Week 25 Matthew 9
In my bible the expression ‘take courage’ is only used a few times in the gospels – and about half of them come when Jesus was talking to physically incapacitated people:
• the paralyzed man
• the hemorrhaging woman
• Bartimaeus the blind man
The three cases seemed pretty hopeless but even so the people made a last-ditch attempt at recovery. It might have been a sort of grasping-at-straws initiative but to me it looks like some courage was being shown. Still…Jesus told them: take courage.
There’s a range of courages on the Courage Scale running from Elite Courage (being super-brave or heroic) all the along to Workaday Courage (pluck or grit or determination). So some courages show a higher degree of courage than others. But all courages decide against cowardice. Against timidity or fearfulness or indecision.
Courage is acting even when my chances are looking pretty bleak or chancy. The niggling prompt to go out-on-a-limb when it’s safer to stay put. A trade-off: safety or uncertainty? Courage shifts me away from inertia. Cajoles and pushes me to step into the Taking Action Zone.
Staying in the Not Taking Action Zone means I don’t have to overcome any fear – so a convincing argument can be made for staying out of the Taking Action Zone. On the other hand if I don’t take-my-courage-in-hand I might – down the line – end up regretting that I gave up too easily.
Note: the three healings are in Matthew 9:1 22 & Mark 10:49