Scripture Text:
Sermon:
Think back with me to two Sundays ago- when Jesus called Simon Peter and Andrew, and James and John. He called them to leave their boats and nets and help him fish for people. They were the first disciples of Jesus. In last Sunday’s Gospel, they went from the lakeshore to the city of Capernaum, where Jesus taught with such authority that the people were astounded. They were even more astounded when Jesus was accosted by a man possessed by an unclean spirit. Jesus with a simple command, “Be silent and come out of him!” cast the demon out- and word began to spread in Galilee. Someone is among us who teaches with authority- someone even the unclean spirits obey.
These stories are not unconnected- they come one right after the other in the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel. And in line, today’s reading comes next- still in the very first chapter. All of these three weeks have happened at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry- right out of the gate.
We see private and public spheres of Jesus’ work in this reading. First, with his disciples, he comes to the home of Simon Peter and Andrew. There he meets Simon’s mother-in-law who is in bed with fever. He lifts her from the bed, the fever departs, and she serves them. It sounds pretty simple- but this fever is probably a pretty severe illness, the kind that could be fatal if nothing is done. She receives a gift from Jesus- the gift of his healing touch. In return, she gives a response of gratitude by serving Jesus and his disciples. It’s not just serving them like a maid or a butler. It’s an offering of hospitality. Relationships are built and nurtured among Jesus and the disciples. Simon’s mother-in-law serves Jesus and the disciples, and the conversations begin. This tiny community, this fledgling band that consists just of a leader and four disciples has just grown by one. This un-named woman fosters the shared life these followers and their leader. She builds them up, and becomes one of their number. She is the first to play the role of deacon, the servant to the Church. And she does it because she is grateful for what Jesus has done to restore her life.
But Jesus and his followers are not only there to be fostered and built up for their own sake. Their community is to turn outward- whether they like it or not. Remember- word has been spreading that someone is in town who heals and cleanses. So the crowds come to the door- not just the sick and the possessed but the whole city. Everyone in town knows there is something that Jesus has to offer.
Thus far in Mark’s Gospel, we have seen Jesus teaching and healing. And it’s important to realize these are not separate tasks for Jesus. They are part of one and the same ministry. So it is with the Church- our work is not just talking about Jesus- it is not just telling people about Jesus. It is also a work of healing. It is a work of lives renewed and restored.
We come here not because we are strong people with our lives completely put together and all our ducks in a row, so that we can show other people how to live lives as perfect as our own. We come here because we are broken- we come because we are torn by loss or grief- we come because we need a kind of healing we can only get here. And once we find that wholeness and restoration, we do what Simon Peter’s mother-in-law did- we respond in gratitude, serving each other, serving others, giving ourselves to the life of this community of healing.
It’s worth looking ahead from chapter one to chapter three. In my study bible, it’s the Very Next Page that Jesus is ready to expand this ministry. He will not hold these tasks all to himself. He shares the load- he takes his band which has grown to at least twelve disciples- and he appoints those twelve we know so well, and commissions them to go out ahead of him. He gives them the authority to preach the message and cast out demons. In giving this authority to them, he gives it to us. This is the ministry of the Church to this very day.
Hundreds of years ago doctors were rare and the practice of medicine was mostly guesswork. If you got sick, chances are you would probably die. And in time, the healing rites of the Church, with laying-on of hands and anointing with oil, became associated only with deathly illness. If you were anointed, it was because you were on your deathbed. And the words that came to be used by the late Middle Ages presumed this- the language of healing and restoration went away and the rite became mostly about preparing to die in a state of grace.
But in recent decades we have renewed our understanding of the nature of the Church’s healing ministry. We have returned to the ancient and early sense that Anointing of the Sick is a powerful and effective prayer for grace in any time of illness throughout our lives. It’s not a promise of a miracle cure- and it’s not the manipulative and dramatic showmanship that you sometimes see the TV preachers doing. As a Sacramental Rite, the Anointing of the Sick conveys grace- it brings God’s mercies into our life through a visible and palpable action. It unites our suffering to the suffering of Christ on the cross. It gives us strength and courage to endure our sufferings. When our sickness makes us too ill to confess our sins, it conveys the forgiveness we need. And if it is a help to our salvation, it brings the restoration of our health, in God’s time.
And more and more the Church is waking up to the realization that it is part of the core of what we do. For Jesus, healing and teaching were one and the same- and for us, too, these rites should not be at the edge of our ministry, but right in the center of our common life.
Many of you have received the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick- some of you I have visited at home or in the Hospital. Some of you have come to my office, and sometimes I have anointed the sick after the Sunday Service, at the altar rail with a loved one or a few gathered around. But think back to the reading today- the sick came to Jesus for his healing touch. But it was not just the sick- it was the whole town. Everyone came together, in public, to be one community as the grace of Jesus’ ministry touched all of them.
Our public ministry of healing has been limited to Wednesday evening services. These times of prayer and sacrament have been sweet moments of grace and worship. But they have been attended only by a few, and it is time for us to try a new step. So beginning next Sunday, we will offer the Rite of Prayers for Healing and Anointing of the Sick as a part of our Sunday worship. Every six to eight weeks, we will make this part of our service. All who suffer from any ailment or sickness of body, mind, or spirit, all who feel the need for the healing touch of God’s grace in their lives, will be invited to come forward. Those who do not come forward will be invited to join in prayer and song for the healing of those in need.
When I was in seminary we had Eucharist every day, and every other Wednesday was the healing service. I would walk in on those Wednesdays with the sure conviction that I was fine, thank you very much. I did not need any healing. I would sit down with my tough exterior on, intending to wait until the healing was over, so I could receive communion. And just about every time, by the end of it, I would be up at the front kneeling down to receive the touch and the anointing. Each time it would hit me again- sometimes you just need to let your guard down, open yourself to the moment, and let God and the Church take care of you. Sometimes you have to open yourself and be ready to receive the love and mercy of God.
Of course, sometimes some of you will have need of this holy sacrament, but will want a measure of privacy about it- and I will always continue to pray with and anoint the sick in a variety of ways, with many present, and with no others present- in church, at home, in offices and hospital rooms and wherever there is need. But like all the sacraments, this rite is fundamentally an experience we share- it will always find its fullest expression in community, and in the gathered presence of God’s people. And this parish, like all Christian communities, should be firmly grounded in the inseparable bond between the teaching of the truth of the Gospel, and the healing and wholeness that truth brings into every human life.