Checks all the boxes

Today's Scripture

I am going to apologize now for what I am about to do this Advent. I am going to continue to hammer home the point that Christian hope is not wishing, or desiring - it is expecting! It is why the image of Mary carrying Jesus in her womb is such a powerful example. When a young woman is with child, we don't say 'she is hoping to have a baby', we say she is 'expecting'. What God promises for us is not something for us to wish for, but something that we can expect, something we can count on, something we should prepare for. This is Advent and today's Gospel gives us good reason to hope in this way.

In just eight short verses, we see so much to hope for. Jesus, gathering huge crowds to Himself, people flocking to see Him, hear Him, get to know Him, be healed. Then, since they have literally forgotten about every other physical need as they follow Him, He meets their needs and feeds them, miraculously - with seven baskets full of leftovers.

He heals every malady: the blind; the lame; the deformed; the mute. In today's world that would be more than a handful of medical specialists, and specialties. Each of these also carries a 'spiritual meaning'. The blind are those that cannot see and Jesus often talks about those who have their sight but cannot 'see' the truth. The lame are unable to get where they need to go. They are stuck, like the man at the pool of Bethesda. Often, we are stuck in our thinking or limited by low self-esteem or the critical voice in our head that tells us we 'can't do it'.

Sometimes, we can feel less than whole. Like the deformed person, we are lacking something essential, perhaps a relationship, or meaningful work, or a particular talent or personality trait that makes us feel less than 100%. Some have no voice in this world, and after not being heard for so long, they cease to cry out - what's the use?

Jesus, in one day for thousands and thousands of people, heals all of it, partly to alleviate their suffering, because His heart is moved with pity, but also to show that He can heal it all. The physical and the spiritual. His capacity for us checks all the boxes: struggling to see the truth? - check; feeling incomplete? - check; stuck in a rut? - check; no-one listening? - check!

His goal is not to eliminate all of our suffering here - that would be treating the symptoms. His goal is to bring us to the place that is unstained by sin so that every malady disappears. He is preparing our souls to experience Heaven now and to reign over our bodies so that we can begin to experience and long for heaven - not like a wish, but fully expecting it to happen.