Scripture: Luke 8:55-56
Her life returned and she got up at once. He directed them to give her something to eat. Her parents were beside themselves with joy, but he ordered them to tell no one what had happened.
Thought for the Day: In scripture, when someone wanted to make the point that an individual was alive (after being dead), the person was given something to eat. This was done, in part, as a way of demonstrating how the person was not simply raised in some spiritual sense. I remember in the movie Ghostbusters, the ghost called Slimer would eat food, but because he was a ghost, it would drop straight through him. It appears that same concept was being put on display in the above healing story. For he young girl, the food she ate did not drop through her, and for that reason, we can assume she wasn’t a ghost. In Christian history, we have too often spiritualized a lot of stuff that Jesus did not want us to spiritualize. We’ve made the call to feed the hungry into the work of feeding the spiritually hungry. We’ve turned Jesus’ expectation of caring for the poor into a concern for the poor in spirit. I believe Jesus was concerned about the spiritually hungry and the poor in spirit, but he was especially concerned for the hungry and poor. The desire to spiritualize is really an attempt to distance oneself from responsibility and the hard work of the Gospel. Jesus needs the Body of Christ to be on the frontline of ministry for the sake of all those who suffer physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Prayer: Grant me the heart of Jesus, O Lord, the one who ached for those who suffered. The ache he felt should be what I feel, and may I emulate him as I act with compassion. Amen.
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