We’re walking through a series of reflections on Mark 1:29-39. (Part one) (Part two) (Part three)

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Here is the really hard thing. God’s deepest desire is relationship with us.  What breaks that relationship is our demanding relationship on our terms, rather than accepting God’s terms.

He faced and experienced death for the sake of that relationship.

Sometimes he provides physical healing, but it’s not a measure of his power or love. And the presence of illness is not a measure of his anger or our failure.

The most important thing to God isn’t that we are comfortable.

And he’s willing to be misunderstood about that.

That’s why he took the disciples away from Capernaum that morning to other towns in the area. He proclaimed the kingdom of God. He demonstrated the power of that kingdom by freeing people from the ownership of evil spirits. He was unwilling to be constrained by what the people of Capernaum thought he should be. He’s unwilling to be constrained by what we think he should be.

Because of this.

The most important thing to God is that we are loved, and that we allow him to love us.

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If we were in the same room, looking at each other, at this point I’d lean back in my chair and I’d take a drink of my now-cold coffee and I’d say, “I know. This is hard. In the other room, your mom is sick and no one is grabbing her hand to heal her. In the other room, a little one is dying. Across the country, someone is on the edge of losing all kinds of things. And we keep begging Jesus for healing or for meaning or for answers.”

And I’d look into your eyes and mine would fill with tears.

And I’d say,

“But whatever you’ve been taught about the number of prayers or the amount of sacrifice or the amount of meaning our suffering might produce, here’s the for sure promise. The Jesus who knows pain from the inside out, is here.”

And then I might say,

“God? Please make them aware of your presence.”

It’s something I ask God often on behalf of others. It’s something I ask when I don’t want to presume that I know what they need. (Here’s more on that prayer).