Note: I suffered computer problems yesterday and wasn't able to put down my thoughts on the readings, so this first reflection will be a bonus-sized one, looking at the readings from Sunday through today.

Hosea 11.1-12.14

In the midst of impending judgment for Israel's faithlessness and sinfulness, the fatherly heart of God shines through brightly. God's chastisement is not out of wrathful anger but out of parental love and concern. While not always easy to see, especially in the Old Testament prophets, the incredible love of God for his people--his sinful and wretched people--is incredibly plain here. Our hearts should melt under the tender compassion of God, who disciplines us as parents should, with the hopefully expectation that such discipline will turn the hearts of his children back to him in loving-kindness. "God imitates a father and mother who are naturally worried and cannot turn away from their children for too long. He says that, however, not because he wills one thing now and then changes his mind. Rather, he expresses his thought in different ways, in anger and love, in threat and mercy, chastising and persuading" (Theodoret of Cyr).

Luke 8.26-56

In this passage, Jesus casts out demons, heals a perpetually sick woman, and raises Jairus's daughter from the dead--three incredible miracles that continue the demonstration of Jesus' power over nature (immediately preceding this passage when he calms the storm), the demonic, sickness, and even death. The first miracle, healing the demoniac, happens outside of Galilee in one of the ten cities of the Decapolis. In order to heal the man, Jesus required no good works, no noble deeds, etc. In fact, the man does not even speak to Jesus--only the demons do. Jesus heals him of his own initiative, plainly and completely of grace. In response for being freed from demonic influence, Jesus asks only for the testimony of a changed life. "Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you" (Lk 8.39).

The woman and child who were healed plainly show his power over sickness and death. "Christ foreknew his mystery, even before the foundations of the world. It was in the last ages of the world that he arose for the inhabitants of earth. Having borne the sin of the world, he abolished both it and death, which is its consequence and was brought upon us by its means. He plainly said, 'I am the resurrection and the life,' and 'he that believes on me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death unto life.' We will see this fulfilled in facts" (Cyril of Alexandria). The early church plainly saw Jesus' miracles here as the evidence backing up his declaration of victory over sin and death. They are, as Cyril points out, "the facts" substantiating his claim.