FRIDAY 3.3.23: Calling, healing, and forgiving
Luke (likely Paul’s friend, “the dearly loved physician” of Colossians 4:14) listed many of the ills Jesus healed. Awe-inspiring spiritual power was clearly at work in Jesus (verse 26). And because many people in that day saw all illness as a sign of God’s curse, Jesus’ healing powerfully showed God’s forgiveness and love, not just raw power.
• At Salem, we define the spiritual gift of healing as “the divine ability to bring wholeness— physical, emotional or spiritual—to others.” * Do Luke’s stories suggest that Jesus healed in all these ways? In which way(s) do you most need healing? How can you more fully open yourself to Jesus’ healing power?
• Sadly, many religious leaders watched Jesus with a critical spirit (verses 17-21). They didn’t like him helping “sinners.” Scholar Hans Küng wrote, “The Church must always dissociate itself from sin, but it can never have any excuse for keeping any sinner at a distance.” ** Are you fully aware that only a church that, like Jesus, welcomes “sinners” can truly welcome you?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for offering me your healing, restorative power. Guard my heart against ever thinking I am “too good” to associate with any of your beloved children. Amen.
Carol Cartmill and Yvonne Gentile, Serving from the Heart: Finding Your Gifts and Talents for Service. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2011, p. 42.
** Hans Küng, On Being a Christian. New York: Doubleday, 1976, p. 507.