I'm Blessed - How Are You?

Note: You'll get more out of this reflection if you read Mark 1:32-45 first!)

Last month, as you know, I spent a lot of time with my family in the hospital in Dallas. One day, when I was feeling particularly low and didn't really want to talk to anyone, I went to a little market in the hospital for some coffee and a snack. As usual, I said hello to the cashier and asked, "how are you?" She said, "I'm blessed. How are you?" I was a bit taken aback and gave a curt "I'm fine." After our transaction, she said, "Have a blessed day." I don't know her story or what moved her to say that she was blessed, but that moment changed how I looked at the rest of my day. Later that day, I was sitting in the ICU waiting room and heard a pastor praying with a family - they began to pray the Lord's Prayer, and I quietly added my voice to theirs. I looked at my Facebook page and email and saw the overwhelming messages of support and love. And I realized that even while I was surrounded by sickness and death, I was, indeed, blessed.

Our text this Sunday comes from the Gospel of Mark, which reads like a series of short webisodes (some TV shows put additional short episodes on their websites as "webisodes"). Last week, Jesus went to Simon Peter's home and healed his mother-in-law, and she responded by serving them. In between last week's text and this week's, Jesus is surrounded by people who are sick and hurting. He cures them, but he doesn't really want anyone talking about it. Then he tries to get away, but the disciples "hunt" for him (read Mark 1:32-39 and imagine what it would look like as a webisode!). Then we come to this week's story, where Jesus heals a man with leprosy.

I find it intriguing that even though Jesus is the one doing the healing, he seems a bit annoyed that everyone keeps wanting him to heal them. The text says Jesus was "moved with pity," but some ancient sources said instead that he was "moved with anger." And Jesus tried to keep this healed man quiet - but he couldn't help but proclaim, "I am blessed!"

So what's your story today? Whatever you're going through or feeling, can you tell a friend or stranger, "I am blessed!"? And, like the man healed of leprosy, can you invite someone else to share in those blessings by joining you in worship on Sunday? I'm looking forward to seeing you.

Blessings,
Manda

Texts for Sunday:
2 Kings 5:1-14
Mark 1:40-45