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Seeing and being seen—spiritually
I was beginning to feel weary every time I went out in public and had to put on a mask because of the pandemic. While willing to comply with the rules, I love people’s faces; their expressions make it easy to “read” them before a single word is even spoken. And I was missing that.
Then I started thinking about how Jesus interacted with and healed others. His ability to read people’s needs did not depend on even one iota of physical awareness. For example, once Jesus and his disciples were passing through a large crowd that included a very ill woman, who thought, “If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole” (Matthew 9:21, King James 2000). Jesus discerned her need for healing without physically seeing her amid the throngs of people, asking, “Who touched me?” (Luke 8:45, KJ 2000).
Jesus’ ability to heal was independent of matter. He didn’t have to sit with the woman and have a long conversation, or administer drugs, or touch her. Through spiritual sense, he felt her presence and discerned both her need and her faith, and his understanding of her true status as a loved child of God healed her.
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