Wouldn't you rather be fishing?

AM Psalm 30, 32 • PM Psalm 42, 43
Exod. 25:1-22 • Col. 3:1-17 • Matt. 4:19-26

In today's gospel Jesus recruits four fisherman to become his first apostles, promising that they would instead become fishers of men and women instead of fish.

He said that the job description included healing those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed.

Subsequently the apostles witnessed Jesus do exactly that Himself, and we learn in other gospels that in imitating Christ as a healer, the apostles sometimes succeeded but often failed. The mystery is not that any miracles happened. The miracle is that with the exception of Judas, none of the apostles quit.

You might think that apart from celebrity evangelical or Pentecostal faith healers on TV or YouTube, the the days of apostles as healers are long gone.

You'd be wrong. The most worthy successors of the apostles are all around you, and by this I don't mean the bishops, nice as they generally are. They are instead today's nurses, doctors, and respiratory therapists. Do they miraculously cure everyone? No, but that's not the miracle that matters most. Instead, it is that they all show up even during epidemics like Covid-19, shift, after shift, after shift, despite exhaustion and the very real danger of their own death.

Written by Tony Stankus

Tony Stankus, now 69, the first librarian ever to be promoted to the rank of Distinguished Professor at the U of A, became an Episcopalian at age 66 because he could no longer resist the surpassing joy of its liturgies and the radiant warmth of its priests and people. And he is intensely proud of the over 1,000 UofA nurses he has helped educate.