Magic

"Jesus, perceiving that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and said, Who touched my clothes?" Mark 5:30.

Hmm. Interesting. Power left him. Jesus felt it leave. What had happened? A woman reached out from the crowd secretly and touched Jesus' cloak. Her years-long illness healed immediately. Healing somebody - does that cost Jesus something? His power? In humans' common perception magic and miracle are the same thing. Magic takes no effort - it's a free lunch. I mean, magic takes a little verbalizing of arcane words and, voila', ya got your wish. Genie in a bottle kind of stuff. Kid begging mom for a candy bar in the checkout lane. People think of God like that. Problem is, he's stingy with his effortless magic show, so we have to whine a lot to annoy him enough to get what we want. But maybe, just maybe, it costs Jesus a lot. Not magic at all. Maybe it cost him a cross. His life.

As we pray with a brother or sister today, we come before the throne of our God carefully to make our requests. And, together, we give deep thanks that his heart's desire invites his children to touch him whatever his cost.