Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them.”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, January 21, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
My daughter recently made me watch Jesus Christ Superstar. I had never seen it. Truthfully, I didn’t love it, though there were some aspects of it I found compelling. For me, the most heart-rending and powerful scene was one in which Jesus wanders off on his own and is confronted by crowds of the sick, outcast, and downtrodden. They all reach for him, grab at him, beg him for help and he is completely overwhelmed and unable to do anything. He is crushed under the sheer weight of need in his world, and paralyzed by the knowledge that there is no one other than he who can or will help them.
You could pooh-pooh the whole scene and point to the gospel texts where Jesus is able to heal everyone, even those who simply touch him. But I found that it made Jesus so relatable, so human, which he was. Unlike Jesus I am not both fully human and fully God, so I literally do not have the power to heal with a touch. Also unlike Jesus, I live in a time where global media shows me not just the people in my immediate vicinity who are in need, but the absolutely overwhelming need throughout the world. And while I don’t feel like all that need to grabbing at me, begging me for help, I do feel responsibility to do what I can, and yet it never feels like enough. The underlying forces that create such levels of catastrophic need are so powerful, so vast, it feels impossible to make any difference whatsoever.
Yet outside of this short paragraph and others that speak of crowds following Jesus to be healed, there are also many stories of Jesus healing just one person or a handful of them—encounters full of compassion, love, and power. These are the stories that inspire me to act. There are plenty of organizations leading movements to change or overturn those vast forces that victimize so many. I can have the humility to know that I am not God and lend my voice as one among many to the efforts already underway to bring healing and wholeness to all of creation. When I feel like that scene in Jesus Christ Superstar, I can step back and remember those single, intimate encounters with Jesus—maybe just drops in the bucket—that demonstrated the reign of God in the here and now.
How do I handle feelings of overwhelm at all the pain and suffering in the world?
