The Radiance of the King

Dr. Luke must have been freaking out as he watched thousands of tormented, disturbed and just generally sick people crowding around Jesus. Think about it. 2000 years ago, if you were sick….you were SICK. A bad cut could kill you. An impacted tooth could kill you. There was no such thing as antibiotics, aspirin, band-aids, “stitches”, vaccinations, tetanus shots and the list just keeps going on and on. And that doesn’t even begin to mention anti-depressants or any other kind of help for the psychologically needy person.

One of the words that Dr. Luke chose to use to describe some of the throngs crowding Jesus was the greek word “nosos” which had a notion of being morally messed up. Another word he picked was “astheneia” which had to do with being painfully backward and mostly emotionally feeble. Nice group of folks, huh? And we’re talking herds, packs, pulsing, pushing, grabbing masses. Oh, and one other thing….hygiene….deodorant….tooth paste? Forget about it….

But beyond that collective, crusty mess of humanity, Dr. Luke records his astonishment at what was happening to these people…. “the multitude were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all”… “laying His hands on every one of the them, He was healing them”… “great multitudes were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses”… “the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing”.

Dr. Luke’s reflection of all this was that Jesus kept referencing that this activity was the presence of the Kingdom of God. This presence, evidently, was a radiance or a transcendent power that was pushing away and pulsing through crowds like a giant beam of creativity making broken lives completely well! Jesus was giving off this force field of health, well being and wholeness that was more contagious than the sicknesses which were being eradicated.

In one location, so many people were profoundly impacted by this “aura” that they, quite naturally, begged Him to stay. His response summarizes my theme here; “I must preach the Kingdom of God to other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.” Dr. Luke’s cataloging of these outrageous events is the chronicle of what the Kingdom of God does and how it influences a region.

What does this mean to me? I want to become a bearer of that radiance. And not only that, but I want to start a revolution of that kind of transcendent supremacy. If the Chernobyl disaster can leave a sickening radiation field for 10,000 years, then how much more can the Resurrection of Christ produce a domination of health that can send Holy Shock Waves through a region?

If the Kingdoms of this world are to become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, then somebody needs to start something that is seriously buckling some knees. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I can say for myself….I desperately want this kind of Kingdom Reality in and around me. Church status quo has now become part of the sickness of our society.

Enough! I cry out, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven…”.