Missing the Point
Why does God seem to help some and not others?
But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. - Luke 4:25-28
In today's Gospel reading, Jesus is speaking in his old hometown, where the people expect him to do the miraculous works they have heard him do elsewhere.
What he says to them makes them angry.
The prophets Elijah and Elisha did not spend their time feeding the hungry and curing the sick. They could have helped many, but were sent to only a few.
I came across an interesting table of the 37 miracles Jesus performs in the four Gospel Books (https://www.thoughtco.com/miracles-of-jesus-700158), 17 of which appear in only one of the books.
It crossed my mind that these are the stories we recall when we think about Jesus the Healer. But many of these miracles were acts of compassion, unplanned, unexpected and possibly unwanted by Jesus who was struggling to get a message out to the people.
At one point, Jesus sends his disciples out to heal people, perhaps to give himself a rest, and then he gets annoyed with them when they come back reporting they had failed to cast out demons.
Maybe we are missing the point of God's visits to us, through prophets, visions and in the person of Jesus.
In the book, The Dream of God, by Verna J. Dozier, which we are reading this week for our Education for Ministry class, the author believes we have lost our way, misunderstanding God's Dream of His Kingdom here on earth.
It is not just us Christians who have distorted the message, she says, but all of us, from Adam and Eve on.
And maybe that is what Jesus was so angry about.
If we look at God's presence as a gift of a Genie in a Bottle, coming to grant us three wishes or more, we truly have missed the point.
Now I'll be the first to admit that I waste no time in calling in the prayer brigade when someone is sick or dying, and I think we should. Prayers, especially when offered by many, help and the message of Scripture is to trust in God, so we should pray for His help at all times.
But we should also ask ourselves what we are missing.
Are we doing all we can to help God make this world an example of His Kingdom?
If not, we should get started. We don't know how many more times He will send us the message.
More to come...