21st Sunday after Pentecost

 The lame walk,

…yet blessed is the one who is not offended in me (Matthew 11:5-6).

This morning I walked, all by myself, from our bed to the bathroom. The successful journey marked a turn of events from four weeks ago when I got out of bed and couldn’t take a single step. My legs went lame. After five hours in the operation room, the surgeon phoned my wife Linda to let her know he was able to, in his words, “fix it.”

There’s something yeoman like about the surgeon’s words. He doesn’t make big claims. He just opened up my spine and “fixed it.” That’s what medical people do. They fix broken down bodies in hopes of giving us a few more good years on God’s beautiful green earth.

It’s miraculous. Yet, not exactly a Jesus healing—too much pain, medication, tormented nights and a long agonizing rehabilitation. Maybe that’s why Jesus, sensing our disappointment, said, “Blessed is the one who is not offended in me.”  Offended by what? Maybe offended, or disappointed, or even discouraged because we had hoped things wouldn’t be this painful, difficult and always so human.

Until Gabriel blows his horn, we live with our pain, medications and sleepless nights; troubled, yet grateful for a few more earthly years to enjoy our children and our children’s children; our larger family of brothers and sisters in Christ; and, “the goodness of all people” (Gal 6:10). Even patched up life is worth living. It’s a gift.