Luke 6:17-19

Posted by DJL on Feb 7, 2013 in Daily Bread | 1 comment

He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

This is the setup for Jesus’ big sermon, the one we usually call “the Sermon on the Mount.” Except in Luke, it’s not set on a mountain, as in Matthew, but instead a broad level plain. Why? Perhaps because it’s not delivered just to the disciples, the twelve just appointed, but to everyone. Jesus is, in this moment, as much a “man of the people” as you can possibly be. He has given himself to the needs of those around him. And so they come.

More than come, they flock to him – people from Judea and Jerusalem and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. A quick glance at the kind of map study Bibles often have reveals just how much territory these lands encompass. They came to him, quite literally, from all over.

Why? To hear and to be healed. Both deep human needs, I think. To hear something worth hearing. To discover a word that cuts through all the multitude of words thrown at us each day, a word that deserves to be heard, a word that demands a measure of silence in order to take shape in our imaginations and lives.

And to be healed. Of physical ailments, undoubtedly. As Luke reports, Jesus held power, perhaps was power embodied. But also, I think, healed of emotional and social and spiritual needs as well. For we are physical beings, and we are emotional, social, and spiritual beings as well. And Jesus met all those needs.

Indeed, Jesus came precisely to meet need – then and now. Which is not, I think, the same as meeting our wants or granting our heart’s desire. Jesus knows what we need, and sometimes it may be something we do not want – reconciliation with someone who has disappointed us, service to one in need who is so different from us, healing of an ailment that wasn’t just a challenge but formed part of our identity.

Jesus comes to meet our need. To offer a word of purpose and meaning and challenge. And to offer healing of our deepest needs, even when we are not ready to be healed.

They flocked to him then. Many flock to him still.

Prayer: Dear God, beckon us by a word worth hearing and the hope of healing, and grant us the courage to lay hold of your promises in our lives. In Jesus’ name, Amen.