The Journey 83: Transformation in the life of sick and suffering

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Read: Mark 7:24-30
Key Bible Verse: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you”. [1Peter 5:6-7].

               Are You Hurt?. Remember “The Law of the Garbage Truck”.  A story is told of a man who one day  hopped in a taxi and to go to the airport. As they were driving in the right lane, suddenly a car jumped out of a parking space right in front of them . The taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches.  The driver of the other car who was actually at fault, whipped his head around and started yelling at the taxi driver. The taxi driver only  smiled and waved at this guy who was shouting abuses at him. Observing the strange behavior of the taxi driver the man asked “Why did you just do that”? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when the taxi driver said that he believes in the “The Law of the Garbage Truck”.' He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. It is you who decide whether to receive it and get hurt by it. I decided not to get hurt because, God has given me the freedom to decide whether to get hurt or not. Suffering in life is sometimes because of the hurt that we have taken in personally when other may  not have meant to hurt us.
                This week we are meditating on the theme “ Transforming the life of the sick and the suffering” based on the experiences of the Syrian Phoenician woman and her encounter with Jesus in Mark 7. Yesterday we learnt that conversations are a powerful tool for change and transformation. It is this tool that Jesus used to bring about healing and change in the woman. Another method that Jesus teaches us in this passage is the capacity to deal with other people critical comments and words of apathy so that we become people who are empowered and not grovel in pain because of insensitive words of others. As Jesus dialogues with the woman, we find how strong Jesus is when he uses words like “tossing it to the dogs” [ v: 27], “ I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel” [ Mathew 15:24]. These are word that can cause hurt to a person especially at a time of desperation, but the intention of Jesus Christ I believe is not to hurt but to empower the woman to rise above a life of insults and hurts that she has been facing every day, because of her type of race and sex. Here is Jesus teaching the woman not about isolation from the words and the hurts that other seemed to cause to her on the contrary to insulate her and also give her the power to decide when to get hurt and when not to.
I believe this is the step that leads to healing. Suffering may come about because we tend to get hurt when other dump their anger and their resentful feeling on us. Let us decide today that we are not going to be hurt by their behavior, because we decide who whether to get hurt or not
Whom have you given the power to hurt? Who has the power to heal?
 
Let us Pray: Lord there are times in life when we endure a lot of suffering because we tend to get hurt by others. Empower us to understand that we are the ones who have the capacity to get hurt by their attitude or not. Amen

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