Miraculous encounter

Friday of the First Week of Advent
Gospel: Mt 9:27-31
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120525.cfm

I often heard that Jesus didn’t want to share his miracles because he didn’t want to get in trouble with the religious leaders, but throughout the gospel, Jesus is always being questioned and accused by them. Maybe Jesus didn’t want his healings to be advertisements or a means for him to build notoriety or acclaim. He wanted his message to stand on its own. The message he had to share was beyond his miracles. There was a deeper truth the miracles themselves might distract from.

Not just that, but if Jesus wanted the miracle shared, it devalues the gift for the individual. Each miracle was for the person receiving the miracle, not to drive his greater narrative. The miracle was something sacred between Jesus and the person being healed. Jesus wasn’t doing the miracles to prove his divinity to others, he was performing them to heal the person in need. The miracles were performed out of care for the individual. They were intimate encounters between the person and the divine. 

Jesus also gives the people being healed the credit for the miracle. He would say it was their faith that healed them, Jesus was a conduit for their faith. Jesus wanted their participation.

God seeks a similar encounter with us. We are not a means to an end for God, we are an end. God cares for each of us individually. We are each loved as the unique creation we are. God simply wants us to reach out and participate.