The Rev. Betsy Anderson February 8, 2009 Mk 1:29-39 1Cor 9:16-23 Our community has indeed had a rough week with the tragic losses of Nick Rosser and Curt Massey. Today s lessons seem so perfect for us as we grasp on to our spiritual grounding in order to deal with all of this. The Old Testament story of the Shunammite woman s son rings so true for these families, and for all of us, I think. A child has died. A mother and father don t know what to do; their faith in God leads them to a Holy prophet, who in God s name has the power to heal the child; sadly in our case, not the same kind of healing. But this story is really not so much about this child s healing as it is about God s ultimate power over everything a power revealed even more profoundly in Jesus--and so I would like us to take a look at the New Testament lessons because I think they take us where we really need to go. Let s put ourselves in today s gospel story. The action takes place on the sabbath, after Jesus had been teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. I wonder what would it be like to have heard him teach? To experience his extraordinary authority as he reflected on the scriptures? Mark tells us, as we heard last week, that during the service he called a demon out of a man who was convulsing...can you imagine something like that happening in the chapel over here during our healing prayers? What would it be like to have followed Jesus and his disciples, Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John from the synagogue where this had just happened to Simon Peter s house, and to watch him reach down to Simon s feverish mother-in-law and lift her up by the hand out of her bed? What would it be like to see her sick body healed? What would it be like to be with Jesus when the whole town found him at Simon Peter s house and brought all who were sick to him to be healed? That must have been a long night! What would it be like to have joined Simon and come upon Jesus in prayer in a deserted place? What would it be like to follow him from town to town, watching him teach and heal as he proclaimed God s kingdom to be here, in him? What would it be like to be looked in the eye by Jesus and asked to follow him? From these earliest experiences, the church has come to know Jesus power to heal. We, too, come to this place for healing as sometimes long lines of people wait for healing prayer in our own chapel during communion. What kind of healing are we looking for when we do that? Each of us likely 1
brings something different. I know that when I have asked for prayers of healing, I have been looking for my body to heal. Or I have been looking for the healing of someone I love. Or I may be looking for a healing of the hardness in my heart or spirit that keeps me from loving as I want. Or I am looking for healing strength in the midst of painful grief or loss. I think I want to be made whole when I come for healing prayer, and these things are standing in the way. It is interesting how the church responds. One of the prayers for healing in the prayerbook calls upon our Lord to sustain us with his presence, to drive away all sickness of body and spirit, and to give us that victory of life and peace which will enable us to serve him both now and evermore. Another prays for forgiveness of sins, release from suffering, restoration to wholeness and strength, deliverance from all evil, preservation of all goodness, and the gift of everlasting life. Notice they do not pray for a magical zap, although that sometimes can happen. Instead they pray for a healing that is intended to be a deep and lasting encounter with Jesus eternal and life-giving presence. We see how this works in today s New Testament passages. The first example is with Simon Peter s mother-in-law. What happened to her when Jesus lifted her out of bed and the fever left her? We are told that she began to serve them dinner. Let s not get hung up in a modern outrage that she resumed an unfair submissive role. Looking more deeply, we see that her healing led her to reach out to others in gratitude. She was not content to merely bask in her newfound health. From his letter to the Corinthians, we see that St. Paul would get this message another way. We recall Paul had been a prominent Jewish rabbi, and a zealous persecutor of Jesus earliest followers. In our Gospel story, we might have found him following Jesus as he went to Simon s mother-inlaw s house in order to condemn him for violating the sabbath by healing her and all the people that day. Later on when Paul was in route to Damascus to bring Jesus followers back to Jerusalem for punishment, he was blinded when Jesus appeared to him on the road, and called him to stop his persecution-- but he, Paul, was healed...and then sent out to proclaim Jesus message throughout the non-jewish Mediterranean world. Like Paul, through Jesus own death and resurrection power, we Christians are also given the capacity to receive the Christ s healing-- intended not only for ourselves, but for the good of the whole world. As we experience the new healing power of God s unconditional love...as our lives are put back together by the experience that the Risen Christ is real and alive and working to heal our broken selves...as our hearts are softened, our bodies strengthened, as we realize that we have nothing to really fear except 2
