Daily Devotion – July 13, 2021 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
6:30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.
6:31 He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.
6:32 And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.
6:33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.
6:34 As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
6:53 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat.
6:54 When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him,
6:55 and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.
6:56 And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.
Imagine the commotion of people who loved their friends and family and neighbors and who saw in Jesus a cure for these loved ones.
Once in awhile in my own life I have had someone who was either desperately or chronically ill, and I would have taken that person anywhere for a cure. I know I would have been among those people organizing a stretcher and some people to carry it and borrowing a donkey to pull it and trying to hear on the grapevine about the next place this healing preacher was going to go.
Imagine the rumors that he was sharing the power of healing with his disciples, so that when he sent even them out in pairs into the towns and places nearby, they could cast out demons and cure the sick and proclaim that the Kingdom of God was coming near. Imagine knowing that here was a man who was making the world a better, healthier, safer place. It didn’t matter that the Romans were in power over the Jews – this man was curing the sick and restoring people to fullness of life – shalom – in their lifetime.
Well, we don’t have to imagine it, you know. We believers know Jesus ourselves, and we believe in the Kingdom of God. And we know that we ourselves have been sent, as his disciples, into the world of our daily lives to cure the sick and declare that the kingdom of God has come near. In everything we do we have that commission, as the baptized. We are not met by crowds of people looking for a cure. But the Holy Spirit sends people to us one at a time. How are we doing at curing and proclaiming the kingdom? How are we helping? How are we living out this Kingdom of God in our little social circles? It may not be sensational, as it was for Jesus and the Twelve. Bu we are sent now, just as they were then.
The next time you hear of a friend suffering, go. The Holy Spirit will be with you. Proclaim the Kingdom of God that you believe in. Be healing and hope for that person. That is your calling.
Gracious God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for being here now with us. Thank you for giving us a job as your disciples. Help us to be with those who need a word of healing and hope. And help us notice that your kingdom is forever coming near to us.  Amen.
