February 14, 2008
Passage:Matthew 9:27-38
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.’
Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.’
In the Last Battle, the final book of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, there is point in the novel where the main characters were thrown into a stable. The children realize at some point, that this stable was no longer a stable but a beautiful meadow. They started to revel in the wonder they saw. In the midst of all this were a group of elves who were huddled in a corner. They didn’t see the meadow, all they saw was a dank stable. One of the children gave the elves a boquet of flowers which they pushed away-they only saw a clump of hay. It is explained later that the elves have stopped believing in Aslan, the great Lion of Narnia and because of their lack of faith could not see the meadow. The story ends with the elves thinking they are in a stable, never seeing the beuaty that was within their reach.
In today’s text we see Jesus healing yet again. He gives sight to two blind men and gives speech to a man that was possessed by a demon. The crowds were amazed at these works of wonders, but the Pharisees were not. “By the ruler of demons, he casts out demons,” they say. Thomas Long notes that in the mind of the Pharisees, a religious leader was one that kept the law, stayed away from that which is impure, like dead people, menstrating women and lepers. And because Jesus chose to come in contact with these people, his “miracles” had to be from Satan not from God.
Jesus is not what some religious leaders wanted. They wanted a God that follow the rules. Jesus wanted to heal the people.
Sometimes its easy to make our faith into a bunch of rules: do this, don’t do that. But Jesus is calling us to care for the people, our neighbors, our friends, the world. Faith, in the end, is about placing hope in the impossible, not about rules and regulations.
The Pharisees were like those elves that had stopped believing that things could be different. They knew what a holy person was supposed to be like and closed their minds to seeing God do things in a different way. God is about relationships, not simply following rules.
God, our Friend, help us to see the world in your eyes. Help us to see those in need of healing. Help to see you where you are working in the world, even in those places we may least expect. Amen.
Dennis Sanders is the IT/Communications Specialist for the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area. He is also an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
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