In today’s gospel from Mark, we read about people bringing the sick to Jesus to be healed. When Jesus and His disciples arrived on land, “as they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him” (Mark 6:54). People immediately recognized him. In this passage, the people in the area knew who He was and knew His power. How many times throughout our days do we encounter Jesus? Do we recognize Him? While we will not encounter Him walking towards us in the same way that the people living in His time did, we know that He is with us in our days.
Whether it’s in other people, in experiences we have, or in blessings we receive, Jesus is among us. It is just a matter of whether we recognize Him or not. Sometimes it is in profound and big ways, other times, it is more of a whisper, quiet and small. So often, Jesus speaks to us through another person or through an experience we have or we are blessed with something good. How often do we miss Him or fail to see?
Our vision is so often clouded. We fail to see Him working in certain moments and throughout our days. We can sometimes think He’s showing up for other people but not for us. But He is so often right in front of us, speaking to us through the people around us and working through different experiences we have.
Reading through the gospel passage, I thought to myself, maybe I am like the sick in this story who need to be healed. While not physically blind, I can be blind to Jesus working in my life.
We all could open our eyes more to see Jesus in our lives. The hope is that to speak with someone who is telling us something we need to hear, to experience something amazing, or to simply look at another person, we would be able to think, “that was Jesus.” Lord, open our eyes and our hearts so that we would be able to recognize you immediately.
Faith and The Good Stuff 