Friday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
“But they were unable to answer his question.” (Luke 14:6)
We find in the Gospel today a story that we don’t hear at Mass on Sunday, but still seems familiar (on the surface) to us. Jesus is dining with Pharisees when he notices a man with dropsy, which is a painful swelling condition. There are then objections to Jesus healing this man and Jesus heals him anyway. Been there, done that, one of (by my quick and non-scientific count) seventeen stories of healing in Luke’s Gospel.
But there is still an application to our discipleship today and there are unique attributes to this particular healing story from Luke.
A little over a year ago on the weekend of Halloween, I was driving back to my home. I was on Wilmington Pike and approaching the fork in the road with Smithville. As I came up on the intersection, I saw that there had been a serious looking accident. There were the mangled remains of two cars with deployed airbags and glass all over the road. Not seeing any emergency personnel on scene, I pulled to the side of the road and called 911. The dispatcher told me that they already had people in route. I got out to see if there was anything that I could do to help.
On the right hand curb was a clump of people. There was a little boy who five years old, terrified and crying, but physically unharmed. A woman about my age was holding him and trying to comfort him. This boy was the son of one of the drivers, who was currently a dozen feet or so away from the group of everyone else, and clearly intoxicated.
There was nothing I could do in this situation. Kettering Police were already on there way when I called. I couldn’t do anything to ease the fear this child was in. I was useless, I was simply a witness, not even to the actual crash, only to the pain of the aftermath.
When confronted with a person in serious pain in front of them, a person whose pain none of the Pharisees were able to alleviate, they were silent. None of them could get in the way of someone who could cure this man and end his suffering. None of them could object to Jesus healing the man. The implication is that had any of them had the ability to heal this man with dropsy they would.
There are times where we are unable to heal someone, unable to fix a broken situation, times where we are completely useless bystanders. This passage reminds us that on these occasions, our role as a disciple is to get out of the way of the one who can, Jesus.
Jesus, you have created us to live in this world and respond to the need of our sisters and brothers around us. Help us in those times where we are unequipped to respond to those needs to turn to You. Assist us as we accompany those who we cannot heal. Permit us to be a conduit for the healing that comes from you, even when it means silently standing by. Amen.
-Will Marsh