Jesus Understands!

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

In Mark’s account of Jesus healing the deaf and mute man, we read in

Mark 7:34, that, before he healed the man, he “looked to heaven and groaned.”

Why would Jesus do this? Was it because it was a difficult task? No. Not for our Lord

Jesus. Was it because he did not want to heal the man? No. Our Lord Jesus came to

heal, to restore, to save.

So, why then would Jesus “groan” before he healed the deaf man? Why not just “snap

his fingers” and fix his hearing and speech, almost like a magic trick?

Could it be that Jesus is teaching us a lesson in empathy, of the wisdom and compassion

to be learned by sitting with suffering?

When we are in pain, or suffering, Jesus suffers with us. Not that he can’t or won’t do

anything about our suffering, but Jesus wants us to realize that it’s important to

acknowledge the suffering of one another, to sit with it, and to share in it. As we read in

Hebrews 4:15, Jesus is our High Priest “who sympathizes with us in our weakness.” And

we are called, as followers of Jesus Christ, to imitate Jesus in the way we offer healing to

others.

As you know, I wear two hearing aids to help me to hear. As good as the technology is,

it is not like having natural hearing – it’s hard to pick one voice out of a crowd,

beginnings and endings of words sometimes don’t come through, and live music sounds

like a recording, losing a lot of nuance and range. Jesus has not yet miraculously restored

my hearing completely, but I have come to understand that he is teaching me to become a

better listener. (I appreciate your patience with me as I learn!)

Too many times, when it comes to our own suffering, or the suffering of others, we want

to “fix it with tools” and move on, as though we were replacing a light bulb, or changing

the oil in our car. This is fine, for machines. But we are not machines. We are each,

fragile, living, breathing, temples of the Holy Spirit, and must be treated with patience,

love and respect, regardless of our state in life, our age, or the size of our savings

account. In 1 Corinthians 12:26, Paul reminds us that, as members of the Body of Christ,

“if one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices

with it.”

As this autumn approaches, we may become more aware of all the unhealed wounds we

carry as God’s people, and as a society, and wish we could “fix with tools.” This kind of

pain is not something that can be “fixed with tools” or even “fixed with one election.” It

is pain that must be shared, and slowly allowed to heal, by the grace of Jesus Christ. Just

as Jesus healed the deaf and mute man only after he had paused to share in the man’s

suffering, so our own healing will come about when we acknowledge our wounds, share

in the burdens, and then, lift one another up to our Lord Jesus in prayer, and allow him to

heal us, and guide our thoughts, our words and our deeds, to bring forth the Kingdom of

God.

In Christ,

Shane