A Call to Healing
St. Paul’s United Methodist Church
Mark 1:21-34, January 29, 2006, Rev. Lyle Hamilton
When you were growing up, did you ever play the game “pig-pile”?
I remember playing it as a child. It usually started with one of the neighborhood kids tackling another, and then shouting, “PIG PILE!!”
And the next thing you knew, fourteen smelly little kids were piling on, forming a massive pig pile. Everyone would be laughing and tickling each other. Invariably, however, pig pile was not as pleasurable for the kid on the bottom of the pile as it was for the others piled on top of him.
Pig pile!
I find this to be a good analogy for some of our daily living experiences. You know what I’m talking about, because in one way or another we have all been there at one time or another. There is no one listening to my voice who has not experienced those times when any of a variety of the heartaches, heartbreaks, and heartburn of life all piled on top of you like a pig pile.
One of the reasons I continue to be a follower of Jesus is because our Christian faith understands this. Our faith does not pretend that life is anything more than life . . . real life . . . true life . . . with all its joys and sorrows . . . with all its triumphs and tragedies, warts and all.
And into the middle of our very real and sometimes overwhelming human experience, Jesus comes (again and again) and invites us to walk with him. And what an amazing gift Jesus offers us, and through us to others. Jesus offers the gift of healing and renewal.
In our text from the Gospel of Mark this morning, we find ourselves at the very beginning stages of Jesus’ public ministry. Mark is trying to show us some of the reasons the Good News about Jesus really is Good News! So in his very first appearance at a synagogue service in Capernaum – we are told not about the sermon, not about the anthem, not about the scriptures or the prayers. We are told that Jesus exorcised evil from the life of a man possessed by a presence and power beyond his control. Jesus healed a person who is overwhelmed by a life of darkness and pain.
Then, in the next scene, Jesus goes with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. When they arrive, they discover that Simon’s mother-in-law is ill with a fever. And Jesus made her well.
Then, in the last scene of our text today: “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, . . .” (NRSV)
What do you suppose the author of the Gospel of Mark is trying to tell us here?
Well, Biblical scholars will rightly point out that these healing stories give witness to Jesus’ ability to channel the healing power of a loving God into the midst of a hurting humanity.
I think, however, that Mark is showing us something more here. He is demonstrating how important it was to Jesus that among the very first lessons his disciples had to learn about this new Way was that it is first and foremost about the healing of people in need.
Wouldn’t our culture, wouldn’t the Christian churches today be able to more effectively deal with the tragic abuse, neglect, and abandonment of so many of our nation’s children if more of our energy and resources were directed toward healing our children? Wouldn’t the Christian churches today have more influence in the world if they spent less time condemning those persons with different faith histories and understanding, and more time embodying and offering healing people in need? Wouldn’t the Christian churches today bring a more powerful and hospitable redemptive presence to more people if it did a little less preaching and a lot more reaching out with healing hands and hearts to families in trouble, to the young and vulnerable ones, to the hurt and dispossessed ones, and to the marginalized and poverty stricken people of our nation and the world?
Our Christian faith is a healing faith at it’s core and all of the followers of Jesus are first and foremost called to be instruments of healing. Isn’t that a wonderful thought? YOU are a healer! So the next time someone asks you why it is you’re a follower of Jesus, don’t give them a theological, spiritualized, or Biblical quote answer. Instead, tell them you follow Jesus because you believe in healing, for yourself and others. And when they ask you what Christians do, tell them the truth. Christian communities love and heal all people in need: all of the wounded and scarred children, youth, and adults, here in Helena, and around the world. You’ll be surprised how many people will be intrigued and interested in becoming Christians themselves, if they can see the joy and healing hope in you and me, and believe that it really is true!
Now not many of us think of ourselves as flashy religious healers, like those on radio and t.v.. Thank goodness! Jesus didn’t see himself that way either. Our model for healing is found in the Biblical portrayal of the life of Jesus himself; and if you look at Jesus’ life, you can begin to see a series of postures that make it possible for us to become healers ourselves.
In the spring of 1989, I suffered a cardiac arrest, and lost consciousness, during a Sunday morning worship service at First United Methodist Church in Missoula, MT. My personal internist, Dr. Bill Reynolds, and two nurses were in worship that morning and helped me out of the sanctuary into a side room to engage CPR until the E.M.T.‘s could arrive. The CPR was short-lived, however, as I immediately regained consciousness with the first thump on my chest. I ended up at St. Patrick’s Hospital, and after several days of diagnostic examination, it was determined that I had in fact had an arterial spasm, reason unknown. My cardiac specialist, Dr. Joseph Knapp, later told me that I was the third person that the Stanford Medical Center in California had in their computer data base with the particular symptoms I manifested. Talk about God’s Providence, in being at the right place at the right time!
In the end, Dr. Knapp put me on some medication, and helped me work out a regimen of diet and exercise to go with it. I asked if there wasn’t some action, perhaps even a surgical procedure that might “fix it” permanently, and he said that there was a possibility that might could happen. However, he then sat down on the edge of my hospital bed and very patiently explained to me why it is always better to proceed with the least invasive medical protocol, the most conservative response, always leaving another option if the first efforts proved less than satisfactory. Joe ended his teaching moment with me by saying, “There are good reasons why the first principle of the Hippocratic Oath is ‘First, Do No Harm.’”
First, do no harm. All the physicians in our midst know all about that.
