A time for healing
Wednesday of the First Week of Advent
Gospel: Mt 15:29-37
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120325.cfm
After healing the sick for three days on a mountain, Jesus is moved to pity with the idea of the crowd having gone hungry. The blind were given sight. The lame walked. The deformed were made whole. The mute spoke. But what good is all this healing, if some of them were left to starve or collapse or their journey home? With empathy, Jesus was not only compelled to heal members of the crowd but was concerned about their nutrition for their upcoming travels.
The passage doesn’t say anything about Jesus preaching during this time. He was living the gospel, not speaking the gospel. He was gathered there with the people for healing. He didn’t perform this healing in the city or the temple but on a deserted mountain. We all need our time away from the hustle of life for healing. In these times, we must also learn to trust that God will take care of needs as with the loaves and fishes in today’s gospel. God doesn’t want us to do it alone; God wants us to do it together. As we need God, we also need each other. We all have a purpose and a need for each other. No person is truly alone and everyone needs their time for rest. We all have our times to lead and our times to follow; our times when we perceive a sense of control and our times when we do not.
This gospel shows the power and the impact of empathy. Empathy gives us the drive to take care of others as it gives others the drive to take care of us. It’s not the greater ones who are empathetic to lesser ones, but that we’re all equal. We all have times where we need assistance. It is pride that makes us want to go it alone. It is pride to always be the one to give. Even Jesus accepted gifts, grace, and, yes, even handouts from others. He took free meals from others without a need to compensate as he was also the one to make sure others were fed and healed. He did not always need to be the giver but accepted his responsibility when it was his time. May we this season learn to do the same and accept our fate at times to provide for others as we also embrace the times when others provide for us.
