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Gospel: Mark 6: 53-56
After making the crossing to the other side of the sea,
Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret
and tied up there.
As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him.
They scurried about the surrounding country
and began to bring in the sick on mats
to wherever they heard he was.
Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak;
and as many as touched it were healed.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Today’s Gospel takes place immediately after the disciples spend the entire night in a harrowing storm, crossing the Sea of Galilee without Jesus.
Frazzled and relieved, they are now safely ashore. I’m sure all Peter and the others wanted to do was pause and take a nice, long nap.
But before they could blink an eye, crowds filled with the sick and suffering are already pressing in on them, hoping just to touch the tassel of Jesus’ cloak.
How do you think these drowsy disciples responded to the sight of the crowds?
Worn out from the last several hours of stumbling in the dark like drunken fishermen, did they try to whisk Jesus away in order to take their rest? Or did they ignore their own exhaustion in order to help others in need?
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The Gospel doesn’t tell us how they responded, only that Jesus healed every person he touched.
What a difference it would make if we all followed the Lord’s example of patience, compassion, and generosity, in spite of how we might be feeling at any given moment.
Imagine the difference it’d make if we were patient with other drivers on the road, even while in a hurry ourselves. Or the difference it’d make in our hearts if we readily forgave people who offended us.
If we took the time to listen to our neighbor, even while preoccupied with our own thoughts; if we did the chores; made dinner; or responded to other people’s needs without complaint.
Or, in the disciples’ case, the difference it might’ve made if they brought just one person to Jesus, in spite of their own exhaustion.
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As Mother Teresa once said, “Christians are called to love until it hurts.”
How might we feel that loving pinch today?
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Image credits: (1) Forbes (2) Christ Healing the Sick, Worcester Art Museum(3) Resurrection Greek Orthodox Church