Words or actions.

Saying or doing.

Black or white.

Regular or decaf.

Preach always. If necessary use words.

Do what I say AND what I do.

We are always, it seems, faced with choices, faced with dichotomies, given two choices. If you aren’t this, you must be that.

And it is really hard to choose because sometimes we want both and sometimes we want neither.

A great example is preaching and healing. One we don’t want to do. One we can’t.

We don’t want to come across as preachy. That feels uncomfortable, grating. And there are bad connotations about preaching. It seems judgmental, somehow.

We can’t heal anyone. We can pray, with some confidence, we suppose, but most of us are unable or unwilling to look at a guy begging and tell him that we don’t have any money, but we will give him healing.

And yet, that very combination of activities is what Jesus was doing at the beginning of his work.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. Matthew 4:23

Five chapters later (9:35), we will read almost exactly the same words, suggesting that these were things that characterized the work of Jesus.

He explained what things meant, the texts that they had been using their whole lives. He proclaimed the good news, that there was good news. He made people well. He worked with bodies and with hearts and with minds. His life was about whole people.

What’s it mean for those of us who are comfortable with one or the other of the things that Jesus did that he was about all of it? Healing’s good, but not enough. Preaching is good, but not enough. Teaching is good, but not enough.