I noticed in this week’s lesson the word “rebuke” appears twice: first in relation to Jesus rebuking the wind and second, in relation to Jesus rebuking the devil. Rebuke is a strong word. It doesn’t say Jesus asked or Jesus prayed by knowing the Truth. He rebuked. In my time as a member at Plainfield I have learnt that we need to to take a strong stand against animal magnetism and the suggestion that man is subject to sin, disease and death. We must actively work against this suggestion. There is nothing passive, nor gentle about the word “rebuke’.
The modern definition of rebuke is to “express a sharp criticism”. Anyone can criticise the storm or devil but what we need is more than strong criticism. We need action. The original definition of the word rebuke from Anglo-Norman French also indicates action. To Rebuke is to “turn back” or “force back”. In this sense, Jesus is not just expressing a sharp criticism of animal magnetism and its suggestion of chaos and Illness, he is taking action and forcing it back to its native nothingness, making it disappear like mist exposed to the sun. When the lie is exposed for what it is, we see the true reality of perfection and man’s at-one-ment with God
The rebuking of the wind and forcing it back to its nothingness helped me in a healing this week of cold and flu. I stood firm and rebuked the “winds” of cold and flu and saw them for what they were: lies and false beliefs. I commanded “peace, be still”. All sense of illness disappeared and left me with a stronger and greater understanding of how we must actively stand up to sin, disease and death and take action by forcing it back to its state of nothingness