Conclusions or Confusions?

Mary Rodgers, March 13, 2005
Scripture: Mark 2:1-11
Romans 8:26-28

G. Scott Morris is a medical doctor in Memphis, Tennessee. He's also an ordained Methodist minister currently serving as an associate Pastor in a church. This is his view on healing: He says,

"healing is a daily process that teaches us to be fully in communion with God."

He sounds like a Pastor; doesn't he? He believes that

"healing must not be relegated to the doctors and the healthcare system, instead, the faith community should be expected to make healing a central issue in all matters of hope, love and compassion." (G. Scott Morris, I am the One Who Heals You, p xi)

This makes sense when you consider that the body that God has given each of us is more than an empty shell that holds our spirit. When our bodies are broken or diseased, then our spirits suffer, and when our spirits are bruised, our bodies are disturbed. The fact that the church should be expected to make healing a central issue also makes sense when we remember that the whole of the Biblical message is about healing—Healing the relationship between us and God, healing the relationship between each other. This kind of healing involves the whole of who we are, our minds, our bodies and our spirits. In theory I suspect that we would all agree with Dr. Morris. But do we agree in practice? Does what we do show what we believe?

We don't live in an environment of healing. Healthy living, good communication strategies, truthfulness and the need for a community are not the main focus on TV, in the newspaper or on the radio. We are encouraged to be independent, in control, to "pull ourselves up by our bootstraps," to "get over it," to act as if things are fine, rarely sharing the struggles of our lives. Sometimes this environment so permeates our lives that it can spill over into the church. Think about what your most common answer is when someone asks you "How are you?" I'm fine. I was doing small group training one time and told the group that "fine" often means: Feelings Inside Not Expressed.

How are you? Well, I have "Feelings Inside Not Expressed." I'm worried about my marriage. My mother is waiting for test results. My son has no interest in school or church. I'm FINE! Now I know sometimes it is neither the time nor the place to give a more truthful answer. But how often have we said "I'm fine" and really we're not.

Right here inside this church—A place where it should be ok not to be fine—Some of us are not fine. As one person put it:

"some of us are overwhelmed by something we have done, something awful, something that haunts us,

some of us are drowning in grief, rocking, aching bottomless grief,

some of us are filled with longing—longing for intimacy, for meaning, for something more, something better. It looks different for each of us but we all are in need of tenderness, of forgiveness, and love." (Amy Miracle, Are You Saved?, Sermon Excerpt, p. 4)

We are not fine. We all need healing.

We cannot talk about healing without also discussing suffering. The Bible addresses both. The gospel reading for today is just one of many stories that include both suffering and healing. If you take on the task exploring all of the healing stories of the Bible, you can come to many conclusions or as someone put it many "confusions." Especially if you are interested in how to be healed. What does one do to get the healing we so much need?

We don't know how long the man in our passage had been paralyzed. But we can assume that being unable to walk especially in that day and time caused a tremendous amount of suffering. His friends had heard that Jesus was in town. But they couldn't get their friend in the door to see him. So in MacGyver fashion they hoist their friend onto the roof and lower him on a mat through a hole they had cut in the roof. And this gets Jesus's attention. Actually what got his attention was the tremendous faith of those friends. He was so impressed by the faith of those friends that he made the man well. He made him whole. He healed him. "Your sins are forgiven, take up your mat and walk." One might conclude from this story that it is the faith of one's friends that initiates healing.

This is in contrast to the story of the hemorrhaging woman. She had exhausted all of her resources trying to stop her bleeding. Twelve years of bleeding and a social outcast because of it. No one would touch her because she was unclean. Can you imagine not being touched for 12 years? No handshake or hug? She knew Jesus was in town too. And she believed that, if she could just touch the hem of his cloak, she would be healed. Even though there were crowds of people around him, he felt it when the power left him. When she admitted that she was the one he said to her,"Daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace." Now this might lead us to conclude that it is our own faith that leads to healing. Is it the faith of our friends or our own faith?

Are these conclusions or confusions?

Both of these stories are in contrast to the stories where Jesus heals just because he wants to. The Leper on the side of the road said only one thing to Jesus as he passed by: "Jesus if you chose to, you could heal me." "I choose to," said Jesus. And the Leper is healed. So is it the faith of our friends, our own faith, or just because Jesus chooses it that we are healed?

Conclusions or confusions?

