Show Notes
We are all made in the image of God, which means that we each have inherent dignity that cannot be taken from us.
Reading: Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome to the Blessed Sacrament Homilies podcast where our mission is to help everyone recognize and experience the presence of God. We hope you are nourished and encouraged by the word. Thank you for joining us.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: The Lord be with you.
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him and he stayed close to the sea.
One of the synagogue officials, Jairus, came forward.
Seeing him, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, my daughter is at the point of death. Please come lay your hands on her, that she may get well and live.
He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him.
There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages. For twelve years she had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had had.
Yet she was not helped, but only grew worse.
She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, if I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.
Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out of him, turned around in the crowd and asked, who has touched my clothes?
But his disciples said to Jesus, you, see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask who touched me?
And he looked around to see who had done it.
The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth.
He said to her, daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.
While he was still speaking, people from the synagogues official's house arrived and said, your daughter has died. Why trouble the teacher any longer?
Disregarding the message that had been reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, do not be afraid, just have faith.
He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.
So he went in and said to them, why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead, but asleep, and they ridiculed him.
Then he put them all out. He took along the child's father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was.
He took the child by the hand and said to her, talitha Koum, which means little girl, I say to you, arise.
The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around at that, they were utterly astounded.
He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat. The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Those of you who have predominantly gray or white hair, or perhaps you have no hair at all, will remember probably the tv show from the late eighties, early nineties called St. Elsewhere. People remember that show. And there was one particular scene that was really good. And that was when the doctor, played by Howie Mandel, who at that time, he had hair, by the way, died, and he went to heaven and he met God.
But it was a touch confusing for him, because when God stood before him, God looked exactly like him.
And there was a bit of an exchange. He said, what in the world is going on here? And God's reply was, I told you, I created you in my own image and my own likeness.
Now, that is a pretty fundamentalist understanding of what this scripture actually means or what comes to us from the book of Genesis.
But there is some true depth and meaning to being created in the image and likeness of God.
And that is a twofold aspect of who you are.
The first aspect, the one that is really worth hanging on to and being convinced of, is that because you are created in God's image and God's likeness, you have limitless potential.
And that potential can allow you to change the world.
And when I say that, I don't mean you're going to be famous, and the whole world's going to revolve around what you say, because that's not what it means, but to change the world in your little concise corner of what the world is.
And you can do that by taking that presence of God. That gives you the potential to love unconditionally, to be merciful to your neighbor, to share without counting the cost.
That potential is part of who you are, because how you were created.
And it's those little things that we do as individuals that change the world, because nothing else has ever changed the world but the hard work of individuals like you. And you have the potential to do that.
And the second aspect of being created in God's image and God's likeness is that you have an inherent dignity that absolutely no one can take away from you.
No matter how much they try, no matter how much they may say things that cut you deeply. You have an inherent dignity because you are created in God's image. And that dignity isn't affected. If you were the richest person in the world or the poorest person in the world, that dignity isn't affected. If you are a Runway model or if you think that no one would ever want to look at you. That dignity is there, and the book of wisdom reminds us of it. Genesis teaches it, and we need to remember it. You are created in God's image, and that gives you absolutely everything you will ever need for all eternity.
