5 JUNE 2017 BODY OF CHRIST NEWS "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people." — Matthew 4:23 When we read the above text, we might find ourselves wishing that we could have been witnesses to what was taking place in Palestine. An almost indescribable and a compas- sionate person went around bring- ing spiritual awakening and healing among the people. In fact He did three notable things: teaching, preaching, and healing. The Word had truly become flesh, and dwelt among us. He taught people captivating truths by dialogue, discourses, and sermons. I would like to focus however on the acts of healing that Jesus performed. Jesus healed people by speaking the words He needed to speak. However, what is most endearing about Jesus is the fact that He did so much in the way of healing by His touch-that is the laying on of hands. He was a hands-on Savior! Just imagine that the "I AM"- the creator of the ends of the earth, would stoop as it were to touch fallen humanity. Look at some of the texts that describe His healing touch: Matthew 8: 14&15--"And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. And He touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose and ministered unto them." Mark 1: 40-42--"And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the lep- rosy departed from him, and he was cleansed." Matthew 9: 20-22--" And behold, a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: For she said within her- self, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour." Matthew 9: 27-30--"And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men fol- lowed him crying and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith into them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it unto you. And their eyes were opened: and Jesus straitly charged them say- ing, See that no man know it." Luke 6:19--" And the whole multi- tude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all." Jesus also healed with just the spo- ken word-- He commanded and it was done: Mark 2: 11&12--"I say unto thee, Arise, and take up they bed, and go they way into thine house. And imme- diately he arose, took up his bed, and went forth before them all: insomuch that they were all amazed, and glori- fied God, saying We never saw it on this fashion." John 5: 8&9--Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the Sabbath." I would just like to conclude that we need to have a ministry like that of Jesus: We need to Teach, Preach and Heal--how can we do this? We will discuss this next month in a future article. Kevin W. Durant is a 29 year old basketball player who just won his first NBA Championship as a member of the Golden State Warriors for the 2016–17 season. KD, as most sports aficionados know him, won an NBA Most Valuable Player Award, NBA Finals MVP Award, NBA All-Star Game MVP, four NBA scoring titles, the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, and two Olympic gold medals. He has also been selected to seven All-NBA teams and eight All- Star teams. In the famous words of one Stephen A. Smith, “He’s a b-a-a-a-d M-A-A-N!” After winning his first NBA championship game against the Cleveland Cavaliers and the great LeBron James, KD was soaking in the moment among countless media-types, fans, teammates, friends, family members, celebrities and other interested parties doing whatever to celebrate the moment. With hundreds of cameras and microphones in his face, he was graciously responding to lots of people who were clamoring for his attention and then on national television in front of millions of viewers his mother (Wanda Durant) pulled him by his goat-tee beard to tell him something in his ear. Social media outlets caught fire with this spectacle and accused his mother of being an aggressive Black woman and even Kevin Hart joked, (referring to KD) “I’m going to tell you what I did notice, you’re still getting your (butt) whopped by your momma,” Hart continued. “I saw the way your momma was grip- ping you up on that court, Mama Durant is still whip- ping that (butt). You’re still getting spankings, I know you’re getting spankings.” Wanda Durant unapologet- ically responded to her crit- ics stating (I’m paraphrasing here) that she is still his mother and she wanted to make sure that he realized what he had just accom- plished. He was depressed about not having a championship title and she wanted him to put that self-doubt to rest. I get momma Durant’s in-the-moment agenda but it seemed a little too aggressive and the timing was bad. Black men all over the country, in that moment, experienced a vicarious flash- back of being re-traumatized by an overpower- ing momma-bear energy that speaks of emas- culation and subjugation. This was his moment not hers. Her cause was legitimate but could it have waited? She has 24/7 access to the guy and others don’t. He was being pulled in fifty different directions and my thought is she could have waited but she didn’t and now we’re revis- iting that “aggressive Black woman syndrome” perspective again. This is not a personal attack directed at Wanda Durant because it speaks to a broader issue about the relationship between single parents and how they have unmitigated author- ity to rule their children without another person of authority in the house to counter-balance misdirect- ed energy. Here’s my case, the lat- est data in 2015 shows that the number of single par- ent households in the Black community is 67%. We use to have a theory explain- ing that this figure was so high because our families couldn’t admit the pres- ence of a father or male presence in the household because that would cause us to lose benefits. That the- ory doesn’t work anymore. While fewer Americans over- all are getting married which has declined to a rate of 33%, only 29% of African Americans are getting mar- ried according to data in 2014. This math reflects another staggering statistic that 72% (2011) of Black children are born to unmar- ried couples. Unfortunately, Black couples are not finding the value in the institution of mar- riage and not finding the strength to overcome the adversity that challenges building marital unity. Also, 94% of single parent homes in the Black community are headed by Black moth- ers. However, just because these single-parent households count mom as the main parent it does not mean that the biological fathers played no role in parenting the children. In fact, only 28% (2005) of all African American children report not having any father representation in a parenting role. So, while there is some father- hood representation, no parent can tell the Aggressive Black Woman Syndrome Randy Craven By Randy Craven PERSPECTIVE The HealingTouch Dr. Conner By Byron E. Conner, M.D. HEALTH Continued on Page 6 She is still his mother and she wanted to make sure that he realized what he had just accomplished.