Wednesday, February 21, 2018

The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States Grow Pray Study Guide for Wednesday, 21 February 2018

The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States Grow Pray Study Guide for Wednesday, 21 February 2018
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection GPS Guide for Wednesday, 21 February 2018 - Outer healing as a sign of inner healing power
Daily Scripture
Mark 1:40 A man afflicted with tzara‘at came to Yeshua and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” 41 Moved with pity, Yeshua reached out his hand, touched him and said to him, “I am willing! Be cleansed!” 42 Instantly the tzara‘at left him, and he was cleansed. 43 Yeshua sent him away with this stern warning: 44 “See to it that you tell no one; instead, as a testimony to the people, go and let the cohen examine you, and offer for your cleansing what Moshe commanded.” 45 But he went out and began spreading the news, talking freely about it; so that Yeshua could no longer enter a town openly but stayed out in the country, where people continued coming to him from all around.
2:1 After a while, Yeshua returned to K’far-Nachum. The word spread that he was back, 2 and so many people gathered around the house that there was no longer any room, not even in front of the door. While he was preaching the message to them, 3 four men came to him carrying a paralyzed man. 4 They could not get near Yeshua because of the crowd, so they stripped the roof over the place where he was, made an opening, and lowered the stretcher with the paralytic lying on it. 5 Seeing their trust, Yeshua said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Some Torah-teachers sitting there thought to themselves, 7 “How can this fellow say such a thing? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins except God?” 8 But immediately Yeshua, perceiving in his spirit what they were thinking, said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier to say to the paralyzed man? ‘Your sins are forgiven’? or ‘Get up, pick up your stretcher and walk’? 10 But look! I will prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” He then said to the paralytic, 11 “I say to you: get up, pick up your stretcher and go home!” 12 In front of everyone the man got up, picked up his stretcher at once and left. They were all utterly amazed and praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
***
Reflection Questions
In Jesus' day, a “leper” had one of a variety of visible skin diseases. People thought such people were highly contagious, so they feared and shunned them—but Jesus didn’t. Homes excavated in Capernaum show room for maybe 50 people in the “living room.” Four men tried to bring their sick friend to Jesus on a stretcher, but the room was full. They got creative! Most houses then had an outer staircase to a roof made of branches and rushes laid over beams and covered with dried mud. They climbed up, dug through, and lowered their friend to Jesus.
  • Jesus' healing power was most visible when crippled people got up and walked. But Jesus, knowing physical healing wouldn’t last forever, linked it to eternal issues. Would it have surprised you to hear Jesus say to the crippled man lowered through the roof, “Your sins are forgiven”? What does Jesus' choice of remedy suggest to you about his “diagnosis”? What connection(s) might exist between forgiving sins and physical healing?
  • The man would have stayed paralyzed without his four friends’ energetic, creative caring. When was the last time you were able to be a “stretcher bearer” for someone else? Who has been a “stretcher bearer” for you? How determined and creative are you willing to be to bring Christ’s help to someone you know who needs it?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you for caring about the well-being of my body and my inner self. Help me to live each day in the beautiful reality of your forgiving, restoring grace. Amen.
Read today's Insight by Dr. Amy Oden
Dr. Amy Oden is Professor of Early Church History and Spirituality at Saint Paul School of Theology at OCU. Teaching is her calling, and she looks forward to every day with students. Her latest book (Right Here, Right Now: The Practice of Christian Mindfulness, Abingdon Press, 2017) traces ancient mindfulness practice for Christians today.
Ever notice how concerned Jesus is with bodies? He never says to someone, “Your physical suffering isn’t important because your spirit is all God cares about” or “Oh, don’t worry about your physical well-being, just focus on your spiritual life.”
Jesus takes bodies seriously. In fact, Jesus is “Word made flesh,” himself a divine endorsement of bodies. Have you listened to your body lately? What does your body tell you today? What holy truth might your body carry?
I know that when I ignore my body, I miss out on some important information about how God is working in my life. For example, I’ve noticed that my body gets tense in certain situations, my shoulders and neck tighten up. That’s my body trying to get me to pay attention to the discomfort I feel and address it. God is calling me to be honest with myself about those relationships and why I’m uncomfortable.
The gospel of Mark is full of Jesus addressing people in their fullness--bodies and souls, minds and hearts. All of it matters. All of it needs to be healed. Try this simple practice today:
· pause and listen to your body now
· What does it tell you?
· Invite Jesus to listen with you.
· What does Jesus say?
Like this post? Share it!

You might also like
©2017 Church of the Resurrection. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The United Methodist Church of the Church of the Resurrection
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)