Mtr Margaret Babcock
The Pharisees and their religion scholars came to his disciples greatly offended. “What is he doing eating and drinking with misfits and ‘sinners’?
Jesus heard about it and spoke up, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders—an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.”
Luke 5: 30-32, The Message
Dear Friends,
Take a minute to think back to a time when you suffered, or to a present ailment. For us fragile humans, a myriad of physical, mental, and emotional issues can cause pain. Even an acute case of flu can put a person in bed praying for relief for twenty-four hours. Each of us has been in some such situation.
As frustrating as these experiences are, though, at least pain lets us know something is wrong. People can also be ill without realizing that they are living with limits not intended by our Creator.
In second grade, I was diagnosed with myopia. A favorite game among our neighborhood gang was “Cowboys and Indians,” with my role being that of “eagle-eyed Indian scout.” (This was in the Lone Ranger and Tonto era). Being told I couldn’t see well shattered my self-perception. Even when the hated glasses arrived and I saw the world much more vividly, it took time to adjust to the fact of my deficiency and be grateful.
In the today’s gospel, the Pharisees and scribes sneer “What’s he doing eating and drinking with misfits and ‘sinners’?”
Jesus (says), “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders—an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.”
Jesus knew his ability to heal endeared him to those who suffered. Desperate to be made whole, having found relief nowhere else, they opened to his promise of transformation, eager to commit to God.
The righteous, however, were hanging on to a self-perception that they were powerful and in control. They had a much harder time embracing Christ’s promise. After all, a changed life meant they had to change!
I wonder: Has our suffering opened us to Christ? Do we even notice our blindness and limits? Maybe what ails us doesn’t matter. Whether or not we know our need of God, the diagnosis is the same. We cannot become whole by ourselves.
If today we are not yet on the path to healing, I wonder what God’s prescription for us might be?
Perhaps if, like Jesus, we hung out with “sinners”—those hurting in poverty, or with physical or mental illness—we might catch a bit of their passion for healing. Through the eyes of these “outsiders,” we too might see more vividly the changed life God promises to all.
Blessings,
—Mtr Margaret
