2 Kings 4:(8-17)18-21(22-31)32-37
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Mark 1:29-39
Psalm 142
A married woman, Mary, a friend of our family, was scheduled for radical surgery on a Tuesday morning. A biopsy had revealed a malignant tumor in her left breast. On the Friday preceding her operation, she attended a healing service at her church. She had never gone to one but decided she needed this for herself.
During the service she felt a sensation "like electricity" streak across her chest, then center for an instant in her left breast. When she got up from the altar rail, she related how "never in my life have I had such a feeling of indescribable joy and well being. I knew that something wonderful had happened to me. My friend said that I had been healed but just then it didn't seem to matter whether I had been physically cured or not."
Simon's mother-in-law in the Gospel you just heard read was also sick and in bed with a fever. They told Jesus about her. He approached, grasped her hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her and she began to serve them. The simplicity and shortness of this account, devoid of any frills, again accentuates Jesus' authority. However, if we pay attention, we understand that this is not just an intervention, normal after all, on Jesus' part. Since he had the necessary power whey wouldn't he use it for the benefit of this woman who is receiving him into her house and who must be embarrassed not to be able, because of her illness, to be hospitable and be a good hostess.
Finally, we read that Simon's mother-in-law freed from her fever immediately resumed her duties as hostess and "she began to serve them." The cure was complete but is Mark suggesting something more?
Once standing, the baptized become the servants of their sisters and brothers in the ecclesial community, after the example of Jesus, who came not to "be served but to serve." We remember, too, that after multiplying loaves and fishes, Jesus tells his disciples to serve this newly found food to the people who all eat to their hearts content. We are called to be servants of one another!
We then find Jesus in the midst of a crowd. At sundown, the Sabbath ends. "They brought all to him who were sick or possessed with demons." And he cued many who were sick. Again, Mark shows us that nothing resists Jesus' power and authority.
After he cast out many demons, Jesus disappeared in the very early morning. He went to be alone to pray.
Prayer is the source of Christ's healing power. Prayer was a priority in Christ's life and it needs to be a priority in our lives as well. Prayer is the highest activity of the mind and spirit. Prayer is the opening of our souls to the source of a sustained life in the spirit.
If prayer was necessary for Jesus, it is all the more so for us. If we don't spend some time each day in prayer and reflection, how can we come to know Christ and ourselves on a higher plain and how can we nourish our souls and strengthen our spiritual lives?
Our friend told her husband later that evening when she got home from the healing service what had happened during the healing service and he just roared with laughter. His laughter quickly ended when he looked for the lump and it wasn't there.
The next morning the couple went to the doctor who after a very thorough examination could find no evidence of any growth. He was dumbfounded!
He suggested she go to the St. Cloud Hospital and have another biopsy. The report came back negative.
There are countless such stories and perhaps this kind of healing has happened to you or one of your relatives or friends. We may not always be healed of every disease or pain but Christ's healing love can touch us in so many other ways. (Discuss Bill Moyers series on healing and the Episcopal Healing Foundation).
After the disciples found Jesus, they wanted him to go to the people. He wanted to move on and go out to neighboring towns. "Let us go on to the neighboring towns so that I may proclaim the message there also, for this is what I came out to do."
It's not enough for us to stay insular and isolated in our beautiful church building and now "new" parish hall. We need to go out into Little Falls and beyond and share Christ's healing powers and message of hope to others. It's not enough for us just to have a healing service within our Eucharistic liturgy! We need to share and tell the Good News of Jesus Christ to all with whom we come in contact.
Are you up for the challenge? How is Christ empowering you to share his message of healing and compassion? Who are you going to reach and touch? Your touch, your caring in this most broken world, just might be the most healing gift that a person has ever received. Do it today, do it this week--your life will be the richer for it and so will you be closer to your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Amen.