Sermon - Epiphany 5 - Mark 1:29-39

The Epiphany season is winding down, as next Sunday is Transfiguration and then we’re right on to Lent.  Throughout these Sundays after the Christmas season, we are presented with a number of different ways in which Christ manifests himself to us.  Different ways he shows himself – different aspects of his identity and mission.  He’s the king of the Jews worshipped by the wise men.  He’s the Son of the Father, recognized at his baptism.  He’s the Holy One of Israel, confessed even by the unclean spirit that he cast out. And he is the one who preaches with authority, to the amazement of the people.  

Today, we might say, in our reading from Mark, we see Jesus especially as a healer.

The Great Physician of Body and Soul, our Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate healer.  The New Testament records around 42 different instances of Jesus performing a healing miracle, and in some cases as we see at the end of today’s reading, he “healed many”.  He healed leprosy and dropsy, the lame, the blind, the deaf and mute.  The woman with the flow of blood.  “All manner of diseases” Mark says.  And here, also, Peter’s mother-in-law, suffering from a fever.

That Jesus is a healer shouldn’t surprise us.  Of course our Lord, perfect in every way, has compassion on all those who suffer.  He sees people hurting and his heart goes out to them.  And as the almighty creator, he certainly has the power to cure any kind of sickness or disease.  If he can call forth light from darkness, and by a word bring all things into being, he can certainly heal a fever, or whatever is ailing someone.

He does this not only out of compassion, however, but also as a sign of his identity.  For a little later, when John’s disciples come asking if he’s “really the Messiah, or should we look for another?”, Jesus points them to his works of healing as major evidence that he is indeed the fulfillment of their hopes:  “the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.” (Matthew 11:5)

Jesus isn’t here bragging, but rather showing how his works testify and confirm his identity and his message.  

And yet, his tenderness and compassion are evident.  He goes to Peter’s house, kneels by the bedside of his mother-in-law, takes her by the hand, and gently lifts her to health again.  Without a word, he brings his healing to bear.  Just as he has deep compassion on so many others whom he heals.

It sounds beautiful, but it may raise a question for us.  Why doesn’t Jesus do that for me?

It is a sad fact of life in this fallen world that sickness, disease, injury and death happen to all of us.  Old age takes its toll with aches and pains and this problem and that issue.  Genetics sometimes bring us diseases that cannot be avoided.  The foods we eat and the lifestyles we lead can also contribute, to be sure.  But even the healthiest among us can’t avoid it forever – something eventually gets us.  Whether cancer or heart disease, an accident or just old age.  We are all, all of us, subject to sickness and death.  Sickness and brokenness are just the little preludes to death.  Death is where they all eventually lead.

And this doesn’t happen by accident, either.  Death and its precursors of sickness and suffering – they have a root and a cause.  They are the wages of sin.  The perversion of our physical bodies begins with corruption of the soul.  And while we’d love to blame Adam and Eve for all this, the truth is we are just as willfully sinful.  The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

And so while you may not have a certain disease because you committed a certain sin, you are a sinner living in and contributing to the cesspool of this world with all of its spiritual and physical uncleanness.  And the wages that your sin has earned are just as much yours as mine are mine.  None of us can claim we deserve better.

But back to the question I posed.  Why doesn’t Jesus heal us all, just like he did for Peter’s mother-in-law, and for the crowds of Capernaum, and all those other people with their various needs?  I pray earnestly.  I believe faithfully.  I confess my sins and receive his forgiveness regularly.  What gives?  Why must I suffer? 

Well, one answer is that, often, he does heal us.  He provides doctors and nurses and all manner of medical care, especially to us in this modern age.  He has created the human body, also, to heal itself.  And yes, sometimes, he does even heal us miraculously, with no explanation that can be given by science or human understanding.  It does happen, thanks be to God.

But sometimes, he does not.  He allows us to suffer the effects of a chronic or acute illness, and sometimes even unto death.  Sometimes even the young and vibrant among us succumb to an early demise, despite our fervent prayers, and against all our human sense of justice and fairness.

Why does God heal one and not another?  Here we can only say it is part of his hidden counsel, his un-revealed will.  We are not privy to his thoughts, which are higher than our thoughts.  But we dare not sit in judgment over him, or how or when or to whom he chooses to show the mercy of healing this side of heaven.  We pray, humbly, for the sick, “thy will be done”.  We pray for healing, always, according to God’s will.  If the sick are healed and live another day, thanks be to God!  If the sick are not healed, and God allows fallen nature to take its course, he is still the creator and we are still the creatures, thanks be to God.

But there is comfort beyond this.  Jesus is the Great Physician of body and soul.  And that has serious implications.  His power over the unclean spirits indicates that there’s more going on here than just the physical healing.  There’s a spiritual dimension.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.  The iniquity of all was placed upon him.  And God’s will was done.  He faced the wrath of God for sin – and suffered bodily and spiritually, to save us both spiritually and bodily.  And when his work on the cross was complete, and his rest in the tomb was fulfilled, he brought life and immortality to light in his glorious resurrection.  He conquered death.  Let that sink in for a moment.

While it is a mystery why he allows sin and suffering and disease and death to flourish here, now, for a time.  A little while, really.  It is no mystery how the story ends.  For our destiny is foreseen in his own.  Our life is guaranteed by his.  Our eternity is sure and certain in his eternal and unassailable life.

My friends, our hope is really not for this life after all, but in the resurrection.  Our prayers for healing are all answered with a giant YES – in the resurrection.  Our aches and pains and bumps and bruises and suffering and sorrow are all on the clock.  Their time is running out.  Life is on the horizon.  Life that cannot be dampened or darkened by sin ever again.  Life that cannot be tainted by disease or disaster.  Life that is, like Christ’s life, incorruptible, unconquerable, unending and glorious.  He will never die again.  And we who are in him, who are baptized into his death and resurrection, will also win the victory over sin and death in him.

When Christ returns with all his angels, riding the clouds and accompanied by the trumpet call of God…. When this heaven and earth melt away and make way for the new… When Christ calls forth the faithful dead to rise and stand before him, and changes the faithful living in the twinkling of an eye, when all the promises of God and of Christ come true in a flash.  Then life will be ours in its fullness – never to be taken from us.  And our life will be in him, and with him, and what a life it will be.  No more hunger or thirst, no scorching heat, we will see him face to face, and God himself will wipe every tear from our eyes.

That’s the healing he brings.  That’s the healing we have as a sure and certain hope, in Jesus Christ, the light and life of men.  That’s the healing that the unbelieving world doesn’t know, and cannot understand.  But it is the healing that we will surely receive and that we now boldly confess.  Healing from Jesus Christ, healing for not just our sins, but for our sin-sick souls and bodies.

So come receive the medicine of immortality, the body and blood of Christ, a foretaste of the feast to come, and a glimpse of our hidden life with him.