Jesus went through all their towns proclaiming good news … and making people well." - Matthew 9:35
The truth about human beings is that we're broken. The larger truth is that we heal. The even larger truth is that we heal each other. We have the power, often by the simplest of acts, to help each other heal. The gospels' most vivid stories are about healing. We call them 'miracles,' and they are, but not just because the lame walk, the blind see, and the deaf hear. It's the way those things happen, so close, so human. Jesus lifts people to their feet, applies salve to their eyes, places his hand on their ears. The real miracle isn't the healing. The miracle is that one person decides not to stand aloof from another person's pain. The wonder isn't that people are healed, it's that they're loved. The greatest need we have is to be treated with care, treated like human beings. We say, "If you have your health, you have everything." That's not true. Some people aren't healthy, but they have something many healthy people would gladly trade for—people who pray for them, accompany them, who don't forget them, a circle of care. In such circles even people facing death may experience a kind of healing, even the dying find the blessing of life. Jesus showed us a new kind of life that can be ours when we don't retreat into one-person worlds. He gathered the church as a circle of care to give that new life away, hand to hand, heart to heart, suffering body to suffering body. It's how we heal—by the company we keep.
Prayer: Encircle us with care, merciful Jesus, and make the church a healer, good company for the world.
