Often it can be beneficial to slow down when reading the Gospels and consider the small details of Jesus’ ministry.
One example is the manner in which Jesus healed people in the Gospels.
Pope Francis points out in his latest encyclical, Dilexit nos, that Jesus did not heal people at a distance, but in close proximity, even using his hands.
Closeness
It is a small detail, but one worth meditating on and spending some time looking at. Pope Francis explains how it reveals a unique part of Jesus’ ministry:
Jesus came to meet us, bridging all distances; he became as close to us as the simplest, everyday realities of our lives. Indeed, he has another name, “Emmanuel,” which means “God with us,” God as part of our lives, God as living in our midst. The Son of God became incarnate and “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave” (Phil 2:7).
This becomes clear when we see Jesus at work. He seeks people out, approaches them, ever open to an encounter with them.
When Jesus sees someone who is in need of healing, he literally reaches out and touches them:
Whenever Jesus healed someone, he preferred to do it, not from a distance but in close proximity: “He stretched out his hand and touched him” ( Mt 8:3). “He touched her hand” ( Mt 8:15). “He touched their eyes” ( Mt 9:29). Once he even stopped to cure a deaf man with his own saliva (cf. Mk 7:33), as a mother would do, so that people would not think of him as removed from their lives. “The Lord knows the fine science of the caress. In his compassion, God does not love us with words; he comes forth to meet us and, by his closeness, he shows us the depth of his tender love.”
Pope Francis then shows how this reality can impact us, “That same Jesus is now waiting for you to give him the chance to bring light to your life, to raise you up and to fill you with his strength.”
God wants to be an intimate part of our lives, but we need to first let him enter into our hearts.
And today we celebrate...