The Cyber Vitamin June 30, 2006

The Cyber Vitamin
June 30, 2006

Weekend Reflection
2 Samuel 1:1, 1:17-27; Psalm 130 ; Mark 5:21-43
Reflection:
In our reading from Second Samuel this week we are reminded that any “victory” over an adversary is a victory only in the sense that God’s purposes are achieved through the interaction and that you have grown in maturity and understanding from the otherwise tragic situation of two (or more) human beings fighting with one another.

Secondly, when two people are in conflict, and when a person in a position of influence fails in their duties there are consequences which have social consequences way beyond the people directly involved. So when you gain victory in such situations the imperative is not self aggrandizement but rather the repair and building up of the social fabric that has been torn by the conflict.

The psalmist reminds us that there is no darkness where the light of God’s presence cannot illuminate; there are no places of hate that cannot be filled with God’s love, and there are no places of death that can overcome the fullness of divine life.

In the two stories of faith found in the reading from Mark’s Gospel this week we first learn through the story of the bleeding woman of the way Christ’s presence, and indeed just the hope of being in Christ’s presence empowers fragile human beings to leap across social barriers and become healed and realize their God given potential.

In the healing of Jarius’s daughter we are shown how people’s expectations of what Jesus can do are always superseded by the mystery of who Jesus is. We seek his way, his life and his truth and such seeking will bless us with a life of blessedness, faithfulness and fulfillment. But we never can fully no, or possess the fullness of that way, life and truth. Our task is to stand in awesome and faithful wonder before the mystery of Christ with humble hearts and a will to surrender completely to his will.

Prayer:
Loving God, help us grow in trust and in loving commitment to the way of Jesus. Help us surrender our will and our lives to you. Open our eyes to your presence in life’s darkest moments. Help us be faithful disciples of Jesus, our brother and our Lord. Amen.