The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him,
they tried to prevent him from leaving them.
Wouldn't we try the same thing if Jesus was among us? If Jesus just stayed with us there would be no need to fear hunger, for he could multiply bread to fill our need. There would be no need to fear sickness, for he could rebuke it. Even for Jesus himself it was not a simple matter to leave a crowd like this.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd (see Matthew 9:36).
But in the solitude of prayer with his Father, at daybreak in the deserted place, he was able to see the bigger picture and not only the immediately pressing issue.
To the other towns also
I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God,
because for this purpose I have been sent.
Jesus was not there to merely continually patch and repair a disintegrating old structure. He was there to build that which would merely sink bank into the mud. More important to his mission was the good news of the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom which could not be shaken or destroyed (see Hebrews 12:28). He was not going to merely patch an old cloak unshrunk cloth or pour new wine into old wineskins (see Matthew 9:16-18). Those whom he healed would one day get sick again. Even those like Lazarus whom he raised would one day die again. But for all of those who accepted his message sickness and death would not have the final word. The healing miracles were in this sense a preview of coming attractions, of the time when all sorrow would be forever set right.
The healing miracles of Jesus was not the main and most essential point of his ministry but neither were the merely optional unrelated extras. They did not exist just to grab the attention of the crowds and then redirect it. They were meant to provide a concrete experience of the coming Kingdom in the here and now, so that the goodness of the good news could be understood experientially.
He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.
As the Church prepares the way for the Kingdom on earth the presence and power of the Holy Spirit is meant to shine through her as a glimpse into heaven, just as did the miracles of Jesus. Her members are anointed to heal and cast out demons just as Jesus was, and even to do "greater things than these" (see John 14:12).
Circumstances are confusing. Do we stay or do we go? Do we heal or do we preach, or do we perhaps simply wait on the Lord? Like Jesus, we too must keep the big picture in mind, lest the pressing immediacy of circumstances keeps us going from one emergency to the next. Like Jesus, this requires of us that we spend time in solitude and prayer with our heavenly Father.
God's desire for the people in his Kingdom is precisely what Paul celebrated in the holy ones at Colossae:
for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus
and the love that you have for all the holy ones
because of the hope reserved for you in heaven.
The Kingdom is present where the "word of truth is bearing fruit and growing", the foremost of these fruits being faith, hope, and love. These priorities help us to see all of the gifts of the Spirit as valuable in their proper place, and enables us to have the freedom to go wherever God is calling us next.
I will thank you always for what you have done,
and proclaim the goodness of your name
before your faithful ones.
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