Seemingly Unchangeable

And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter. Mark 1:29-45

There are many things in our lives that seem unchangeable, Our commute, our daily routine, and certain relationships we have seem like the same old same old. And illness in our lives can become so normal that it seems that nothing will change, get better and no good solution found. The days before my surgery seems so repetitive and regular, that nothing seemed possible to make things different, let alone better. We can even get comfortable with the way things are, even when the way things are a hurtful and destructive.

In Jesus' lifetime, old women who got sick usually died. People with leprosy had a life sentence, a painful disease pared with extreme and unending isolation. The diagnosis meant there was nothing to be done and nothing more to expect. Just get used to it. Older people just expected to die, with little medicine or other support available. It was the accepted way. Into this scenario comes Jesus, who brings not only a message of possibility and healing, but the touch which brings both to life. People who were once set aside for dying now very much with the living. God's work is about bringing solutions to impossible situations and relations. God's work in us is trusting that Gos is actively seeking solution in the impossible places and living with an expectation of hope at all times.

Today, I ask God to help me see beyond the stuck places. the pain that seems constant, the circumstances that will never get better and the relationships that still have possibility despite their seemingly dead state. May we live this day and every, knowing that God's activity is working on remaking the impossible, freeing the long suffering and finding resolution to the worst puzzles in our times.