Friends, in today’s Gospel, John the Baptist summons two of his disciples to ask if Jesus is “the one . . . or are we to look for another?” When this inquiry is conveyed to Jesus, the Lord does not respond theoretically, but rather by pointing to things that are happening. “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news proclaimed to them.”

Was Jesus doing all of this in the literal sense? Yes! That he was a miracle worker and a healer was one of the most fundamental perceptions regarding Jesus. When God came among us in Christ, he effected the work of repairing his broken and hurting creation. He is not interested simply in souls but in bodies as well.

And so we hear indeed of the man born blind, of Bartimaeus, of the paralyzed man lowered down through the roof to Jesus, of the woman with the flow of blood, of the man who is deaf and dumb to whom Jesus says “Ephphatha!” (Be opened!) (Mark 7:34). We hear of Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus and the son of the widow of Naim.

REFLECT: How are good works an integral part of claiming to believe in Jesus Christ?