Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.
Today's Gospel: Matthew 9:1-8
This telling of Jesus healing the paralytic man was always one of my childhood favorites. Though I must confess, it had more to do with the bright, colorful illustrations in my picture book than with the content of the story.
Reading it as an adult, I’m struck by the people carrying the man on a stretcher to see Jesus, traveling a great distance in the hopes of a miracle for their friend. Who were they that they sacrificed their time and themselves to help him? Did the paralytic ask for their help? Did he plead with them? Or, was this a group of friends who knew his desire for healing and offered themselves to him without needing to be asked?
While we don’t know the details, we recognize they were a community working together for the good of one another. God created us for community. We are created to love and serve, laugh and cry, and support and lift one another up. Just as this group of people did for the paralytic man.
At first glance, we see the physical support of the community in helping the paralytic reach Jesus, but on closer read, we realize it wasn’t the physical support that was the most important thing, but their faith. Jesus saw their faith and healed the man. This paralytic was surrounded by a community of believers who shared their faith and their struggles with one another. They believed in the miracle of healing Jesus could offer them and worked together for one of their own to have the opportunity.
Ponder:
How do we work together in faith to support others in our community?
Pray:
Lord, please surround me with a community of faith. Please also open my eyes to the ways I may strengthen and support those in my community.
Copyright 2023 Lisa Henley Jones
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