"Again he entered the synagogue, and man was there who had a withered hand. They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him." ... "'Is it lawful to todo good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save or to kill?'"...." ' Stretch out your hand," He stretched it out and his hand was restored."
I'm not sure who I relate to most in this story:
1. Congregation- I feel like If I was in that time, and I was in the synagogue and knew Jesus was notorious for healing people of all types of physical and spiritual ailments, I would be eager to see Him do his work, whether on the sabbath or not because I would be so eager to see a miracle for my own eyes.
2. Man with Withered Hand- I have had ailments, mental and physical, that I have had chosen to not share with others because of the embarrassment of having to announce it to everyone in the Bible study group in order to have them pray about it. I have also held back on seeking help in some ailments because I feel my infirmities are so insignificant to bother someone else with. I can imagine that this man with a withered hand, was old. He was already an old man, and when you get old, things just start to shrivel; it's a natural part of getting old. So, as being the old man in this story, I can imagine that I would have been like, "No, Jesus, it's okay, it's just one hand and it just happened over time of me getting old, look I can still write with my other one, it's not big deal." I would also be fearful of having to stand in front of everyone and show them my brokenness as if on display to be stared at and poked at AND I would be fearful of the Pharisees getting upset that I allowed Jesus to heal me. I would be fearful of Jesus "wasting" His power on my little issue, feeling naked and on display, AND other people getting mad at me for asking/seeking a blessing in a probably not appropriate time (sabbath).
3. Pharisees- I don't have a problem with good being done on the sabbath. Disruption from the norm is something I often look forward to, however, I do have this problem of really just not understanding the importance of the law or the relation of the law to G-d. I don't understand why there is so much emphasis on the first born son, when more times than not in the Bible, the first born it put aside and it's the second or the last son that receives and abundance of blessings. Why does G-d do that? Why does he tell us, like, the first is the best, the first is mine, on the first, or do this first when there are numerous examples of the latter being given, being actually given the importance or the better portion? Another example is David in the field. I understand David was hungry, was a man of G-d and etc. , but there are so many emphasis on obedience to the Lord, don't touch what belongs to the Lord - people have been murdered over that or lived painful lives because of that, yet in David's life, he received honor and was deemed righteous before all, when he obviously broke the law because of his carnality of being hungry. He should have considered it a fast, no? So, overall, it's not that I'm against blessing someone in what society or religion has deemed an inappropriate time, but I'm wondering why and when is it okay to put the law aside.
What I found interesting in this story was that the healing of the man's hand was not associated to sin. As in other stories of healings, Jesus usually ends with a "and sin no more" , but in this case, it's just WHAM you are healed, enjoy. I am currently suffered from acne. It came on quite suddenly and with ferocity. I've had it for three years and no one has really been able to tell me why. I've tried over the counter medicines, I tried ordered products, prescriptions and even got to the point of having my skin peeled once a month. I've changed my diet- no breads, no milk (not even soy, which is disgusting), no cheese, no oils (I can't remember the last time I had delicious pizza). I've started to wash my bedsheets twice a month, use less oil in my hair and to no avail, the acne is still here. Acne seems like a minute issue, so I don't talk about it, but it has seriously hurt the way I look at myself. Especially when I see pictures of 2 or 3 years ago, I'm fearful that my skin will never be restored to its lustre. The acne is beginning to clear up now, after nearly a complete diet change - fruits and veggies, which can get out- and daily drinking of green tea, and working a WHOLE lot less, which means I don't have close to the income I once had which wasn't even decent to begin with. I'm doing all these things, but am fearful that my skin still won't be restored. I'm fearful that I will stop getting pimples ,but scars, dents, rough patches and discoloration will remain. I don't want that.
I pray the Lord will help me love Him and His ways, without the focus or the need of making sure I'm in the law of what's right in order to bring myself closer to His righteousness. I pray the Lord help me to allow myself to be healed without the fear of being embarrassed or the fear of inconveniencing someone else or seeking help at an inconvenient time for someone else. I pray that I believe in my heart that frivolous ailments that one can technically live with, like a withered hand or acne, can still be healed, leaving one fully and completely restored.
s ferocity
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