Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?” ’ He looked all round to see who had done it. Mark 5:30-32

There is a church around the corner from where I live, maybe about a two minutes walk. This church is named after what they believe to be the four essential elements of the gospel. One of which is miraculous healing and I can’t remember the other three. They believe that physical healing from illness is part and parcel of the gospel. They have healing services. They claim that many people have been healed in their services. Nevertheless, many more who sought healing were never healed. These churches claim that the problem is their lack of faith. It seems like the one of the essential elements of the gospel, according to this church, is only reserved for a select few with great faith.

Just across the street from this church is our church, the Anglican Church. Yes, I live about a three minutes walk from my local church. We believe that miraculous healings do happen. However, we do not believe that this is the essential aspect of the gospel. The Anglican church usually uses liturgy derived from a book called the Book of Common Prayer. Our spirituality, in many ways, is defined through this book. It is really the Bible in prayer form. However, the most important element in this liturgical book is its name; Common Prayer. Pretty much like the other church across the street, we believe that it is important for the church to be defined by the essentials of the gospel. In our Prayer Book, we attempt to define the essence of our gospel as an experience available to “people of all sorts and conditions”. We need faith to perceive it. Jesus said that faith of a size of mustard seed is enough. In other words, God is not limited by the smallness of our faith to act. The Book of Common Prayer has a simple message for us. God is present in everyone’s life and the message of the gospel is for every person.

Today we visited a mother who lost her newborn child. She is one of our homeless youth who has over the past few years managed to get out of homelessness although she still struggles. She was expecting a baby girl. This gave her a renewed joy for life. She always wanted a baby girl and planned to name her Leticia. She had everything prepared for her infant except for a baby bathtub. We promised to get it for her. On Monday we received a call saying that the tub was no longer necessary; Leticia was no more. She died at birth due to some complication in the womb. The mother buried her child yesterday. She was expecting to have a joyous time with her new born child and instead she laid her lifeless body in a tomb. In the same building where this young mother lives, there is another family from the streets. They were homeless for a long time and it has just been two years that they were able to rent a tiny room. The mother of the family suffered a stroke and is partially paralysed. Immediately after praying for the grieving mother, we went up to see Patricia. She tearfully confided in us that she has this persistent fear that she will never walk again. We tried our best to console her. I truly believe that there will be a positive outcome in her case. However, there is not going to be resurrection for Leticia in this life time. Her mother has lost her for good.

It seems like we see the stories of the gospels unfold before our very eyes in our ministry but without the positive results found in it. The grieving mother might read today’s gospel and wonder why Jesus did not heal her daughter. She is not the only one. There are thousands of mothers and fathers who wish that this miracle would be a daily occurrence but it is not. They might wonder if these stories in the gospel have anything concrete to say to them.

If we focused just on the healings, then the message of this gospel text would not be relevant to many. However, the good news is not about Jesus the miracle worker but about Jesus revealing the true nature of the Father. Throughout the Old Testament, we read stories about God and His interactions with the people. These people are often the Patriarchs, judges, prophets and kings, not the simple and common person like majority of humanity. There is one about Ruth but she was only mentioned because she was part of David’s genealogy. In the gospels, however, the main characters are people whom the world does not see. The common fisherman, the lepers, the old mother-in-law ill in bed at home, the woman who suffered an illness which isolated her from society, the child who is usually hidden from the rest of the community…. These people take the center stage in these stories. They are very much like our grieving mother and Patricia. The healings which occurred in the gospels were sacramental acts to reveal to these people that they are very much in the scope of God’s grace and love. They do not have to be leaders nor occupy prominent places in a community to be deserving of God’s grace. Most importantly, perhaps the essential lesson in these stories, God does not accuse them of the pain and suffering which they bear. It is a human tendency to blame the victims for their pain. I do not know why, but we do it. Sometimes even the person who suffers blames oneself. On contrary, Jesus never blamed anyone. He was not interested in accusing people. He wanted to restore their life. His healing served to restore Life for those who suffer. However, it is not an escape from suffering which is part and parcel of our life. We read these stories of healings in the gospels but they only tell us part of the story. The daughter of Darius eventually died. The old woman shared the same fate. Their healing did not free them from sufferings. Jesus healed many but He Himself did not escape the painful death on the Cross. In fact, some of his accusers even challenged Him to do so. Jesus’ healing is not about escaping the harsh realities of Life. It is about having Life and Life abundantly, despite all the harsh conditions which Life throws at us.

I do not know of a satisfactory answer for the grieving mothers and fathers around us. I cannot explain why some people never recover from their debilitating illness. I cannot guarantee that Patricia will ever walk again. The gospels have many healing stories. However, it is also true that almost all the apostles died terrible deaths. Stephen, the first martyr, died soon after he became a deacon. It seemed like an untimely death. We could take refuge by saying that it is God’s will or talk about the immortality of our souls. These arguments do not bring healing to the souls of the grieving person. At best, it might help us to say something to those who are grieving but it does not help to alleviate the pain. Jesus did not explain away the hard things of Life. He brought Life to situations which seemed hopeless and tragic. Jesus said that His disciples will do greater things than Him (John 14:12). It is hard to imagine. This is the problem. We have limited imagination. Sometimes, we need to surrender and allow the Holy Spirit to give us the wisdom to bring healing in hard situations.

We knew of no magic words to heal the grieving mother nor to guarantee Patricia of her healing. We have the faith of a mustard seed but we are not sure that we can move mountains which are not meant to be moved. The grieving mother did not want a miracle from us. Patricia did not expect us to have a magic cure for her. We just listened to both women. We prayed with them and ensured that our prayers were accompanied by concrete actions. Our actions were merely sacramental to show that these women are not alone and abandoned but God is actively present with them. Both women just did not want to be alone and abandoned in this journey. They wanted to know if Life is possible after such tragic situations. We have our mustard seed faith to have the boldness to say to them that God is with them and He will manifest Himself in their lives. This is the gospel message which Jesus preached. This is the only thing we can guarantee through faith.

