It remains a challenge for me to "post" my Wednesday sermons because I only use an outline and it is much more interactive sermon that Sunday mornings. But since it was requested that I try to post this, I'm doing my best to recreate what I said last night:
Healing
Mark 1:29-45
What things
did Jesus do in his ministry?
Teaching,
preaching and healing. Anything else?
Why
healing? Do you think it was to get
people’s attention so that they would pay attention to him? Do you think it was so people would like him,
come to listen to him? Was he trying to
be liked?
Jesus spent
a lot of time touching, caring for, listening to, and engaging people that
other people rejected. Those with
leprosy were outcasts. They couldn’t
live with their families and it was assumed that someone in their family or the
person themself, must have done something wrong and that is why this person was
sick. Disease was seen as
punishment. Some people still have this
thinking but they call it Karma. While some
have a different understanding of what Karma is (so I’m not knocking the idea
itself), others believe that while it may not be clear why some suffer and
others don’t, they must have done something to deserve it, either in this life
or in a past life. But Jesus first
confronted it with words like “the rain falls on the righteous and the
unrighteous.” and “He replied, “Do you think the suffering of these … proves
that they were more sinful than all the others?
No, I tell you!” But he went much
further than just declaring that it wasn’t their fault that they were
afflicted.
He touched,
he talked to and he healed any who were in need – the rejected, the outcast,
the condemned, the judged, the dismissed.
He touched them, included them, treated them as the incredible and
beautiful people that they were, regardless of how others treated them.
I have a
ten dollar bill here. If I mangle it and
squish it and stomp on it, if I make it dirty or even filthy, what is it then
worth? It is still worth ten
dollars. The appearance, the condition,
the outward attributes of this money don’t change it’s worth. Well, Jesus was able to see that this is the
same with people. He saw beyond the
outside of the bill. He saw beyond the
dirt, the scrounge, the disease. He saw
beyond the vocations, the judgments, the rejections. He saw beyond their mistakes, their sins,
their choices. He saw beyond all of that
to who they WERE. And who they were is
the same as who you are – you are a child of God. Worthy of infinite value.
I came
across an article in Sojourner’s Magazine that was talking about Henri
Nouwen. Henri Nouwen was an amazingly
gifted priest, professor and writer. I
love his books, I love the way he thinks.
He has a brilliant as well as deeply faithful and spiritual mind. But after teaching for many years, he was
invited to become pastor to a community of people with intellectual
disabilities. He soon discovered that
they didn’t care how brilliant he was, and all the wonderful things he had
written and taught just didn’t mean that much to them. He told the story in one of his books, Life of the Beloved, of one particular
woman, Janet who one day asked Henri for a blessing. When he tried to bless her with the sign of
the cross on her forehead she became very upset and said, “No, I want a real
blessing!” He didn’t know what to do
with that, but that evening at worship, he mentioned that Janet had asked for a
real blessing and she marched up to the front and gave him a huge hug. In that moment, he found the words that were
needed. “Janet, I want you to know that
you are God’s beloved daughter. You are
precious in God’s eyes. Your beautiful
smile, your kindness to the people in your house, and all the good things you
do show us what a beautiful human being you are. I know you feel a little low these days and that
there is some sadness in your heart, but I want you to remember who you are: a
very special person, deeply loved by God and all the people who are here with
you.” She gave him a satisfied smile,
but as Nouwen then turned away, he found himself bombarded with the others in
the community also asking for blessings.
Henri gave each a hug and affirmation that they are loved as they
are. And Henri walked away a changed
man.
I am
reminded of this clip. The man who did
this did one for men as well, but I’m just including the one for the women
here:
This is a
beautiful sentiment. But the reality is
that it is a different thing when that kind of blessing comes from someone who
really knows you and really loves you, when the blessing is genuine because it
is real. One of our lines that we sing
is “This is what I’m sure of, I can only show love When I really know how loved
I am. When it overtakes me, Then it animates me, Flowing from my heart into my
hands.”
Jesus not
only healed bodies of the outcast, of the oppressed, of the disadvantaged, of
the physically broken. He healed their
souls by showing them, reminding them, acting in a way that said beyond a doubt
that they were loved and valued, that they were worthy, that God still saw them
as more important and beautiful than anything they could imagine. We are invited to do the same. As we are called to follow, we heal others by
showing them how loved they are. Go into
the world, affirming, uplifting, and healing one another. Amen.
