Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“A great number of people would also gather from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, April 19, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Why not today? The stories in Acts perplex me a bit sometimes. Jesus performs miracles and his disciples seem not to be able to, at least with any consistency. Then Jesus is gone and suddenly people are cured just because Peter’s shadow falls on them. A few chapters later, we’re knee deep in the story of Paul, who survives a venomous snakebite and then resurrects someone. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen or heard about anyone being able to perform these sorts of miracles that seemed to be thick on the ground in the early days. Sure there are plenty of “rational explanations” for such faith healings, along with plenty of folks willing to just call this more or less an ahistorical allegory of some sort. But the fact remains that the early church, even in the absence (physically) of Jesus, took root—so tenaciously that no amount of persecution could eradicate it. What brought all these people flocking to Peter and the other disciples? What made them open to hearing Jesus’ words of healing and wholeness? Or profound love and redemption?
We are all sick and tormented by unclean spirits at times in our lives, literally or figuratively. We all experience healing—physically, emotionally, or spiritually—in one way or another. And we are all called to recognize the presence of God in those instances of being made whole, even as we are called to recognize God in the midst of our pain. We might give credit to God or to medical/psychological professionals or both (they are not mutually exclusive). We may not be able to simply lie in the shadow of some charismatic faith healer and be made perfect again. But the fact is that miracles of healing still occur, if our eyes and hearts are open to see them.
Have I experienced a miracle of healing? When? What were the circumstances?