Sometimes people who aren't even a part of the faith bring about healing. The Centurion was a Roman officer. He didn't go to synagogue, nor was he circumcised. Yet he sent word to Jesus asking that He heal a beloved slave. Later he sent word to Jesus that though he was not worthy of having Him in his house, would Jesus still heal his slave. As you might have guessed, the slave was healed. So is it the faith of our friends, our own faith, because Jesus wants to, or for people not a part of the faith? What do we understand about healing?

Are these conclusions? Or confusions?

Many of the stories in the Bible focus on physical healing. Maybe that's because physical healing is easiest to see. When a paralyzed man gets up and walks, everyone can see evidence of that miracle. But there are just as many stories about spiritual and mental healings. Sometimes (I would say often) all types of healing are found in one story. The man who was tortured by his very own demons met Jesus. He was not in his right mind, he could not work, he tore at his clothes. He had to be chained in order that he not hurt himself or others. Jesus met the man and commanded the demons to leave. And they did. The man was healed. Back to himself, sitting at the feet of Jesus as he taught. The woman at the well who had five husbands, her sins were forgiven, she was made well, given new life, living water. The faith of others, our own faith, because Jesus chooses to, people who are not even a part of the faith, people who are, physical healing, spiritual healing, mental healings, forgiveness of sins? It is obvious that even the Gospel writers were uncertain about the true nature of Jesus' healing. So we might conclude the nature of Jesus's healing cannot be pinned down, formulated, or prescribed. It's as if the Gospel writers are saying: "It is what it is." Leaving much up to wonder and mystery.

Can any claims be made about the stories we've been exploring? If you go to the dictionary this is what you will find:

Healing: to make sound, well, or healthy again, it is to cure or get rid of disease, to free from grief, troubles or evils etc. to make up (a breach or differences), to reconcile.

With this definition we can conclude that Jesus was concerned with all the types of healing— physical, spiritual and mental. Jesus knew that when our bodies are broken or diseased, our spirits suffer; and when our spirits are bruised, our bodies are disturbed.

I read about a woman who was angry. Now we have been angry before, but this woman's anger was different. Her anger went on and on and she did not learn from it nor did this change. And then it wasn't plain anger anymore. It had become bitterness and resentment. "Arthritis of the Spirit" someone called it. Oh there were great benefits to the anger. It can feel so right to have someone in the world whom you believe is so wrong. It also helps to have someone to blame for your life not turning out the way it was supposed to. If you have ever hung on to resentment then you know what I'm talking about. You also know that this resentment deforms and pulls all of the sweetness out of life. (Barbara Brown Taylor, Arthritis of the Spirit, I am the One Who Heals You, p.50 ) Jesus knew that when our spirits are bruised, when we are bitter and resentful, that our bodies suffer, that the sweetness of life is sucked away.

Jesus came for this woman. And all who are "not fine." Or fine (Feelings Inside Not Expressed). He came for those whose friends have great faith, for those who have great faith of their own, for those who aren't even a part of the faith. He came to bring wholeness, physical, spiritual and mental wholeness. He came to forgive. Which means that every day we are forgiven and healed. Every day is a chance to start again. And even when we do know how to forgive or how to heal or to even pray as we ought, we have an advocate—the Spirit that intercedes on our behalf with sighs too deep for words.

In just a few minutes those who would like to come forward for anointing and/or prayers will be given the chance to do so. Although new to many Presbyterians, anointing with oil is an ancient practice. It is not a prescription as in "be anointed and be healed." It is a form of enacted prayer. Jesus often used everyday items from everyday life to speak about God. In many cases he personalized and gave depth to the familiar symbols of God. He brought new meaning to water and baptism and in the breaking of ordinary bread. The use of oil was another Old Testament practice that was reinterpreted in a new way. It been used several ways:

• to consecrate priests (Jesus himself was called the anointed Messiah)
• to signify cleansing and reconciliation
• as a healing balm for wounds
• to symbolize gladness

And it was used in the ministry of healing by the twelve disciples.

It is not a sacrament but a faith practice—a kind of prayer. The Book of Ordercalls it "Enacted prayer." To be anointed is to follow in the footsteps of the disciples. To come forward and have the sign of the cross made upon your forehead is to affirm the life giving, world healing, brokenness mending that comes only from the Spirit of God. It is an outward sign of hope that enables us even in the midst of suffering to truthfully be able to say: "I'm fine."

Thanks be to God

Amen

© Copyright, 2005, Rev. Mary Rodgers
All Rights Reserved.
Providence Presbyterian Church
Fairfax, Virginia