In the Gospel of Matthew, 10:7-15, Jesus tells the apostles to "cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons." Most of us hear this passage as a story about the exceptional people Jesus chose to walk with him and to lead after he was gone. Who else could be expected to raise the dead or expel demons? In a real sense, however, Jesus was talking just as much to those of us who follow him today. The question, of course, is how are we in our ordinary lives to do these extraordinary things?

Reggie Williams, former pro football player, was interviewed during a Super Bowl game and revealed that as a child he had been partially deaf and dismissed at home and at school as "slow." Miss Chapman, a third grade teacher took an interest in him and diagnosed his problem. Eventually he graduated near the top of his high school class. "I don't know where I'd be today if Miss Chapman hadn't helped me." Miss Chapman "raised this boy from the dead" in her own way as the gospel says followers of Jesus are to do.

A highschooler visits a lonely older man on the way home from school and keeps him company for a while and makes him smile. A woman in a nursing home mails one postcard a day to someone whom she knows will be glad to hear another voice. These actions cure others not of leprosy but of loneliness.

A man getting on a crowded elevator is pushed by someone eager to get on ahead. "Excuse me for getting in your way!" he says sarcastically. Taking him seriously the person responds sincerely, "I'm sorry. That was really rude of me." He is taken aback by her sincere response. In that brief exchange they had both been cured of the sickness of selfishness, at least for the moment.

The kingdom of heaven has come near. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers. The invitation is there for us. The challenge is there for us. When we look with eyes of faith we will see the sometimes simple ways we can be part of healing and raising and curing just as Jesus and the apostles.

Jean Marie Hiesberger