Our Prayer To The Father And What It Can Do

Saturday of the seventh week in Course 2024

Isn’t it remarkable as we read the Gospels just how frequently Christ’s disciples completely misread Jesus and His message? People were bringing their toddlers and other children to Jesus so that He might touch them with His special blessing. Jesus, we must remember, came to earth to bring salvation, peace, healing, forgiveness to everyone. Everyone includes children. Then here comes the blundering disciples to shoo them away. Mark uses the Greek word epitimao to give a sense of the disciples’ major error. They rebuked the parents. That’s the same word Mark uses, addressing a demon and driving it out of its victim. It’s the same word Mark uses to describe Jesus ordering the wind and waves to subside when the disciples feared for their lives as they crossed the Sea of Galilee.

Then Jesus get His turn, but he more than fusses with His followers. Jesus saw and heard the lack of hospitality, openness, missionary zeal in His disciples and becomes–what’s the word–“indignant.” The Greek is aganakteo , and every time that is used in the Gospels, it infers some real anger underneath the word. His disciples have pushed away the very children that just recently we heard Him using as the model for a disciple. Now I know that little kids can be pretty hard to deal with from time to time, but at their best we want to call them “our little angels.” And Jesus sees through the dirt and grime they sometimes get into, and finds children of His Father. Children who deserve and need to be touched by Christ. That’s why as His 21st century followers, we bring them to Church and teach them their Bible lessons and Catechism, and most congregations offer them the sacraments. They need to be touched by Christ just as much as we do. Remember, our ultimate end is to be one with Jesus Christ, made over in His image and likeness.

The apostle James is writing us today with some serious advice about living the Christian life, and it has solidarity with our Gospel. God is our father, and loves us. That means God wants only good for us. He made us, so when we are in need, He gives us advice through James. Suffering? Then turn to God in prayer. The psalms are full of that, so you don’t even have to make up the words. Really happy? Let your joy out in a song of praise, and the psalms are useful there as well. Sick? Ah, here we get the community involved. The presbyters are called to pray over the sick person, anoint her with holy oil, and results are expected. This is the biblical basis for the sacrament of the sick, and it comes along with forgiveness of sins. In other words, there are three kinds of healing desired. Spiritual healing always happens; emotional healing frequently happens because of the forgiveness, and sometimes there is physical healing. But God always leaves us better off than we were before we pray.