Jesus Meets Our Needs

Cor, that’s better – I needed to put my feet up a bit.  I’m worn out – do you ever get days like that?  You never seem to get the chance to sit down; it’s non-stop action all the way.

Hang on - I’d better introduce myself.  I’m Lydia.  I’ve been travelling around the country with my husband these last few weeks, seeing what this Galilean chap Jesus has been doing.  You can get a bit fed up of moving on from place to place, you know – some of these roadside gust houses leave a lot to be desired, I can tell you.  But I’d heard that all sorts of strange things happen when Jesus is around, so I wanted to find out if it was true – and now I’ve seen it for myself, I’ll see if I can explain to you what I’ve seen and heard.

A week or two back we were in Tyre – you know, that port in Syria, a wealthy place because of all the trade coming through.  With the trade though there are quite a few immigrants – strangers, people who don’t speak our language and try to make us see things differently.  Me personally, I’m not too keen on them.  It’s just that they’re a bit odd.  People there are a bit stuck-up too, think they are something special just because they’re richer than us – but like every town, it has its share of poor people too.  And I guess it was some of them that came to see Jesus, curious just like the rest of us to see what all the fuss is about. 

He – Jesus - was trying to get a bit of peace and quiet, actually.   I think he had been very busy, what with the arguments with the Pharisees and all those people coming for advice and healing and teaching.  It must wear him out a bit.  He told his followers not to tell anyone where he was staying, but you know what it’s like - word soon got around.  Before you knew it, there were people queuing up right round the block, hoping to see him.  I almost got killed in the crush!  And one of the first in line was this woman.  A Gentile.  Came from Phoenicia, I think.  Funny accent, anyway!

And you know what she did?  She went down on her knees and begged him to do something.  I mean, no respectable woman would do that!  In full view of everyone, flat on the floor.  Not the sort of thing I’m used to, I can tell you!  And when she burst into tears – well, it was so embarrassing!  And she started going on about her daughter having a bad spirit and needing help.

I don’t know what you think about spirits and demons and everything.  I’m not sure I really understand what is going on.  I used to think it must be because someone had been really wicked that they had these evil spirits, making them do strange things, call out and fall around screaming.  But this girl can only have been a child – not old enough to be that wicked.  So what was going on?  I guess it must be scary if a child of yours behaves like that – I suppose I’d want her to get better too. This woman certainly was desperate for help, judging by how she was carrying on.

And Jesus put her in her place straight away.  “Good for you,” I thought.  She’s a foreigner – let them sort out their own problems, not come begging the Jews to help them out.  “I was sent to help my own people, the Jews,” he told her.  “If I helped you it would be like taking the children’s food from them and giving it to the pet dogs.”

But I have to give her credit – she didn’t bat an eyelid.  Straight back she came.  “Yes, but the dogs get a share too – they can pick up the scraps from under the table,” she said.  It was almost as if she said she didn’t want much, just a little bit of help – as if Jesus could do it so easily he would hardly notice, like we wouldn’t bother about the crumbs falling off the table.  And he laughed.

“Good answer!” he said.  “You’re right.  And if you go straight home now you will find your daughter is well again.”  Well, she ran off – and a few minutes later she came back, with the little girl. 

“You won’t believe this!” she said.  “My daughter was sleeping peacefully when I got home, and look – there’s nothing wrong with her now!”  And the little girl certainly looked fine, smiling and happy.  But…  Jesus didn’t even touch her.  How could he have made her better?  I just don’t understand it.  Still, if the evidence is there, you have to believe it, I suppose.  But it got me puzzling.  How could he do that when he was nowhere near the girl?

Anyway, after a bit we moved on from Tyre.  We went round a few places, and earlier today we arrived just down the road from here.  As usual, lots of people turned out when they knew Jesus was around.  He’s getting to be really famous all over Galilee!  People were pushing and shoving, trying to get closer to Jesus – it really wears you out being in such a crowd, you know.  That’s why I needed to put my feet up a bit.  We must have walked a hundred miles over the last few weeks.  Anybody know a good shoemaker round here?

Anyway, I was wondering what would happen here.  You know, I’ve got quite used to seeing odd things happen around Jesus.  But even I was surprised.  Somebody came pushing his way through the crowd, bringing his brother or his friend, I think it was.  The poor chap couldn’t talk properly anyway – just made sort of grunting noises.  I get the impression he was deaf – at least, his friend seemed to mouth the words very sort of exaggerated when he was talking to him, like the chap could lip-read.   I felt quite sorry for him.  Life must be very difficult if you can’t communicate properly, I suppose – it must be so frustrating.  You couldn’t hold down much of a job, I wouldn’t think, and nobody would want to spend time with you so it must be a rather lonely existence.  Perhaps that was why his friend wanted Jesus to do something to help him.  I was standing close to Jesus, so I said to him, “Look at this poor man.  Can’t you do anything to help him?”

Jesus looked at me, and then he took the chap by the arm and walked a bit away from the crowd.  How frustrating!  We didn’t dare follow, because he obviously wanted some peace and quiet, but I’ll tell you, we strained our ears to try and hear what was going on.  But we could see all right.  And Jesus did the most stupid thing – he put his fingers in the man’s ears!  I mean – if somebody had trouble hearing, the last thing you’d do would be to stick your fingers in his ears, wouldn’t it!  Come on, even Jesus must have known that was a silly thing to do!  Then, even more strange, it looked as though he spat on his fingers and touched the man’s tongue with it.  Yuk!  That doesn’t seem very hygienic, does it!  I know our spit is supposed to be good at healing little cuts and things, but your tongue?  Weird!

Then Jesus said something to the man – it sounded like “Be opened”.  What was supposed to open?  If it were me there I’d want the ground to open up and swallow me, doing such daft things!  But before we had time to think, blow me – the man started talking!  And not like before, grunts and groans – real clear words, just like you or me.  Well, you could have blown me down with a feather.  I’d heard him for myself when he came to Jesus, because I was that close  – and now here he was, speaking clear as anything.  And him and Jesus had a conversation there.  You could see them smiling about something, sharing a joke – but we couldn’t hear a thing.  A bit ironic, I suppose – the one who couldn’t hear did, and the ones who could hear couldn’t – if you see what I mean.

After that, Jesus told everyone to keep it quiet – I expect he was still trying to get away from it all and have a bit of a rest, and he hoped the crowds would leave him alone.  But I mean – if you’ve seen something fantastic like a deaf and dumb man suddenly start talking just like you and me, you can’t stop telling everyone!  And the man himself – well, what would you do if you’ve been dumb and now you can talk?  His neighbours and friends have been telling everyone.  So many people have come to Jesus for help, you can hardly move.  That’s why I’ve come over here for a bit of a sit-down.

But – I’m wondering what to make of all this.  I’ve seen Jesus heal someone who wasn’t there – long-distance healing, sort of - all because her mother came begging for help.  And I’ve seen a man who couldn’t hear or talk suddenly having a conversation, just like you or me, because his friend brought him to Jesus.  It strikes me that Jesus seems to want to help all sorts of people – young or old, whatever their background and whatever the problem.  But what these two had in common was that someone else asked Jesus to help on their behalf.  Someone came to Jesus and said, “My friend needs your help.  Can you do something for them?”

I wonder if it would work if I talked to Jesus about my friends?