Wednesday, February 25, 2015, Day 7
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| The boat allowed him to teach. The crowds wanted healing. Because he taught, we find healing today. |
The accomplishments of Jesus as a healer and an exorcist spread throughout the region of Galilee. He begins to attract people from all over the area and they come seeking healing.
The unclean spirits identify Jesus as the "Son of God" which in that day was another title for the Messiah. Jewish kings had been popularly referred to as the sons of God although this was seen as the divine right of kings - that they were God's chosen rather than physical descendants of God.
So for Jesus to be identified as such meant that Herod was not occupying the throne by God's decree but rather by Rome's. Such talk was seditious and it is no surprise that Jesus would try to keep people from talking about him as the Messiah.
The Messiah would be seen as a revolutionary figure. These figures all ended up on a cross. Jesus would too in time but he still had things to do.
When he calls twelve apostles to follow him, this would also be viewed figuratively as the twelve tribes of Israel.
Now we identify Jesus as our Lord but we rarely think of the term in a political sense as they would have in his day. What does it mean to ascribe to Jesus the term, "Lord"? Due to our own skill at interpreting the Bible, are there passages we would remake in our own image (thoughts) rather than seeking to aspire to what we are called to do?
Prayer from Swedish Liturgy:
Remember, O Lord, your Church, to deliver it from all evil and to perfect it in your love. Strengthen and preserve it by your Word and Sacraments. Enlarge its borders, that so your gospel may be preached to all nations; and gather the faithful from all the ends of the earth into the kingdom which you have prepared. Amen.
Picture by By W. J. Morgan (a book published in 1890) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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