Mending the Creation
- davidwperk
- 6 days ago
- 7 min read
Devotional Reflection, Friday, May 9, 2025
The week of the third Sunday of Easter
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:
12 Once, when he was in one of the cities, there was a man covered
with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground
and begged him, ‘Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.’
13Then Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, ‘I do
choose. Be made clean.’ Immediately the leprosy left him. 14And he ordered him to tell no one. ‘Go,’ he said, ‘and show yourself to the
priest, and, as Moses commanded, make an offering for your cleansing, for a testimony to them.’ . . . . . .
18Just then some men came, carrying a paralyzed man on a bed.
They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus; 19but
finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on
the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the
middle of the crowd in front of Jesus. 20When he saw their faith, he
said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven you.’ 21Then the scribes and the
Pharisees began to question, ‘Who is this who is speaking blasphemies?
Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ 22When Jesus perceived their
questionings, he answered them, ‘Why do you raise such questions
in your hearts? 23Which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven
you,” or to say, “Stand up and walk”? 24But so that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’ —he said
to the one who was paralyzed—’I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home.’ 25Immediately he stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God.
(You will find the full text of today’s Gospel at the end of this reflection.)
Daily Office Lectionary readings (BCP, 960)
AM Psalm 105:1-22; PM Psalm 105:23-45
Daniel 6:1-15; 2 John 1-13; Luke 5:12-26
Today we celebrate the Feast of Gregory of Nazianzus. (See below.)
David’s Reflections
Lutheran bishop and New Testament scholar Krister Stendahl said this of Jesus’ healings. Jesus' miracles were not primarily signs of his power but acts of mending the creation, pushing back the frontier of Satan, healing minds and bodies, feeding, even counteracting the devastation of the premature death of the young and needy.*
Today’s Gospel records two of Jesus’ healings—the cleansing of a man afflicted with leprosy and the healing of a paralytic. Both involved healing at more than one level. The leper was a social outcast because his disease rendered him ritually unclean. Contact with him would render anyone similarly unclean. Thus, the leper was ostracized from normal social intercourse and condemned to poverty because of the inability to work. Jesus' sending him to the priest to certify his healing would heal his ostracism and reintegrate him into society, a mending of the creation.
The paralyzed person obviously also carried a burden of sinfulness. Jesus addressed that by pronouncing his sins forgiven. So, his healing involved both the healing of a diseased spirit and of a diseased body. In his healing, we see that salvation involves healing at multiple levels and that sometimes spiritual or emotional healing precedes and leads to physical healing. What a remarkable mending of the creation.
This passage challenges us at several levels. Wherever there is physical or emotional pain or some form of caughtness or addiction, these stories invite us to approach the compassionate healer, Jesus of Nazareth. Our symptoms give voice to the soul’s desire for wholeness, thus our symptoms are to be welcomed and given an audience, not denied in shame. Also, our symptoms may well be giving voice to the need for healing in more than one area of our existence. Wounded emotions, a wounded body, and wounded relationships intertwine in a complex labyrinth that calls for the graceful presence of Jesus, winding through that labyrinth and untangling the knotted wounds with his healing touch.
As we receive ongoing healing, this passage also calls us to embrace the ministry of the healing of others and invites us to dare to believe that we ourselves can be channels of God’s healing love to others who share our plight. As former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams says, to do so is to live in the Spirit of Easter. “. .. . we must let our wounds be exposed to the physician and allow his life to 'sink into' our lives. And then we must act as if we believed we had truly received authority to heal - in all sorts of different ways.” +
To build on Stendahl’s image, when we exercise God’s healing ministry we join with Jesus in the mending of the creation.
*Krister Stendahl, "Christ's Lordship and Religious Pluralism," in Meanings: The Bible as Document and as Guide, (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984), p. 235.
+Archbishop Rowan Williams, “An Easter Message to the Anglican Communion from the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Rowan Williams,” Tue, 22 Mar 2005, Anglican Communion News Service, release # 3962
Collect of the Day, the third Sunday of Easter
O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the
breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him
in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity
of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 224-225)
Collect for the Weekdays in Easter
Let your people, O Lord, rejoice for ever that they have been renewed in spirit; and let the joy of our adoption as your sons and daughters strengthen the hope of our glorious resurrection in Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Today we celebrate the Feast of Gregory of Nazianzus, bishop and theologian (died ca 389 CE).
Collect of the Feast of Gregory ofNazianzus
Almighty God, who has revealed to your Church your eternal Being of glorious majesty and perfect love as one God in Trinity of Persons: Give us grace that, like your bishop Gregory of Nazianzus, we may continue steadfast in the confession of this faith, and constant in our worship of you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; who live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.
Of the Holy Cross
Especially suitable for Fridays
Almighty God, whose beloved Son willingly endured the agony and shame of the cross for our redemption: Give us courage to take up our cross and follow him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 253)
In the Order of Worship for Evening
Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, creator of the changes of day and night, giving rest to the weary, renewing the strength of those who are spent, bestowing upon us occasions of song in the evening. As you have protected us in the day that is past, so be with us in the coming night; keep us from every sin, every evil, and every fear; for you are our light and salvation, and the strength of our life. To you be glory for endless ages. Amen. (BCP, 113)
A Collect for Mission
O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 280)
Daily Office Gospel, Luke 5:12-26
12 Once, when he was in one of the cities, there was a man covered
with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground
and begged him, ‘Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.’
13Then Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, ‘I do
choose. Be made clean.’ Immediately the leprosy left him. 14And he ordered him to tell no one. ‘Go,’ he said, ‘and show yourself to the priest, and, as Moses commanded, make an offering for your cleansing, for a testimony to them.’ 15But now more than ever the word about Jesus spread abroad; many crowds would gather to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. 16But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray.
17 One day, while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law
were sitting near by (they had come from every village of Galilee and
Judea and from Jerusalem); and the power of the Lord was with him to
heal. 18Just then some men came, carrying a paralyzed man on a bed.
They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus; 19but
finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on
the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the
middle of the crowd in front of Jesus. 20When he saw their faith, he
said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven you.’ 21Then the scribes and the
Pharisees began to question, ‘Who is this who is speaking blasphemies?
Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ 22When Jesus perceived their
questionings, he answered them, ‘Why do you raise such questions
in your hearts? 23Which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven
you,” or to say, “Stand up and walk”? 24But so that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’ —he said
to the one who was paralyzed—’I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home.’ 25Immediately he stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God. 26Amazement seized all of them, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, ‘We have seen strange things today.’
Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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