Excuse me, are you a healer, she asked expectantly, can you tell me what’s wrong with me, she stood with her hands held out in front of her as she looked at me? My immediate response was to laugh and think to myself, yes I am a healer, but not the sort you are thinking of.
A few days earlier I had gathered D had a bad back just by observing her movements and had recommended to her what she could do to try and ease the pain. That was all, nothing mystical about it.
As Christians, we are all called to be healers in some way or another, whether it be through speaking words of insightful affirmation, or by simple, helpful acts that channel love. I think that was what Jesus did, besides performing miracles. He observed and noticed the words and behaviour of those around Him, and responded in ways that met the unspoken and desperate needs of the hearts around Him.
Think the woman at the well, the haemorrhagic woman, Zacchaeus, the grateful leper, the disciples who followed Him... all the people he encountered and spoke with, he touched them with His words and actions, and transformed their lives.
At the core of His actions is a sensitivity to others and the ability to gently provoke a response that takes the other beyond himself or herself and create a positive change. I have always admired how Jesus could do that so masterfully. For it also required Him to be bold, to dare to engage with others without fearing rejection or failure, to move in the Spirit with great humility and vulnerability, letting the Spirit of God guide Him.
Jesus was a do-gooder. If I call myself a disciple of Christ, then I must emulate His availability and sensitivity to others and behave in ways that bring healing through my communication with others. A great part of encouraging healing through words is to listen without passing judgement, accepting the differences despite not fully understanding and without feeling personally threatened, and to be genuinely interested and invested in the well-being of the other, to really want the better of the other. This is so, not just with people we have transient encounters with, but more so with those whom we call family and those with whom we sustain long-term relationships.
Thus I have always prayed for the gift of healing. But do I engage and do good all the time, using this gift in particular? Much as I try, I don’t. My pride and insecurities get in the way at times. Plus it is tiring work to get involved with others’ lives and requires great emotional energy. A lot of times, it is much easier to retreat into my inner world and watch the world go by, uninvolved, and cushioned from getting my feelings hurt. Do-gooders can get injured, even killed.
And yet we are social animals who need to interact with each other to fully experience joy and self-fulfilment, and grow in maturity. One of our fundamental needs as humans is to be known and the only way I can know someone and be known is to engage with him or her fully, using all my senses and being, giving my time and space. I need to love others and be loved, so I can only jump in, prepared to get muddied and bruised, remembering that nothing can truly defeat me with Jesus by my side.
Praying like Jesus did is necessary: taking the time to go off to a quiet place to pray for longish periods, and allowing my own tending to by God to happen so that I am centred and secure in my own being, and therefore able to minister to others effectively. To be healed and then to heal. To do good to others as it has been done to me.
The past Sunday’s readings tell me to move ahead with confidence: Isaiah first reminding me of my status and true identity, not forsaken or desolate but a delight and espoused; Saint Paul of my many spiritual gifts including healing; and finally Saint John who recounts the Cana miracle of scarcity to abundance.
The message preached is clear. Identify the scarcity, turn to Jesus immediately and trust Him to turn things around by cooperating with Him fully. Filling the six 20-30 gallon stone jars with water is back-breaking work but many hands make light work and if I want to see the miracle of water into wine, I need to do my part: work in unity with others day after day, using my gifts. Bring healing to the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment