Heal Me
Why don't the disciples understand Jesus?
On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. Just then a man from the crowd shouted, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not." Jesus answered, "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here." While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And all were astounded at the greatness of God. While everyone was amazed at all that he was doing, he said to his disciples, "Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands." But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was concealed from them, so that they could not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying. An argument arose among them as to which one of them was the greatest. But Jesus, aware of their inner thoughts, took a little child and put it by his side, and said to them, "Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest." John answered, "Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us." But Jesus said to him, "Do not stop him; for whoever is not against you is for you." - Luke 9:37-50
While God, through Jesus, selected the least likely to be his apostles, they were still not humble enough to understand him.
According to Richard Rohr in his "New Great Theme of The Bible" lecture series, The Bible shows us a process of human growth. In the beginning, we became separated from God which is what sin is all about.
Throughout Biblical history, we are working our way toward the wisdom to understand God.
We need to go through the pain and suffering, like Jesus, in order to come out the other end without our ego.
The disciples fought for greatness, showing they were not ready. They had to experience the death and resurrection of Christ in order to understand that it is through their sacrifice and suffering that they become closer to God.
Our goal, therefore, is to see God in us and for God to see God's self in us.
This is hard for us to understand when we think that our religion is all about God doing what we want, like the people asking for Jesus to heal them.
So, our journey with Christ is a journey of trust and faith. We do not need anything else but God.
More to come...