When I was a boy just knee high to a grasshopper my friend and I would go fishing in Oak Creek. We used to try to dig up worms until my neighbor, Lee, a man originally from Oklahoma taught us how to catch grasshoppers. The trick was pinching off their back “jumping” legs. Without the powerful hind legs the couldn’t get too far so you didn’t have to worry about them escaping from the jar, and they were excellent bait for catching fish.
The prophet Isaiah compares human beings to grasshoppers. In the long perspective we have short life spans, and like swarms of locusts we have the tendency to mindlessly consume, grow until we cannot be sustained and then crash into famine and death. Sound familiar? Living the Covid 19 pandemic is a sobering reminder that we are mortal creatures too. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Isaiah said that even though young people can grow faint and weary, anyone who waits upon the Lord can have their strength renewed and soar like an eagle. The psalmist writes in 147 that God doesn’t delight in the strength of a horse, or in the speed of a runner, but in those who fear the Lord; those who have faith. So the difference between being a mindless grasshopper and a powerful eagle is faith. Faith makes all the difference in the world.
Consider the mother in law of Simon Peter. She was sick in bed with a fever according to Mark chapter one. Jesus come to the house with the disciples. What did she do? Did she jump out of bed like a grasshopper to serve her guests? No. She remained in bed until Jesus healed her. She was a woman of faith, and to be a woman of faith means to wait on the Lord. Ironically as soon as she is healed she begins to wait on the Lord serving him and the disciples. It is a good thing because soon the whole town gathers outside the house to be healed by Jesus. God bless Simon’s mother in law for giving sustenance to Jesus and for having faith!
On the big problems with the Covid 19 pandemic, and why it is so hard for us to get better, is because it is hard to have faith, and to rest like we should. Furthermore the real problem is that we think that we are individuals who get sick and fail to understand that we are not just individuals but we are part of a larger body. Just like our body is made up of cells, each one of us is like a cell in the body of Christ. In this way the whole Earth can be thought of a living being. The Covid 19 pandemic doesn’t just affect individuals it affects us as a globe, the whole Earth is sick. The body of Christ is sick.
So how do we move forward? How do we let Jesus heal us like Simon’s mother in law? How do we become more like an eagle than a grasshopper? We must have faith that we are not lone individuals, but members of the body of Christ. Only until we each listen to God in faith will we together rise up like an eagle and fly!
One great way to have faith is to get vaccinated! Receiving the Covid vaccine from Moderna, Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, or perhaps even others is an act of faith. You have to have faith that the mystery of God’s love for you could work through the cold steel and glass of scientific laboratories. Getting the vaccine means trusting that God could work through leadership of various political parties and countries to create a healing serum. Faith in God means even though you may not completely understand what is in the vaccine, you allow it into your body with the hope that it will protect you. That is an act of faith! I hope that everybody who is able to will get vaccinated. When it is my turn I surely will! If you aren’t sure I hope you consult with your doctor.
The reason cells in our bodies are able to cooperate, work together, and allow us to live as people, is because the cells listen to the instructions and do their part. Our mind and consciousness is like a higher power to our cells. We as people when we listen to God we are listening to the consciousness of Jesus’ body. When we do our part and wait upon the Lord, we are transformed from grasshoppers to an eagle that can fly.
When I was a boy I liked to go fishing down in Oak Creek. I remember the first time we saw a Bald Eagle. It was so cool! There we were with our feeble fishing poles trying to catch a fish. The eagle could just swoop down into the water and get a fish! God’s people will rise again. God will renew our strength. Our fevers will break. Each town will be healed. God will knit us into a beloved kingdom, one body that soars! Amen!
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