From today’s reading...
At sunset all those who had friends suffering from diseases of one kind or another brought them to him, and laying his hands on each he cured them. Devils too came out of many people, shouting, ‘You are the Son of God.’ But he warned them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ.” Luke 4:40-41
The power of touch.
To prevent frostbite, a common field remedy is to place the victim’s bare skin on the bare skin of another person, i.e., put their exposed foot onto the belly of another.
Likewise, newborns who were believed to be stillborn were revived after being placed on the chests of their mothers. (Now you know how evil the so-called COVID remedy of isolating the elderly and fragile from their loved ones is, but I digress.)
Jesus could’ve snapped his fingers or just willed that these people be healed, but he took the time to demonstrate the proper way to love one another, which is to touch them.
Now you know why our world is so sick.
Many (most?) of us would only touch many others with a rock to the face, a stick to the shins, or the bumper of our cars to their torsos.
Many call many others “deplorable.”
Many turn and walk away from those who do not wear a mask.
Many close their doors to those who do not wear a mask. Many demand complete strangers to “show me your (vaccination) papers!”
Many think they are the elite, the enlightened, living in the promised land of coastal cities while ignoring or castigating the “untouchables” in “fly-over country.”
Meanwhile, 300 of us gathered from around the nation to spend eight days training, sleeping, eating, and playing together with 14 to a bunkhouse sleeping in literal bunk beds, eating eight to a table, and practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for over six hours a day.
I rolled with Brazilians and Native Americans, lesbians and divorcees, a surgeon with nine kids, dudes in their 50s, and young men in their 20s.
We shared tips and best practices and coffee and ice cream and not once asked for whom we voted, if we were vaccinated, how much money we make, or where we go to church.
It was a beautiful thing.
Maybe instead of talking a big keyboard warrior talk about how you’re gonna mess someone up who doesn’t look, smell, walk, quack, and squawk like you, maybe you actually engage them in some friendly martial art practice.
See if you really are that tough and if those “undesirables” are really as bad as you thought.
I bet you’ll be in for a couple of big, and welcomed, surprises that will help you to...
Stay the course.
Keep the faith.
Endure.
Now go sell something.
