Father Dave's Preach and Punch fest - 26th June, 2021

I had some excellent men join me in the ring on Saturday night, June 26. My first opponent – Fonda – had obviously had a few fights. He knew what he was doing, was fit, and slightly larger than me. His the only fight I’ve included in the video, though two more guys immediately followed him, and they were both hard work too. I then made my usual thank-you’s, had a photo taken with my three opponents, and then sat down as the crowd returned to their cabins.

The shock came about five minute later when another group of around a dozen, who were camping on our site, showed up late. I apologised to them for not gerring to their camping area and letting them know that we were about to start. Then another guy showed up who had earlier told me that he was keen to fight me. Between the whole group, the groans of disappointment seemed so palpable that I put my wraps and glove back on and fought three more opponents from the second group! I slept well that night.

As to the Bible readings for the following Sunday, there was plenty of passion there too. The reading from the Hebrew Bible focused on King David’s lament over the death of Saul, and more especially over Saul’s son, Jonathon. David says of Jonathon, “Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women.” (2 Samuel 1:26b). However we understand that, it was a deeply personal statement, and yet David included this in a song of lament that the entire country would sing!

Paul is passionate as ever in his plea to the church in Corinth to ‘finish what they had started’ (2 Corinthians 8:11) though it might not be obvious to the casual reader what great work he was referring to. Paul is talking about the aid collection being taken up amongst the non-Jewish churches to support needy sisters and brothers in Jerusalem. It was the first-ever global Christian welfare project! Those who downplay the importance of sharing with the poor need to take good account of these words of St Paul, and recognise too that Paul’s final arrest only happened because he risked his freedom to ensure that this aid collection reached its proper recipients.

The Gospel reading has Jesus engaging with three different people who are very different from each other. The first is Jairus, a synagogue leader and a powerful community figure, the second is his 10-year-old daughter who is gravely ill. The powerful father is helpless in the face of the illness, and so he appeals to Jesus. Coming into this story from left-of-field is an unnamed woman who intercepts Jesus en route to the home of the father and daughter. She is a shadowy figure, only known to us through her painful and embarrassing condition, such that she had been bleeding for twelve years.

Jesus displays both power and tenderness towards each of the characters in this story. We also see something in this story about the power of touch. The woman touches Jesus and is healed. Jesus touches the little girl and she is healed. Cannot the healing power of Jesus still be communicated to us through human touch?

Dave
www.fatherdave.org
www.binacrombi.com.au
www.fighting-fathers.com