1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth (Psalm 121).
Covid still seems to get the blame. Many have and continue to write about consequences of quarantine. The pandemic of 2019ff continues to be the scoundrel, the ascribed reason for all recent societal trends. Traffic is impatient, opinions rampant, mental health straining our health care systems, social media the place for personal exhibitionism, etc. etc. I am not convinced it is all a consequence of the recent pandemic. These current trends have been around for a while, like maybe forever.
In the Bible, during the ministry of Jesus, there were many encounters with people who were not well. Those who were sick or in trouble are the carriers of the story. When they come before Jesus; that becomes the occasion. And the Word became flesh and lived among us ..(John 1:14). A more literal translation of 'lived among us' would read 'tabernacled', that meaning similar to the Old Testament 'place of meeting'; i.e. God among us. Even if we read the well-known narrative of Jesus’ birth in the Bethlehem stable followed by his early interest in things religious, asking good questions in the synagogue at age twelve, listen to his parables and the small talk of his slightly bewildered disciples wondering how this might impact their career plans (Mark 9:34), the story line would have become quite boring if there were not more.
The ‘more’ is his encounter with people where they were at. He met them in the nitty gritty of life, not just a bright wannabe professor. Those who were needy or ill became the focus of attention. We read about them because they were sick, or because of loud inappropriate questions, some because they were mute, some brought by desperate parents, some who were hurting themselves (demon possessed), and also simply children who didn’t sit quietly while adults wanted to listen to the sermon. Jesus paid full attention to them, taking a child in his arms and even chiding the adults to be a little more child-like (Matthew 18:4). These encounters are what become the wildfire reputation of Jesus come among us.
I am
fascinated that Jesus does more than just keep on keeping on. I think today’s
society, trying to ‘get back to normal’ after latest pandemic is frustrated
because we are trying to keep on keeping on. Our hospitals are now short-staffed.
The whole health care profession is strained. Churches are losing people and even
good ministers are either hanging on or retiring while society looks for other
things to do on Sunday mornings. Who wants to be a pastor if there are no people coming to church or if nothing happening? And who wants to be a health care professional if it is only
about seniority and wages? Imagine Jesus
coming to this world and spending all his time sitting in synagogues discussing
the meaning of the latest expansion of the Law - e.g. the 10 commandments by
now expanded to 613. Boring.
Is
it back to normal we want, or is it a new way? I recognize considerable
ambivalences around me. Not known for ambivalence myself (more known for convictions 😏), like I do not like tattoos much, nor smart-ass
logos on blackened car or pickup truck windows, PetSmart or other establishments catering to people who need dog therapy, nor Cruises or overseas learning tours even while touting environment concerns, and of course Christians trying to justify war! Quite opinionated I am perhaps, but to me these are examples of things that need to be considered alongside faith commitment to Jesus. Encounters
with Jesus reach into the nitty gritty, not merely skin deep.
Good example some chapters later in that same
gospel of John. As he went along, he saw
a man blind from birth. 2 His
disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his
parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither
this man nor his parents sinned,” said
Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God
might be displayed in him.” (9:1-3).
This is not merely occasion of a Q&A. It is Q&A after Jesus instructed the man to go wash in a certain pool of Siloam, and he comes out seeing! First the healing and THEN the questions! Now the witnesses – the disciples, the neighbors, the Pharisees, the guy who got healed, and then also his parents. Parents in this case show good maturity, deferring questions to their son, “he is of age. He will speak for himself.”(:31). This is unlike many parents these days who need to explain everything on behalf of their children. Why not let someone who has just been healed speak for himself? The young man's answer is simple, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” (:25b). Even with theological investigations going nowhere, the newly seeing man took the look which mattered. Looking to Jesus, “Lord, I believe” and he worshiped him (:38).
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| Photo: Ruth Bergen Braun |
[i]
See editorial on this subject, Will Braun, “An Olive branch to
conservatives,” Canadian Mennonite, September 2024, p.2.
