“People immediately recognized him.” This sentence caught my attention in today’s gospel. I wonder if people can immediately recognize Jesus walking around today. Do you know that he dwells within each of us? This is not some lovely metaphor, it is reality and we need to know it. When the Holy Spirit was released at Pentecost, we became the dwelling place for God. God living within us gives us the same power and authority to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and drive out demons (Matthew 10:8)…the same power. I’m going to repeat that…the SAME power. The question is, do people immediately recognize Jesus in us so that they “scurry” about to bring their sick for healing, and do we recognize that Jesus dwells within us. Jesus does the healing and we are just the vessels for his grace to be poured out. We fill up on his presence through prayer, rest with him, and receiving his word, so that his presence spills over the brim of the vessel of our soul. This spilling or leaking or oozing is how others will immediately recognize him.
They brought their sick to Jesus on mats and they begged Jesus to just let them touch the tassel on his cloak. These two details touched my heart today because it gives honor to two previous stories of healing. The story of the paralytic’s friends busting him through the roof to lay him at the feet of Jesus, and the story of the hemorrhaging woman who knew that if she just touched the hem of his garment she’d be healed. I’m sure that neither of these characters would think that they could ever be any sort of inspiration, as sickness and affliction in ancient Middle Eastern culture were considered a result of sin and something wrong or bad. These “sinful” ones would always live on the outside and shame would be their label forever. But in today’s gospel, these two afflicted ones inspired others to come before Jesus for healing. The shamed and loathed became the celebrated and the courageous to give others the faith and the hope to seek the same healing!! I wonder if the woman healed of her hemorrhage was around to witness people imitating her great act of humility and faith. I wonder if the healed paralytic saw other groups of people carrying their friends on mats to Jesus. Who would have thought that these two shamed people would be catalysts of grace for others? Who would have thought that Jesus can transform our own shame and woundedness into vessels of grace?
As we begin our day, will others immediately recognize Jesus in us? What would that look like? Let’s reflect on the healings in our own life, physical, spiritual, or emotional, and may our witness be such that others are inspired to bring their wounds before Jesus. May we have an increase in our faith so that others will reach to touch him. The last sentence in today’s gospel is, “as many as touched him were healed.” That’s 100%. Let’s be recognizable, let’s encourage each other, and let’s reach to touch him, and it is well with my soul.
Reading 1 GN1:1-19
In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,
the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss,
while a mighty wind swept over the waters.
Then God said,
"Let there be light," and there was light.
God saw how good the light was.
God then separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night."
Thus evening came, and morning followed–the first day.
Then God said,
"Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters,
to separate one body of water from the other."
And so it happened:
God made the dome,
and it separated the water above the dome from the water below it.
God called the dome "the sky."
Evening came, and morning followed–the second day.
Then God said,
"Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin,
so that the dry land may appear."
And so it happened:
the water under the sky was gathered into its basin,
and the dry land appeared.
God called the dry land "the earth,"
and the basin of the water he called "the sea."
God saw how good it was.
Then God said,
"Let the earth bring forth vegetation:
every kind of plant that bears seed
and every kind of fruit tree on earth
that bears fruit with its seed in it."
And so it happened:
the earth brought forth every kind of plant that bears seed
and every kind of fruit tree on earth that
bears fruit with its seed in it.
God saw how good it was.
Evening came, and morning followed–the third day.
Then God said:
"Let there be lights in the dome of the sky,
to separate day from night.
Let them mark the fixed times, the days and the years,
and serve as luminaries in the dome of the sky,
to shed light upon the earth."
And so it happened:
God made the two great lights,
the greater one to govern the day,
and the lesser one to govern the night;
and he made the stars.
God set them in the dome of the sky,
to shed light upon the earth,
to govern the day and the night,
and to separate the light from the darkness.
God saw how good it was.
Evening came, and morning followed–the fourth day.
the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss,
while a mighty wind swept over the waters.
Then God said,
"Let there be light," and there was light.
God saw how good the light was.
God then separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night."
Thus evening came, and morning followed–the first day.
Then God said,
"Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters,
to separate one body of water from the other."
And so it happened:
God made the dome,
and it separated the water above the dome from the water below it.
God called the dome "the sky."
Evening came, and morning followed–the second day.
Then God said,
"Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin,
so that the dry land may appear."
And so it happened:
the water under the sky was gathered into its basin,
and the dry land appeared.
God called the dry land "the earth,"
and the basin of the water he called "the sea."
God saw how good it was.
Then God said,
"Let the earth bring forth vegetation:
every kind of plant that bears seed
and every kind of fruit tree on earth
that bears fruit with its seed in it."
And so it happened:
the earth brought forth every kind of plant that bears seed
and every kind of fruit tree on earth that
bears fruit with its seed in it.
God saw how good it was.
Evening came, and morning followed–the third day.
Then God said:
"Let there be lights in the dome of the sky,
to separate day from night.
Let them mark the fixed times, the days and the years,
and serve as luminaries in the dome of the sky,
to shed light upon the earth."
And so it happened:
God made the two great lights,
the greater one to govern the day,
and the lesser one to govern the night;
and he made the stars.
God set them in the dome of the sky,
to shed light upon the earth,
to govern the day and the night,
and to separate the light from the darkness.
God saw how good it was.
Evening came, and morning followed–the fourth day.
Responsorial PsalmPS 104:1-2A, 5-6, 10 AND 12, 24 AND 35C
R. (31b) May the Lord be glad in his works.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD, my God, you are great indeed!
You are clothed with majesty and glory,
robed in light as with a cloak.
R. May the Lord be glad in his works.
You fixed the earth upon its foundation,
not to be moved forever;
With the ocean, as with a garment, you covered it;
above the mountains the waters stood.
R. May the Lord be glad in his works.
You send forth springs into the watercourses
that wind among the mountains.
Beside them the birds of heaven dwell;
from among the branches they send forth their song.
R. May the Lord be glad in his works.
How manifold are your works, O LORD!
In wisdom you have wrought them all—
the earth is full of your creatures;
Bless the LORD, O my soul! Alleluia.
R. May the Lord be glad in his works.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD, my God, you are great indeed!
You are clothed with majesty and glory,
robed in light as with a cloak.
R. May the Lord be glad in his works.
You fixed the earth upon its foundation,
not to be moved forever;
With the ocean, as with a garment, you covered it;
above the mountains the waters stood.
R. May the Lord be glad in his works.
You send forth springs into the watercourses
that wind among the mountains.
Beside them the birds of heaven dwell;
from among the branches they send forth their song.
R. May the Lord be glad in his works.
How manifold are your works, O LORD!
In wisdom you have wrought them all—
the earth is full of your creatures;
Bless the LORD, O my soul! Alleluia.
R. May the Lord be glad in his works.
Alleluia SEE MT 4:23
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel MK 6:53-56
After making the crossing to the other side of the sea,
Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret
and tied up there.
As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him.
They scurried about the surrounding country
and began to bring in the sick on mats
to wherever they heard he was.
Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak;
and as many as touched it were healed.
Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret
and tied up there.
As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him.
They scurried about the surrounding country
and began to bring in the sick on mats
to wherever they heard he was.
Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak;
and as many as touched it were healed.
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