separation from God--as these things happen, we may be led to a new acceptance, a new self love...and a new love for others. As it matures, this love ultimately can no longer accept unfairmess. It can no longer accept indifference to others need. It can no longer accept injustice in any form. We are finally free from self-absorbtion. We are free to embrace God s kingdom. This is Jesus deep healing...it is not a magical zap. It is the larger point of God s ultimate power over life and death in the healing of the Shunammite woman s son God s ultimate miracle is the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. Everything is different because of it. I well remember Carol Anderson, the Rector of All Saints, Beverly Hills, once talking about an experience her former New York parish had when they decided to take Jesus healing power seriously. She talked about how the parish decided it was going to pray for two people who were terminally sick one a young boy, and one an older woman who was a brand new grandmother. They put up 2 charts up in the parish hall to track both people s medical progress. They prayed their hearts out. They embraced both with open arms took food to them, helped them get to doctor s appointments, visited them, embraced them as they came to church. Gradually the young boy began to improve, and he miraculously survived. They were ecstatic the whole congregation had been involved, and all felt his healing. The older woman was not able to get better. Finally, toward the end of her illness, she got up in church one day and said: I am so grateful for all that has happened to me here. Yes, I would like to see my grandchild grow up, and I am sorry to be leaving her behind. But the real healing for me has been the development of my personal relationship with Jesus Christ I have come to believe from the depths of my heart that he is my God, that he is alive, and that with him, everything will be more than ok. I have been truly healed. The parish was changed forever. This is the deep healing that I suspect we all really come here for, whether we realize it or not. It is not a quick zap and it is our prayer for the Rossers and the Masseys and for our entire community-- for it is this healing that enables us to sing with integrity in the darkest times, along with Julian of Norwich: All shall be well; all shall be well; all manner of things shall be very well. Amen. The Lessons 2 Kings 4:(8-17)18-21(22-31)32-37 3
[One day Elisha was passing through Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to have a meal. So whenever he passed that way, he would stop there for a meal. She said to her husband, "Look, I am sure that this man who regularly passes our way is a holy man of God. Let us make a small roof chamber with walls, and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that he can stay there whenever he comes to us." One day when he came there, he went up to the chamber and lay down there. He said to his servant Gehazi, "Call the Shunammite woman." When he had called her, she stood before him. He said to him, "Say to her, Since you have taken all this trouble for us, what may be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?" She answered, "I live among my own people." He said, "What then may be done for her?" Gehazi answered, "Well, she has no son, and her husband is old." He said, "Call her." When he had called her, she stood at the door. He said, "At this season, in due time, you shall embrace a son." She replied, "No, my lord, O man of God; do not deceive your servant." The woman conceived and bore a son at that season, in due time, as Elisha had declared to her.] When the child was older, he went out one day to his father among the reapers. He complained to his father, "Oh, my head, my head!" The father said to his servant, "Carry him to his mother." He carried him and brought him to his mother; the child sat on her lap until noon, and he died. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, closed the door on him, and left. [Then she called to her husband, and said, "Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so that I may quickly go to the man of God and come back again." He said, "Why go to him today? It is neither new moon nor sabbath." She said, "It will be all right." Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, "Urge the animal on; do not hold back for me unless I tell you." So she set out, and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehazi his servant, "Look, there is the Shunammite woman; run at once to meet her, and say to her, Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is the child all right?" She answered, "It is all right." When she came to the man of God at the mountain, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi approached to push her away. But the man of God said, "Let her alone, for she is in bitter distress; the LORD has hidden it 4
from me and has not told me." Then she said, "Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, Do not mislead me?" He said to Gehazi, "Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go. If you meet anyone, give no greeting, and if anyone greets you, do not answer; and lay my staff on the face of the child." Then the mother of the child said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave without you." So he rose up and followed her. Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. He came back to meet him and told him, "The child has not awakened."] When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. So he went in and closed the door on the two of them, and prayed to the LORD. Then he got up on the bed and lay upon the child, putting his mouth upon his mouth, his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands; and while he lay bent over him, the flesh of the child became warm. He got down, walked once to and fro in the room, then got up again and bent over him; the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunammite woman." So he called her. When she came to him, he said, "Take your son." She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground; then she took her son and left. The Epistle 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel. For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have 5
become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings. The Gospel Mark 1:29-39 Jesus left the synagogue at Capernaum, and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 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 was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you." He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do." And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons. 6