From the Daily Lectionary for Monday in the First Week of Ordinary Time
Matthew 9:27-34
As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, crying loudly, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When he entered the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you.” And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus sternly ordered them, “See that no one knows of this.” But they went away and spread the news about him throughout that district.
After they had gone away, a demoniac who was mute was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the one who had been mute spoke; and the crowds were amazed and said, “Never has anything like this been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees said, “By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons.”
The readings from Matthew continue in the daily lectionary. Jesus is on the move from place to place in Galilee teaching and healing. As I have said before, the accounts of Jesus as healer are likely to be literally true. There are those in our world who possess the gift of healing. All four Gospels set healing at the heart of Jesus’ ministry. But Matthew also sees in Jesus’ ministry of healing a typological truth. Just two chapters later John the Baptist, who is in prison, sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he is indeed the anointed of God; and Jesus answers John’s disciples by saying: “Tell John what you see and hear: The blind see again; the deaf hear; the mute speak; the dead are raised to life; and the poor have ‘good news’ preached to them.” These are words taken from Isaiah’s prophecy in Babylon as to how to recognize the Messiah, and the imminent restoration of Israel. As Israel is restored from Babylonian exile, so too will Jesus lead the restoration of Israel from the indignity and abuse of Roman occupation. So not only is Matthew’s testimony concerned with the messianic mission of Jesus of Nazareth, but perhaps more importantly, he is proclaiming the imminent coming of God’s kingdom, the salvation of a people, the renewal of God’s life in earth. Healing, and well-being, and the raising up of the disenfranchised of the world, are all signs of the presence of God’s reign.
It is also true that God’s gracious and egalitarian reign will be opposed. The Pharisees, the elite in Jesus’ world, go so far as to say Jesus’ ministry is Satanic. That is a dramatic accusation. Their reasons are obvious, and consistent among the powerful: Their power and authority are being challenged; and they are controlled by envy. If there is a so-called original sin, it is envy (you remember in Genesis that Cain murdered Abel out of envy). This opposition, however, is not wielded by some mythic manifestation of evil, but by the intentional and institutional designs of the powerful. Evil is not an idea or an abstraction. Evil is incarnate in the structures of power in our common life.
We see this in our own day: the powerful victimizing the powerless. Those who protest injustice in our society are called thugs. Those who advocate for the poor and the marginalized are called ‘socialists;’ our prison population, the largest in the world, is disproportionately represented by people of color. Our xenophobic tendencies regarding those seeking asylum at our borders are disguised as ‘security.’ The right to vote of every citizen in our democracy is being abridged. Compassion and empathy are deemed weakness by those who worship the god of self-interest. The powerful lie in order to manipulate their own ends, which are wealth and more power.
We, brothers and sisters, belong to the truth. Falsehood is not a valid ‘opinion.’ Our faith demands that we stand for all that is good and true. There is no compromise with or time for falsehood. As the Church we bear the marks of God’s kingdom, no less than the Messiah of God. Our mission is to raise up the ones cast down in our world. We’ve been called here at All Saints, a liberal church; I’ve been called a liberal priest. That may be, if one puts credence in labels. I believe we are a “Gospel Church,” doing our best to serve the God of Love who yearns for the well-being and dignity of all people. Love and Truth are our means and our ends. Anything, any argument to the contrary, is simply false.
From Celtic Daily Prayer from the Northumberland Community
O God, allow more and more thoughts of your thinking to come into our hearts, day by day, till there shall at last be an open road between you and us, and your angels go up and down among us, so that we may be in your heaven, even while we are upon your earth. Amen.
