Mark 1:29-39WhenI became ill as a kid, my sister, brother, and I went to a country doctor, whowhen we really got sick, sometimes came to the house to care for us. I remember once when I was about six or sevenyears old, I got the flu bug so bad, I could barely lift my head off thepillow. My Dad knew how sick I was thatday and so he said to me, "It looks like I'm going to have to call Ole DocBrown." . I knew what that meant. Although I would soon be on the road to recovery, it also meant that Iwould soon be on the receiving end of a pinicillin shot. Now if you have ever had this injectionbefore, you know how painful it can be, and you also know in what part of theanatomy it was usually given. I rememberbeing unable to sit for days after that visit from Ole Doc Brown. Sometimes when it comes to our health, wehave to become a bit vulnerable in order to have it restored. Sometimes healing comes to us not only in theform of physical restoration, but it can occur in spiritual renewal and rebirthat the same time.Throughouthis ministry, Jesus not only witnessed, but also experienced the irony of thehuman condition. Scripture records manytimes when Jesus met people who were suffering from all types of disorders andailments. “He came and took her by thehand and lifted her up. Then the feverleft her, and she began to serve them” (Mark 1:31). From blindness, to withered hands, to lamefeet, to profuse bleeding, to even a fever like the one which Peter’smother-in-law suffered, Jesus’ ministry was one of recognizing and namingillness, and with divine power, he restored people to health. Jesus’ miraculous work did not merely resultin a return to strength and vigor in the physical situation of his followers,but through this work, the spiritual health of the individual was restored aswell.
Spiritual and Physical well-being are intimatelyconnected. Science has found that whenpeople suffer from spiritual, emotional, or mental maladies, they may alsoexperience real physical pain and in many cases real bodily weaknesses as aresult. I know for me, that if I do not getenough rest, if I do not spend time with my family, or if I do not make timefor recreation, my physical health will and does suffer. When I am out spiritual balance, myresistance gets low, my immune system weakens, and before long, I will contractsomething like a sinus infection or some other illness. I am sure we all have experienced situationslike this. When we are spirituallywhole, our physical health usually is in a condition of wholeness as well. On the other hand, I know when my prayer lifefalters, when I fall out of my practice of scripture study, or when I stopsaying the daily office, then I am spiritually in a dark place, and it will notbe long before my physical health will suffer. We are both spiritual and physical indivisible and as such, ourwholeness is interconnected in both areas of our being.
Oneof the blind men whom Jesus healed not only carried the burden of the inabilityto see, he also carried the burden of being an outcast in the community becauseof his disease. His inability tocontribute to the community, to work, or to earn his own way, caused him tohave to depend on the help of others. WhenJesus healed the blind man and restored his sight, he was also restoring hisjust place within society and thus, he set him free from the spiritual diseaseof estrangement. Jesus healed folksphysically, and there were more subtle times when Jesus healed the spirit, aswell.
Peterwas the disciple who called Jesus the Son of God, the same disciple who drewthe sword and excised the ear of one of the soldiers who came to carry the Lordaway for trial (Jesus healed the soldier too by the way). Peter was the same one who denied Jesus notonce, but three times in the courtyard of the High Priest. Peter needed a little spiritual healing donot you think. Peter had a terriblehabit of being a little too quick to respond to his emotions. Peter came off as a bold, confident, and “getr done” kind of guy, but when push came to shove, Peter’s real spiritual issuewas his ego-based, self-reliance, that came through with vigor in the moment. Peter was the same follower who when thegoing got tough, his persona of strength hid behind a fragile faith and manytimes he found himself floundering in deep water. Healing eventually came to Peter, but itrequired him to let go of that ego thing with which he wrestled.
“Peter,do you love me,” Jesus asked him post resurrection. Peter replied in the affirmative. Teaching him to caution his certainty, Jesusasked him twice more, and again with a little ego busting reluctance, Peterresponded in the affirmative each time. Then came the spiritual healing Peter needed when Jesus’ offered someloving chastisement, “ Very truly I tellyou, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; butwhen you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dressyou and lead you where you do not want to go.” (John 21:18 NIV) Peter theconfident and self-reliant leader disciple would soon abandon his “pull me upfrom my own boot straps” mentality and really begin to trust God. This conversation beach side with Jesus wasthe healing Peter needed, which was a cleansing of the spirit and a re-focus ontrusting God. Healing, real healing isall a matter of trust, of accepting who we are as interconnected creatures thatmust depend on each other and on God.
When physical illness comes upon us, most of us go to thedoctor. When we do that, we act with trustthat our physician is skilled enough, smart enough, and well versed enough withour ailment to prescribe the right treatment. When we enter the physician’s office, we have to be willing to hand overto the doctor, some control over our own well-being. When we are sick, we have to let go of ourconfident self-reliance and become vulnerable. Physical restoration is a matter of trusting the healer to heal us.
Weall have some form of spiritual frailty as well, and to deny this fact is todeny our own humanity. Like the trustrequired of our doctors for our physical healing, we must have an even greater needto trust in God who is the trusted healer of our spiritual selves. There was an audacious little boy who one daydecided to climb a ladder that had been leaning against his house for a few days. Suddenly, he found himself standing on thehigh roof looking over very high ledge. Hewas frightened, uncertain, and for a brief time, a little unwilling to acceptthe danger of his predicament. It wasnot long before his fear overcame him and he was frozen into inaction, unableto move forward. Finally, his father sawwhat was going on, walked over to the wall, stood at the edge with outstretchedarms and said, “Jump son, I’ll catch you.” With a little reluctance, the boy finally let go of his fear, he let goof his despair and with great trust, and he open his arms wide, leaped off theledge and into the waiting arms of his Dad. Safe at last.
Whenwe live in hope, when we release that which holds us back from God’s grace, we canbe whole, healthy, and joyful. When wedecide that our self-reliant way of being no longer works, that it no longerfills the empty places of our lives, the frightening places, the broken places,we will be ready to take the leap of faith. Spiritual healing happens when we decide to jump into the awaiting armsof God. In this life, we cannot, withassurance know that all our days will be good, that they will be filled withconfidence, happiness, and never-ending health, but what we can rely on is inthe promises of God. When we put our trustin God and not ourselves, we can find a peace, joy, and grace that can overcomethe force of any illness, the power of any fear, the weight of any melancholy,and the sting of even death itself. God’spromise is that God is always waiting with outstretched arms, ready to catch us;we just need to take the leap.
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