Eucharistic Gospel Reading for Sunday of Proper 8: Year B
“Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” “(Mark 5:30).
We get to be with Jesus as he disembarks the boat into the great crowd. And we see one of the leaders of the synagogue get down on his knees and beg Jesus on behalf of his daughter for her healing and her life. Jesus agrees and goes with the synagogue leader to his house, and then, something happens!
This is what is meant by “unexpected opportunities.” Our Lord Jesus is on his way to a dying child. While in route, a woman of strong faith does her self-talk and follows through with her plan for her healing. She touches the clothing of Jesus and the faith she holds – heals her.
Have you ever been about doing something for someone, family or friend, and while taking them somewhere, or buying them something, someone in a parking lot, with a car that won’t start, asks if you can give them a jump? Unexpected Opportunity.
We can have our minds focused on something –something good, something needed, and God will notice the goodness in us and make use of it. God sometimes will put in our path a good act that needs to be done. When this happens, it is not the “interruption” that God is looking at, but us.
God is looking at how we are going to respond to the help-request put before us. In moments like this God can tell when our love is genuine. A calculated plan that looks like a love effort may not be an accurate indicator of what you are made of. However, a sudden event that requires of you whatever is available at the moment, will reveal what you are made of. Love must be genuine, not just something done to make us look loving. Jesus shows that His love is genuine through and through. We too can become this loving through prayer. Expect unexpected opportunities.
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and our schools including St. Augustine in Raleigh, North Carolina.
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
Let us pray:
O holy Jesus, keep us ever loving and doing those things that are pleasing in your sight. And then use as is your need, even as we are already busy, for the mission of mercy for those around us, to the glory of your Name: Amen.
onewhoponders 