Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s first reading, from Paul’s letter to the Hebrews, highlights Christ’s compassion for His people. He, who is fully divine, humbled himself to also be fully human. Fully human means that he shares in our same struggles and challenges, our same joys and sorrows. He is not a God who we cannot relate to and connect with. Rather Paul tells us that “because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested” (Hebrews 2:18). There are many times I have felt tested – tested in my patience, in my faith, in my compassion. What a beautiful gift that we can turn to Christ for help in those moments.
This past week my whole family caught the flu. For 12 days there was always someone wrapped in a blanket on the couch – running a high fever and coughing. It was a rough start to the new year. For me, the flu presented as a multi-day high fever. Laying there on the couch, shivering, unable to move or even really talk to anyone, it felt like time had slowed down. While I knew that time would eventually make me better, as the virus ran its course, it felt to me like time had stopped moving. I wonder if this is how Simon’s mother felt in today’s Gospel. Was she trapped in this same fever-state, not knowing when or if she would ever feel better? This same trapped feeling, in which time seems to stop moving, can come with other challenges in our life as well. The loss of a loved one can make you feel like time has stopped moving as well. Sometimes our fears and anxieties can make time slow down or even seem to stop us in our tracks. But let us remember – Christ comes to heal us in those moments. Christ brings to us a healing touch, calling us to get up, to rise from our grief, our anxiety, our pain, our fever, and to be healed. And that is His call. He tells us, “For this purpose have I come” (Mark 1:38).
This day let us remember that Christ chose to be tested so that He can help all of us, when we are tested. And that in those moments of trial and challenge we can turn to Christ, awaiting his healing. Amen.
—AJ Grimm