"Jesus, our Healer"

JESUS AND I = A PERSONAL ENCOUNTER

- Jesus took the man aside from the crowd. Jesus always approaches us individually as you <-> in relation to me. Jesus relates to us personally, individually.

THE DEAF AND REASONS FOR UNCLEAR SPEECH

- A deaf person who has lived an isolated life because of deafness is unable to learn to speak clearly. It is been counted that a child must hear and understand a word 60 times before he or she can learn the word’s meaning and put it to use before the word becomes part of the child’s own vocabulary.

- Because of deafness the man spoke unclearly.

This rule of hearing and understanding something 60 times gives us something to think about, as well as some other problems of contact:

- Many people say that they have gone to church, but when they don’t understand everything said there and matters of faith are strange to them, then they don’t go back to church. That is when they must continue to get used to listening. Go to church 60 times. After that you will surely better understand the worship service and matters of faith - the "language" of faith.

- Furthermore, this can be applied to other understanding of language and issues between people (not only to the language learning of little children). At the beginning of their love relationship, a married couple experiences understanding each other well. When the intoxication of early love has passed, they should learn to know each other better. The other may perhaps prove to be a different person than the one you first learned to know. That is when mutual listening and discussion is needed (60 times for the same matter), from which we can learn to understand the other and also how to discuss our own issues with the other. Once again listening and discussing are important.

- Let’s continue with a third example. Between parents and youth changing into independent adults there are often difficulties of mutual contact and problems of understanding. In this situation mutual, two-way dialog and listening (60 times!) are also needed, in which we learn to understand one another.

In all of these situations I mentioned there is a question of broken connections, defective dialog. If we take the example of children learning new words through repeating them 60 times, similarly the path for mutual contacts – away from seclusion – comes through continuous and repeated listening and dialog.

JESUS DRAWS OURATTENTION TO PAINFUL POINTS

Jesus did not function in the same way as a doctor, but he used a simplified sign language with the deaf person:

- He touched the man’s ears with his fingers.

- He touched the man’s tongue.

- He looked up to the sky

WHAT HEALED THE MAN?

The man was healed through the connection between Jesus and the man. Jesus said, "The Father and I are one!" Through Jesus there also began a connection with the Heavenly Father, who loves us. Jesus was able to heal the man, as the book of Isaiah prophesised already hundreds of years earlier, "He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted." Is 53:3-4

THE IMPACT OF REDEMPTION

Jesus’ work fulfilled the Old Testament’s prophecy of Redemption. "Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;" Is 35:5-6

- Redemption = finding connection with Jesus / God and other people.

- individual harmony (peace)

- the building of connections with the surrounding community

- the development of interaction

- the rebinding together of broken connections

- the opening of blocked channels

THE HEALTHY AND UNIMPAIRED LOSE INTERACTIONS

If we do not:

- speak to each other

- listen to each other

we lose our interaction and contacts break. So those with healthy senses must look after the maintenance of interaction.

We remember Helen Keller, who never got back her sight, hearing or ability to speak. She found connection and interaction with her interpreter. Out of this interaction was born her strong spiritual life.

JESUS AND COMMUNITIES

Paul compared the parish to a body, in which one member suffered and then all suffered, one member rejoiced and then all members rejoiced with him. Jesus renews and influences the life of the community, but through individuals. When individuals are helped, then in the same way, the whole community is helped.

THE COMMUNITIES IN WHICH WE LIVE

Communities in which we live:

- home, family and relatives

- our work place

- organizations

- the parish

- our city

- our home country

- Europe, etc.

Listening and dialog, or interactions, are the requirements above all for a community’s functioning and well being at home, in the family, with relatives, in the workplace, in organizations, in the parish and in our home city.

The town of Järvenpää now has a year of celebration. During 50 years the city’s employees, elected officials, organizations and residents have worked for the benefit of our hometown. The managing of business and Järvenpää’s well being depends on the prevalence of interaction between the people of Järvenpää, the listening and dialog within the town’s organizations, elected officials and civil servants. In this way the town’s business is conducted in a mutually agreed upon and democratic way. The decision-makers understand the needs of the residents, and the residents understand the decision-makers’ possibilities to act. All expectations cannot be realized. Through interaction there is a possibility to develop a common understanding of how our town is managed. The foundation of this all is connection, mutual listening and dialog, effective interaction. Visitors from all of Jarvenpää’s friendship municipalities are present in our worship service today - from Täby, Lorenskogi Rödövrest, Volhovi, Jogeva, Vac and Pasadena. During this celebration year the town views its contacts and interaction with its friendship municipalities as important.

The day’s theme was "Jesus our healer". Jesus gave us an example of helping suffering, sick people and those who have lost interaction with others. In the same way, when we are thankful for previous generations for their work towards the well being of our town, our task is to pray for wisdom and strength for all those who are presently responsible officers, and that we all work towards common objectives and for increased mutual understanding in Järvenpää, so that no one is marginalized from contacts with another and that suffering and ill people would receive help in their lives.