Here to Heal – Br. Luke Ditewig
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“The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword.”
Sharp like a scalpel, scripture cuts through our pride, confusion, and the made-up stories we tell ourselves to reveal the truth. Scripture convicts us, reveals what we lack, what we’re grasping and need to let go. Scripture points to our deep need and to God’s great love.
Jesus, the very Word of God, sees us as we are. Jesus looks with love. Jesus’ words may be surprising, confusing, or confounding; they “reveal the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Revealing, for we find ourselves “naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.”
Good religious folk, the scribes, ask in today’s gospel: “Why does Jesus eat with sinners and tax collectors?” Jesus himself answers: Those who are well don’t need a doctor. I have come for sinners not the righteous. It’s a sharp word. I’ve not come for the righteous. You who think you’re ok because you’re doing all the right religious actions.
How are we like the scribes, overconfident in ourselves? Where are blind, missing Jesus, the one who comes to meet us in our sin, our lack, our need?
These revealing questions are good. Jesus is our companion and mediator who sympathizes with our weakness. We are cut in order to heal.
What does God say that’s surprising or disturbing? What challenges you? Perhaps it’s about wealth, power, possessions, or control. Perhaps it’s about loss, diminishment, or need. Stick with it and listen. What does this cutting question reveal?
Holding onto scripture, come “approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Scripture cuts open to reveal. Jesus, our Good Physician and Savior, is here to heal.