Living in the Spirit
June 18, 2017
Scripture Reading: Matthew 9:35-10:23
Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. –Matthew 10:1-4
Jesus called his disciples and gave them the power to cast out unclean spirits, and cure every disease and sickness. Does this call still apply to disciples today or just that laundry list of disciples? If you were one of them, how would you react? What would the world be like without any unclean spirits and no disease or sickness?
Spirit is the essence of life—breath. Unclean describes something that is properly, not pure (because mixed), i.e. adulterated with “a wrong mix” and hence “unclean” (because tainted by sin).* Recently, I find myself being disturbed by all the derogatory adjectives that people seem to need to say about others with whom they disagree. Those adjectives usually stop my reading or listening. I form more of an opinion about the author than the subject. They do not allow me to make a decision about the story or the exploration of ideology or theology. These adjectives, sometimes adverbs, are most prevalent in political dialogue. Their source gives the words a wrong mix. There are a lot of unclean spirits to cast out. We might start by casting them out of ourselves with God’s help. How otherwise do we discourage unclean spirits?
Medicaid and Medicare created in the 1960’s were baby steps to addressing health care for all. I attended meetings from 1970’s forward, designed to address this issue. We may be the only developed country in the world without some universal health care. Why? Health markedly impacts one’s ability to be self-supporting and self-sufficient. I believe adequate, accessible, and affordable healthcare is a right, not a privilege. Jesus seems to teach something like that in our scripture today. He calls us all to be a part of the solution. For more information about worldwide healthcare see the WHO** website referenced below.
Prayer: O Great Healer, enable us as healers too. Some of us are professional healers bless us in our work. Help the rest of us find and do our part to make the world whole and healed. Amen.
*http://biblehub.com/greek/169.htm
**http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs395/en/