Monday, January 29, 2018

Mark 1: Sermon on healing


                                                              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.  

No comments:

Post a Comment