This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time. Pheme Perkins (Mark, 546) raises the following questions: “How can we read these stories about Jesus, the exorcist and healer, without feeling cheated? God or Jesus has only to will it, and a person is healed. Does God will that person’s suffering? If anything would make Jesus angry, it would surely be the charge that God wills the suffering and evil in our world”

While we acknowledge that there is no limit to Jesus’ power and authority; that it is for all people, in all places, and in all circumstances (natural and supernatural), we do pause and wonder if such power and authority is active in the world today. What are we to do with miracle stories of healing and exorcisms with people from first century Palestine? Do such stories shine light into our lives? One answer is presented by Richard Jensen (Preaching Mark’s Gospel, 52) who points out: “The fact is, … people do still get sick. The fact is that our lives are thwarted by powers and forces over which we seem to have no control.”  Especially since 9/11 we are aware that terrorists can bring destruction at any time and any place. Even the most powerful country in the world cannot keep evil under its control. Here in 2015, we wonder how ISIS could have risen to power in eastern Syria and western Iraq, declaring itself a caliphate. We look at the events of January 6th (2020) and October 7th (2023) and we wonder what unrest lies just under the surface.

We struggle with the fact that with a word or touch, Jesus can heal; yet, as much as we may pray and touch and anoint a loved one, they often do not become well and restored to society. They die. We may cry out, “Jesus, you healed with a touch, why can’t you do the same through me now?” At the same time, we cannot blame God when our sufferings are not immediately removed after prayer. Even Jesus did not escape suffering and death.

Image credit: Monastery Decani, South Wall, Christ’s Miracles (59) – Christ heals Peter’s Mother in Law | PD-US