Thursday of Week 1 in Ordinary Time
The leprosy left him and he was made clean
I was
listening to a lecture the other day that challenged me to “read the verbs” as
a way of noticing the action in a particular text.
Came
Kneeling
Begged
Can make
Moved
Stretched
Touched
Do will
Be made
Left
Was made
Warning him
Dismissed
Said
Tell no one
Go
Show
Offer
Went away
Spread
Remained
Kept coming
(bold/italicized
are Jesus’ verbs;)
What seemed so
sparse now seems full…but more by virtue of what is not in there.
-No judgment,
reprimand, or demand…just compassion.
-He could have
healed with a word, or gesture, or his simple presence…but he touches…a leper
-No caution,
no reticence…just eager willingness in the face of human need
-No
calculation…there is a cost for Jesus, it cost him freedom…he was paid in loneliness
For greater
Christlikeness
in me and the
people of God everywhere
in the form of
compassion,
touch,
willingness,
and not
counting the cost
No comments:
Post a Comment