Savior of Exiles

AM Psalm 119:97-120 • PM Psalm 81, 82
Neh. 7:73b-8:3,5-18 • Rev. 18:21-24 • Matt. 15:29-39

As I read the gospel lesson for today, it is the first section that caught my attention. The way it reads reminded me of something, and then I figured it out. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...”

At this point in Jesus’ ministry, people knew that he was a healer well enough that they were literally crowding to him and bringing those who were sick. It says they laid them at his feet and he healed them. The literalist in me yearns to have seen that. How long were those interactions? What were they like? What would it feel like to witness Jesus healing person after person? They had nothing to go on but the word that there was a healer, and they were willing to do whatever it took to give it a try because they had no other hope. Nothing to lose.

A ray of hope takes on a new form when you come from true hopelessness. It can compel you to join a crowd to see a healer, or cross an ocean or a border in hopes of making a new life. It is a hope that is often tied to desperation. It creates a unique form of courage. It is a near impossibility to experience that kind of hope when we live comfortably. It is a pure form of human faith.

As we go through our day, we encounter those who long for healing, and those who have healing to share. We have the opportunity to be Jesus’ healing hands to those around us in both large and small gestures. We have the opportunity to be vulnerable with whatever makes us hopeless and receive God’s miraculous healing. All it requires is the courageous faith to seek the healing, or the courageous faith to seek those who need it.

Written by Dan Robinson

Dan Robinson is the Director of Media Ministries at St. Paul’s, overseeing the streaming of the services online.