And that is the first posture of Christian healing. It is the commitment that you and I make in our faith journey with Jesus, that we will not intentionally do harm to others, any others . . . even those we do not like or trust.
If all of us who are followers of Christ would get up each morning and begin our day by asking God for the strength this day to do no harm – by thought, word, or deed – to anyone or anything, this world would be a far more wonderful place! Just for that one healing posture alone!
First, do no harm. That’s the first posture of Christian healers.
The second posture is that of inserting ourselves into the woundedness of others.
I love the part of Mark’s reading that tells us that, after sundown, they brought to Jesus all the sick and possessed, and he healed many. You do understand who these people were, don’t you? These were the folks who were not normally welcome in polite company, not even welcome in the synagogue. Because of their physical illnesses and disabilities, their emotional weaknesses, their perceived personal shortcomings, the fact that they were wounded and scarred, or the fact that they were the invisible ones in society (the children, the women, or the elderly), they were considered outcast and unworthy of attention.
But where even the religious institution wouldn’t go, Jesus did go. He stepped right into the middle of their injuries and illnesses; he accepted them as they were, and became a source of healing for them.
You know, I think this is one of the most distinctive things about the Christian Way. We are called to recognize that there is a cruel underside to life where people hurt and suffer, and where people cause pain and suffering for others. In the face of this, we are called to be the ones to bring healing as we embrace the suffering and those enduring it! However, even we Christian folk often miss that point!
I’m reminded of an old folk tale about a man who fell into a pit and couldn’t get himself out. While he was thus hurt and confined, a series of people came by, each one representing a common religious view:
The first was a person whose religion was all about love. “I feel your pain,” the man said… as he walked by the pit. Next came a person whose religion was all about sin and judgment. “Only bad people fall into pits!” she said… as she sauntered by. A Presbyterian came by and noted that the man must have been predestined to fall into that pit. And then came a Methodist who was pretty sure it happened because the man had backslidden from his faith. Next came the person so very aware of the power of God in his own life, “I was in a pit, too – deeper than the one you’re in - and God got me out!” he said… as he went on his way. And then came a group of folks from a church where they believe you can control reality with your thoughts. “The pit is only in your mind!” they promised the man stuck in the pit. A positive-thinking Unitarian said, “Things will get better!, and a negative-thinking Baptist said, “Things will get worse!”
Then Jesus came by and, seeing the man, reached down and took him by the hand and lifted him out of the pit.
The second posture of healing is inserting ourselves as helpers into the wounds of others.
Not too long ago, an acquaintance of mine was telling me about her cancer treatment. You know, it’s an amazing thing. She had to take a pill some time in advance of having radiation treatments. What the pill did was release a chemical that goes directly to the tumor and makes it visible to the radiation that follows. Now that’s a parable of Christian healing!
In a sense, you and I are called to become the chemical agents that provide a point of physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual contact for God in the midst of the world’s injuries and woundedness. Our talented staff at Intermountain Children’s Home know and live this every day with the fragile and damaged children entrusted to our care. Our hands on treatment staff are taught from the very beginning that, when they become involved in a child’s life as a caregiver (as a substitute parent), God who is the caregiver can use their very relational, adult to child presence as a context for helping the child move toward healing (regardless of the neglect, abuse, or abandonment trauma that child has suffered in the early years of life).
Sometimes healing is difficult work. But when we insert ourselves into the wounds of others, and make ourselves available for God to use, wonderful things can happen!
I’ll bet there are some people in your life right now who need a healing presence with them. They’re in trouble. They’re facing a conflicted relationship . . . An illness . . . uncertainties . . . A personal loss . . . Uncertainty about what to do . . . A moral failure. Can we not reach out and be “a friend in need, so we can be a friend, indeed”?
I’ll bet there are young children right here in Helena who have been so mistreated by the very adults who should have taken care of them, protected them, provided for them, and appropriately played with them and loved them. . . that they do not, cannot, believe that they have any worth at all. The pain of their betrayal and mistreatment is just too great. These precious children are in your neighborhoods, and the kindergartens and schools your own children attend.
I’ll bet there are couples or families here who might be feeling a call of God to open their hearts and homes to a child who needs a permanent family to be a part of. If so, I invite you to call the Intermountain Children’s Home and ask for the PATH Department, or call the St. Paul’s church office and the staff will put you in touch with us. We will be honored to assist you in answering God’s call. Remember, there are many ways to be instruments of grace and healing.
Jesus reached out his hand, and lifted the man or woman, perhaps the child or family, out of the pit.
Do no harm. Insert yourself into the wound as a helper and healer. Offer the presence of Christ to others, through the day-to-day manner of your living.
There is a great children’s song that’s entitled, “All God’s Creatures Got a Place in the Choir.” The refrain is as follows: ”All God’s creatures got a place in the choir, some sing low and some sing higher. Some sing out loud on a telephone wire and some just clap their hands or paws or anything they’ve got.”
Jesus loved people. He never rejected anyone out of hand. He tried to help (and heal) everyone who‘s life journey crossed his. The message is true, and worthy of being lived out – “All God’s creatures got a place in the choir.” There is room for everyone in God’s redemptive community of faith and hope.
Do no harm. Go into the injury as a source of help and hope. Share the presence of Christ in simple ways.
We followers of Christ are called to be healers in the world. This is our number one job.
And God always needs more healers!
Can I enlist you in the cause with me? Will you join me to go forth and model your life after the healing presence of Jesus? The world around you awaits your answer.
