Meditation for January 10, 2007

From The Rev. Peter Munson

Mark 1:29-45

 

God Is In The Healing Business

 

"Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once.  He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up.  Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.  That evening at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.  And the whole city gathered around the door.  And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons... In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed... And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.  A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, 'If you choose, you can make me clean.' Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, 'I do choose.  Be made clean!'  Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean..." (Mark 1:30-35, 39-42)

 

We offer healing services at St. Ambrose every Tuesday at 12:15.  We usually use the readings for that particular day.  If it is a day commemorating a particular saint, we might use those readings.  In other words, I don't look up specific healing passages in the Bible and read those for the healing service.  And yet, it is fascinating to see how often there is a Bible reading that has healing at the very center of it.  Today's reading from Mark is a good example.  Within a section of chapter 1 that is 17 verses long, almost all of it is about Jesus bringing healing to others - either physical healing, or spiritual healing (i.e., healing of those with demons).

 

Probably it should not surprise us how often these healing passages come up, because God is in the healing business.  Healing and salvation are related words and related concepts, and healing is a hallmark of God's kingdom coming.  That kingdom has come with the coming of Jesus.  When John the Baptist was in prison and sent messengers to Jesus, wondering if he was the Messiah, Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them." (Matthew 11:4-5)  As Jesus' answer suggests, healing takes different forms.  There is physical healing, obviously.  There is the ultimate healing - folks being brought back from the dead.  Think Lazarus, if you will.  But Lazarus also died again.  There is the bigger promise of eternal life, given to us through Jesus' resurrection - never to die again!  And in between physical healings and eternal life, there are lots of other types of healings.  There are spiritual healings, healings of relationships, healings from old, sinful patterns (where some new and good habit comes to take the place of the sinful thing that was hindering us).  There is the healing that comes when we hear good news preached to us, and our lives our changed as a result of responding to the message.  We can also grow in faith, and grow in our capacity to love.  Maybe it's a stretch, but I think it's fair to think of these as aspects of healing, too.

 

The point is that all of these types of healing are initiated by God.  God is the source of each one.  God is a healer because God, in God's very essence, is loving.  God, in his love, wants us to be well, wants us to be whole, wants us to grow and deepen our relationships with Him and with other people.

 

The other point, of course, is that we are invited to participate in this healing business of God - on two levels, really.  First, we must be open to how God might want to heal us.  We can and should pray for physical healing, if that is a need we have.  But that is just the beginning, really.  In any way that we are not whole, we have the opportunity to take those parts of our lives to God, and say, "Lord, have mercy.  I need you.  My relationships are not what they should be.  Or - I keep messing up in this area of my life, repeating the same destructive pattern.  I keep doing the things I don't want to do, and it is killing me.  I need your help."  And then we must be open to how the healing might come to us from God.  It might come to us from those in various healing professions - doctors, nurses, chiropractors, therapists, counselors, etc.  It might come to us through people praying for us in church.  It might come to us through a process of confession and being forgiven by God - through a process of spiritual healing.  It might come to us through death.  That is, if we are coming to the end of our lives, and we are in a lot of pain and suffering, that may be the final release for us, the final way that God brings us healing - death comes, so that we can be set free.  Healing can come to us in any number of ways, because God is God, and God brings healing in all sorts of ways.  BUT WE MUST BE OPEN TO RECEIVING IT.

 

The other point with respect to our participating in the healing business of God - one we must not forget - is that God uses us to be instruments of His healing.  And as God's instruments of healing, we can be used in all sorts of ways.  Have you ever been listened to in such a way that it was healing?  We can be that kind of listener for others.  Have you ever been so loved by another person that it was a healing experience?  We can love others in that way, too.  Some of you are in the healing professions, and can offer healing in that way.  Some of you have gifts in being able to pray for others, in ways that bring healing.  Some of you are wonderful at bringing a meal to someone at just the right time.  Others of you bring an encouraging word to someone, lifting someone's spirits and bringing a new outlook and rekindled hope, just when it was most needed.  There are all sorts of ways that God can use you to be an instrument of His healing.  Again, we must be open to participating in God's healing plans.  God uses us to usher in His kingdom, if we are willing.

 

Let us give thanks to God that He is in the healing business.  Let us be thankful for the different ways in which we have experienced that healing, and let us be thankful that God uses us to bring healing to others.