Reading the Bible with a Highlighter pen: and then reading the Highlights only…

• Jesus said: “Follow me.” 
• “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
• Jesus said: Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’
• …but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.”
• “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.”

What is it to dwell with these words? Words that challenge: words that encouragement. Words of healing…

No matter what we think of miraculous healing stories: nevertheless, the work of Christ is all about healing in some way.  The healing of Body, Mind and Spirit.  The healing between one another.  The healing of the Nations.  And the work of the Christ’s followers is the embodiment of that grace to live out the love and forgiveness we have received.  

So, this reflection starts with a series of questions to think into.

When did you take up the invitation of Jesus to “Come, follow me.”  You might also like to open that question up to the moments of following, rather than restricting it to a turning point moment.   When did you take up the invitation of Jesus to “Come, follow me.”

I recall a time at Drama School (as a mature age student), when a fellow, younger student got a call in class the her mum had died at the Hospital.  The ‘Come Follow Me’ moment was my internal knowing that I was the only one in the class who could driver her back to the student accomodation, and help her pack things she needed to go home with, and then await with her for the family to come to collect her to take her home to Geelong.  She was a young girl … I often pray for her even now … I wonder, if she too is now a mother… and how did the healing happen for her?

A Second question: “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.”  Are there times in your life when you also, have just sought to reach out and touch the fringe of Jesus’ cloak?  Maybe it’s seemed out of reach: or impossible?  The yearning for healing after 12 years of whatever was bleeding out of you or your life?  “If I only touch the fringe of his cloak, I will be made well.”

A few weeks ago I had a go at answering one of these unfathomable questions I ask on a Sunday morning; and I shared with you what in my daily contemplative practice was happening: and what I think it was doing for me.  Here’s a gift of the week in my pathway of healing: A quote from Thomas Merton (from one of my favourite books)

“God talks in the trees.  There is a wind, so that it is cool to sit outside.  This morning at 4 o’clock in the clean dawn sky there were some special clouds in the west over the woods, with a very perfect and delicate pink, against the deep blue.  A hawk was wheeling over the trees.  Every minute life begins all over again.  Amen. (from, The Sign of Jonas)

A final question: from this bit of today’s story:  Hear this extract again… And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples.  When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”  But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

How have you lived out Mercy?   And when has mercy been embodied for you?

 When I think go how I live Mercy out in life, I will confess, that it is a growth edge for me.  How do I live Mercy in my daily actions?   I know the times I’ve needed Mercy; from people, organisations and from God; Mercy with people I’ve discovered I’ve hurt…  And also to become aware of how I might offer Mercy in my own life?  Are the measures you offer mercy to others the same as what I might afford myself?

These three wonderings are the steps in following Jesus eh?  I sometimes wonder what kind of monster I could have become, as a person, had it not been for the Gospel and those who have offered Mercy into my life.  Ultimately Mercy is embodied in you and me as community.  Ultimately the healing comes about, embodied in us; sometimes through those who can care medically, nutritionally, or in our fitness, and in our Spiritually: all resourced in people like you and me doing the things we do in prayer, and contemplation that brings it to life.

So: I want to remind us of the little miracles that happen in daily living.  If we have the eyes and heart to see it.  And participate in it.  And , yes, I know I’ve just linguistically down played the word ‘miracles’ there: maybe the story will prove me wrong…

Last Saturday night, at the orchestral performance of ‘La La Land in Concert’, where the movie is projected on to a screen, while a live orchestra plays the musical score in synchronicity with the film; during the interval, the pianist fell sick and could not continue the second half of the show.  Did you hear this story?  During the interval, all kinds of phone calls were made from orchestral members reaching out the friends: can you help, NOW?  No solutions were found.  The film’s Oscar-winning composer and conductor, Justin Hurwitz, walked out on stage,  to address the audience: “Can any one here, tonight, sight read?  Can you join us here now…?”

A Sydney University student Sterling Nasa, 21, (who is studying International politics and is a bagpipes tutor at his old school), found his hand in the air… and I quote “I do owe a lot of the experience to my friend, Scarlett, who sort of … put my hand up for me. But I did end up finding the confidence and it was a very good decision to go down and volunteer myself.” 

Now, I don’t need to remind you, that it’s usually in the second half of a show when the stakes are the highest: the technical challenges for all performers are drawn upon… and the La La Land score is the same… Justin Hurwitz the composer was worried about this…  Nasa told the ABC he was thinking the same thing.

“I saw it on the score and I thought, oh, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to sight-read that in one go,” he said.  “I took a little bit of a creative liberty and just decided to improvise, which I think ended up being a good choice.”  The backstage debrief after the final bow was full of mutual disbelief.  The director said “I just told him how blown away I was, and obviously how thankful I was. … All of our heads were spinning a little bit because it was such a surreal moment.”

This faith is embodied.  Yes, God does God: but the story of Jesus and the coming of the Spirit is this: God does God in us.  As unbelievable as that is, your hands and mine: your heart and mine: God does God in us.   The work in us, is enabled by our attention to the pathways of faith we create for ourselves; the practices of mindful prayer, and care, and Bible reading, and fellowship, and the invitation to ‘Life in Christ’.

• Jesus said: “Follow me.” 
• “If I only touch the fringe of his cloak, I will be made well.”
• Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’

What is it to dwell with these words?  Words that may challenge us: words that encourage us.  Words that bring healing…  And then live into them, embodying Following, Healing and Mercy as we live the Good News in the world.  Amen.