Stories
of Healing
Over the next year, our Presbytery
is going to focus our Presbytery meetings around the question: What breaks God’s heart within the bounds of
Newton Presbytery? Yesterday, our theme
was on the Opioid epidemic. And so
yesterday, we had an addiction specialist share with us not just the issues of
addiction, but also the spiritual crisis that plays a part within it. I found it interesting how the presenter
shared that addiction comes in so many forms, and that we as a people seek to
be filled. We seek to be filled because
we are created to be filled by God’s love, but instead we find other things to
fill us. He used our cell phones just as
a way to connect with a majority of us.
What is it about our phones that fills our needs? We can connect to our friends, we can connect
to information, we can connect to music, we can connect to entertainment, and
we can disconnect from our very selves.
We can shut out our feelings, our concerns, our loneliness, our
stress. And we sense that our needs are
being filled, so we continue, in a way, escaping through our phones. Now, the issue of the opioid epidemic is much
more complicated, but if we all look within ourselves, we can probably all name
some sort of addiction that we have, and the spiritual healing that we are
called to examine is why? Why is my
phone so important to me, why does TV consume a lot of my time? And as we examine deeper meanings within ourselves
with filling ourselves, he asked us to think about what meaning does if fill
within you? And where might God be present
to meet that need in a fuller more spiritual way?
And so, as we as a Presbytery seek
to learn more about what breaks God’s heart, and where is there hope within the
pain, we have two healing stories right here in the very first chapter of the Gospel
of Mark. Jesus enters into his ministry
with authority and the gift of healing.
Jesus has called at least four disciples at this point, and we know that
they are in Capernaum and it is the Sabbath.
Jesus goes to the local synagogue and offered some teachings. During this time, a man cried out, a man, we
are told, with an unclean spirit. Was
this man a part of the congregation there?
Had this man been attending services each Sabbath, year after year,
burdened with this unclean spirit? How
long had this man been living a tormented life, attending services, but still
struggling with whatever ailment it was that he fought? But there he was, and in the presence of
Jesus he questions who Jesus is and what purpose Jesus might have within their
midst. Have you come to destroy us? What an interesting question. Have you come to destroy us? And then, the man with the unclean spirit
proclaims to know who Jesus is: You are
the Holy One of God. And in this
confrontation, between the man and Jesus, Jesus calls the unclean spirit out of
the man and he is made whole.
For those that are familiar with the
12 step program, as a person begins the process of becoming sober or clean, an important
first step is to be able to lean into a higher power. Addiction can have such a strong hold on us,
that without trusting that something greater than ourselves is there to support
us, to give us strength through the process, we just won’t be able to do it on
our own. This man encounters Jesus and asks: are you here to destroy us? Yes, and no, yes, to destroy what ever it is
that is oppressing you, that is holding you back, that is keeping you from
fully being all you can be, and no to destroying you. You are worthy, you are loved, you are what
God sent Christ into the world to immerse in love and healing and grace. In more evangelical circles you might here
the phrase: love the sinner hate the sin.
How about love the person and let us find a way to be present with him
or her in the process of seeking healing.
It is one thing to hate the sin, it is another thing to participate in
being present through the healing process.
Jesus does not send the man with the unclean spirit away and then say,
come back to me when you are healed. He
is involved in the process, he is the process, he is the love that overcomes
the pain.
Perhaps there is something within each
of us that needs to be destroyed in order for us to be freer, more fully whole,
more intuned with being the person God is calling us to be. Destroyed is such a harsh word, last week it
was the metaphor of the net, what nets might we need to let go of in order to
move forward. The man with the unclean
spirit had to let go of whatever it was that was truly holding him captive and
he could not do it alone. The disciples
drop their nets, they make the choice, we see a transition here of those that perhaps
have no choice. If his unclean spirit is
perhaps mental illness, this is a battle he truly cannot do on his own. He needs another to help him unburden himself
of this plight.
Rev. David Lose writes: we can read this scene as Mark’s signal that
Jesus has come to oppose all the forces that keep the children of God from the
abundant life God desires for all of us. And that message matters because it is
still the case: God wants the most for us from this life and stands in
opposition to anything that robs us of the joy and community and purpose for
which we were created. we can read this scene as Mark’s signal that
Jesus has come to oppose all the forces that keep the children of God from the
abundant life God desires for all of us. And that message matters because it is
still the case: God wants the most for us from this life and stands in
opposition to anything that robs us of the joy and community and purpose for
which we were created.
I included this second healing story to show the
transition out of the synagogue, out of the place we set aside as holy and as
the place of worship into the world around us.
The disciples leave the synagogue and go to the house of Simon and
Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed
with a fever and Jesus comes to her side, touches her, and heals her of her fever. The presence of God is not limited, it is not
limited to the places we dedicate for worship, God’s healing presence goes out
into our homes, into our work places, into the markets, and extends itself to
all people. As Jesus heals this woman of
her fever, there are no words spoken, no mention that your faith has made you
well, or go and sin no more. He met her
where she was, offered her his presence, and she was healed.
Some commentaries reflect that these two stories
are held together to show the importance of how Jesus was present with both the greater community as
well as offering care and compassion to his inner community. In today’s world, some churches are greatly involved
with being out in the world, caring for others that pastoral care within
themselves gets lost. While other
churches have become so inward focused ensuring that those within the
congregation are cared for that the outward ministries of the church no longer
exist. Here we have an illustration of
the importance of both and. We need to
care for our own, but we also must be out in the world around us.
For those within our midst that are seeking
healing, that are seeking wholeness, we can be a congregation that lifts up in
prayer those that are researching new trial treatments, we can lift up in
prayer doctors that listen and pursue tests and treatments that connect with
you, we can lift up in prayer the various 12 step programs that offer an
amazing community of support, we can lift up in prayer the support group that
meets here in our building offering support for those struggling with bi-polar
and other mental illnesses, we can be present, we can be the shoulders to hold
you strong, we can pray for courage in frightening times, we can cry with you
and celebrate with you. Being the body
of Christ can be messy and we can walk through any mess together. Amen.
