When the Gospels tell us that Jesus wept over Jerusalem, he wept not only for its past, but for its future. Getting back into the homily writing mode is not easy after two months away, so I am grateful for the clear theme in todays lessons. God is the hope of us all. God is active in history, active in our lives, and ever persevering to heal us and make us whole. The scriptures today describe this power in terms of undeniable physical changes that create organic wholeness.
Blind eyes see, deaf ears hear, the lame leap like deer, and silent tongues sing with joy.
Rabbis and the church fathers have debated for centuries what this language means to say. We call such occasions miracles. To this day, people travel to holy sites showing their faith and praying for such a display of miraculous healing power. Or are lessons like todays purely metaphors, poetically referring to the universal need for humans to change our perspectives and attitudes, our goals and ethics, to conform more closely to Gods. By doing so, we become more whole, and so does our society and world, which is miraculous in one sense as well.