Following Jesus Means to Follow In His Path of Compassion and Healing
Dear Friends:
It’s Holy Week for Western Christians, so forgive me for waxing theological (briefly).
It is perhaps not a coincidence that in all four gospels, Jesus’ last reported miracle is one of healing. In Matthew and Mark, he restores sight to blind men. In Luke, he heals the ear of a servant, cut off by one of his own disciples. (“No more of this!” he warns sternly.) And in John, he weeps at Lazarus’ death, and raises him from the tomb.
To follow Jesus means to follow in his path of compassion and healing. Likewise, when Christians proclaim Jesus’ resurrection, they proclaim God’s loving work of healing that cannot be constrained, even by the power of death.
It is important to remember two things about the healing in which Christians participate in light of the resurrection. First, the promise of healing is not something to be realized in the next life, but here on Earth. To put it another way, the goal of healing isn’t to escape this world of tears and sorrow to find comfort in heaven, but to bring heaven to earth.
Second, life in the resurrection is continuous with the life known on earth, but somehow new at the same time. Jesus is transfigured in his final appearances, but his wounds remain.
The takeaway from all of this should be fairly obvious. Our work against COVID is also a this-world proposition. We do it so that our friends, family, and community can know life, and life abundant.
The life that we are building through that work is new as well. We can never go back to a world before the SARS-CoV-2 virus: those scars will forever be with us. But perhaps we can build something different, something better, that carries with our lessons with it. I don’t know about you, but I would like a more trusting and equitable world after this pandemic, one that is better prepared for the next challenge, and more mindful of those most at risk from it. I think that’s what God wants as well.
In addition to Easter, it is also the season of Ramadan, Passover, and Vaisakhi, a confluence that will be celebrated this coming Sunday by our friends in the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee with a vaccine clinic at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek.
No matter what your name for God may be, know this: God wants us to be healed. In fact, God seeks restlessly to heal us, and calls us to do likewise. That ministry—your ministry—is blessed by God and powered by the promise of new life to be found right here, right now.
Many blessings and gratitude for all that you do.
Rev. Daniel Schultz
WCC Community Health Program Director
