Is there physical therapy prescribed? Medication with side effects or not? How quickly can the patient resume normal activities? Was the treatment effective? Did it cure the patient? When is the patient declared healed? How does the patient perceive his healing? And we never see the final hospital bill, nor are we privy to the wrangling that ultimately occurs when a patient has to deal with his/her medical insurance provider.
These back-to-back healings in Matthew are, in many ways, nondescript. We are given few details. Nothing extraordinary happens. Yet consider what is involved in healing. It is a transformative process of repair and recovery in mind, body, and spirit resulting in positive change, moving toward self-realization of wholeness, regardless of the presence or absence of disease
One thing that does stand out is the contrast between the “outside” Jesus and the “inside” Jesus. Jesus seems stand-offish, disinterested even, in the plight of the blind people following him. Jesus simply goes on his merry way, seeming to ignore the men incessantly imploring him for mercy, following him down the road. Inside, it’s a different story. Jesus turns to the two individuals and asks them if they believe that he is able to do this. They answer with admirable patience.
Despite the fact that Jesus appeared not to be listening, inside he was and answered in ways and at times that lie outside of our understanding. There is grace in God allowing us to wait and to plumb the depths of human experience. Only by the grace of God are the blind individuals in this story able to walk, follow Jesus, and simply answer “Yes Lord.”
Then Jesus then does something unexpected – he asks those who have been healed to keep silent. Perhaps asking for silence is to open the space to examine our natural inclination to question everything and to seek explanations for everything. God sometimes does things for seemingly inscrutable reasons and our call is to trust and obey, even when we don’t understand or know of God’s reasons. This is not to say we can never ask questions and never wonder why God does things the way God does, but we ask these questions from a place of trust. This provides the necessary condition precedent for healing - both physical and spiritual, that can only grow out of trust in God’s grace and his desire for our wholeness.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