Jesus also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.’ Mark 4:26-28

Maybe a farmer in Jesus’ time did not know how but today a scientist could explain everything. Every aspect of plant growth can be explained in great detail today. However, it does not mean this parable is not relevant to the scientist. It is not about science. Scientific studies are about things which can be observed. This parable is about the force bringing a simple organism into its full potential. In other words, it asks the question what moves us to achieve our lives’ full potential. After all, this is what most of us desire. It is not a concern limited to philosophers or scientists. All of us desire to be complete in our being. We use all kinds of different phrases to express this desire. Jesus calls this force which moves us to full and abundant life the Kingdom of God.

There is a tendency in us to think about God and His everlasting presence as something distant and hidden from our reality. Many times people are told to look to the skies to find God. Of course, this is just symbolic and poetic language. Jesus uses the parables in the same manner to change our perception. He changed the language to show us that the Kingdom of God is not up there but down here in the simple and everyday things. The problem is when we are too busy pursuing our personal fulfillment we miss out on the very thing which we are desperately seeking. It is right here in the simple and everyday things. We only have to look beyond what is presented to us. In a way, the scientists can teach us something here. In our culture, we like to put scientists on a pedestal and treat them as little gods or some sort of superhuman. Most honest scientists would reject such a notion, at least, Einstein, one of the greatest of our era, did. He often claimed that he was not a brilliant man but just an observant one. It was not humility on his part but sincere honesty. He said that he was just a curious person who wanted to go beyond what the eyes could see. However, Jesus is calling us to go even deeper. To see and discover the force which moves all things in this world. The power which gives each and every being its essence and identity.

These parables are by no means a glorification of the rural life over an urban one. Most of us live in an urban situation and these parables are still relevant. They draw our attention to the reality of God’s presence in our daily lives. I remember reading these parables to one of our homeless youth. He has been homeless since he was eight and never in his life cultivated a seed or a plant. He has very rudimentary knowledge of biology. The reading of these parables became a science lesson for him. I realized that these parables are better interpreted through practical living rather than words. Jesus used parables to show how to discover the Kingdom of God in the true and practical sense. However, it is not pragmatic nor can be explained away. In other words, it cannot be reduced to a formula or a pattern. It is present in an inexplicable and transformative manner.

Most recently, a strange and wonderful phenomenon is happening in the streets. Everyday, except on the weekends, we meet our homeless youth in the same area. We have developed a predictable routine. They would come about the same time and sit with us and just talk. We have become their old friends. They would share their thoughts and sometimes talk about life. The conversations go in many different directions. Then we end our time together with a game. We do everything in a quiet corner in the streets but it is still in quite a public area. People have taken notice of us. Many people sit and watch our interactions during their work breaks. Sometimes they are tourists who are resting after shopping frantically. We also have our regulars. There are a group of old Chinese immigrants who don’t speak a word of Portuguese who sit and watch us. The youth even joke about it and say that they are our spectators. Some days when these men are not around, Bruno would say that we are missing something essential. Sometimes people would tell us where the children and youth are when we arrive. Most of them just watch us in silence. However, this is not the most amazing thing.

We have had in more than one occasion, complete strangers, usually young people, who asked us if they could join us in our games. The first time it happened we were taken aback. It was a young man who had just came from a successful job interview and wanted to join us. Perhaps he was feeling joyous and wanted to share the moment with someone. He was a pastry chef. He played several games with us before leaving. The youth were surprised and at the same time they were very open towards him. Then a week later, another young man asked if he could join us. He told us that he lived nearby and everyday after work he walked past us and observed us playing a game. Coincidentally, he was a baker. His name is William and the youth again received him without any problems. At the same time, we were all trying to process this. Perhaps, it sounds like nothing special to many. However, for our young people who have spent their lives being ignored and avoided, this is something new. People are looking at them and desiring to be part of them in a positive manner. They feel that these young homeless people share something special that they desire to have in their lives.

In this past week, Mary and I went to the immigration office to get our documents renewed. We met a professional Chinese lady there for the same purpose. The wait was excruciatingly long and she approached us just to talk and pass the time. Her English was impeccable even though she had never lived in a English speaking country. She was working in a successful firm and well adjusted to life in this urban city. She asked us what we did for a living, you know, the usual small talk questions. We told her and it immediately changed the course of the conversation. She wanted to know if she could be in any way be part of our work. I assumed that she is not religious because she did not ask anything about our church even after we told her that we were missionaries. In a way, this is a good thing. She heard what we did and she wanted to be part of it despite not being in the same so-called group as us. She did not feel that it was beyond her reach or she was excluded from it. The Kingdom of God is not something exclusive to one group. It beckons everyone who want to be connected to the One who is able to awaken in their souls a desire to reach their full potential as a person. This young woman was successful in regular society. However, she knew something was missing. She is looking for something deeper. Hopefully, she will join us one day for a game of Uno.

Many people walk past us everyday. Many don’t pay attention to what we are doing. Many don’t even realize that there are homeless youth among us. They see us but they do not see us. We continue to be invisible. However, there are those who are seeking something more. They want to discover something beyond their day-to-day reality. In a strange and wonderful way, our little group playing a game of Uno in the streets has revealed something to them. They know that it is not just a game. There is a strong bond between us and they want to be part of us. This bond is none other the Kingdom of God.

Jesus said when two or three gathered in His Name, He is among them. We have gathered together for some time now. The small seed which has been planted is now growing. People have taken notice and they are coming to take shelter in its shady branches.