Let all the people pray, "Heal us, Lord."

In his later years, Luther modified his feelings somewhat, but he apparently never communicated his approval nearly so clearly as he had voiced his earlier opposition.

Later Lutherans adopted the opposition side of the argument without exploring those things in favor of services of prayer for healing.

But in recent times, Lutherans are again thinking about this part of the ministry of Christ, and asking if there is something here for us.

In the Occasional Service Book, one of the companions to the LBW,

there is printed a Service of Prayer for healing.

Even though it is there, we are still uneasy about it, and not without good reason.

What pops into our minds are the suspicious things we have seen on TV.

We wonder if the dramatic throwing down of crutches and running down the aisle has been staged in order to make an exciting show.

We do want to affirm that healings are possible if God wishes to work in that way,

but it seems all too convenient for the TV cameras to be there at exactly the right moment, for it to be real.

It seems as though those events are done for some strange reasons:

--because they make a good show,

--to enrich the doer.

--for their inherent drama.

When we read the Gospel carefully, it sounds like Mark knows that Jesus was dealing with the same sort of people.

We'll call them "enthusiasts."

They want things to turn out gloriously;

they want to move from one stunning triumph to another.

Can't you see the banner now:

"Coming soon, Jesus the wonder-worker,

to your community."

But the miracles are not ends in themselves;

Jesus has quite another aim.

In our scripture passage today, which are verses that follow immediately upon the verses we heard last week about the healing of the demon-possessed person,

the enthusiasts are ready for the next exciting day in the Jesus tour…

…and they can't find Jesus!

The disciples finally locate him out in a lonely place, praying.

"Come on, come on, they're waiting for you,"

they urge Jesus.

"No, we're off to other places, that I may preach there also," Jesus responds, "I'm bringing Good News throughout Galilee."

The disciples would rather have stayed in Capernaum and built up their status as the managers of the Jesus-show, a glorious triumph in place of their humdrum prior life as fishermen and whatever.

"No, we're going to be here and there, bringing Good News to many people;

that is my purpose," Jesus says.

and later when they can hear a bit more, he adds,

"and I must die."

They wanted glory and honors,

Jesus insisted on healing and preaching the Word, and going to the cross.

The Gospel of Mark seems especially to emphasize that the healings are a significant portion of Jesus' work.

This first chapter says that Jesus taught, yet the stories we hear in this chapter are not parables and teachings, but the ones about the healings.

Why does Jesus get involved in them?

(1) The first reason is quite straightforward:

people need it!

We don't hear that Jesus is out actively soliciting healing-business,

but each time that a situation is put in front of him, he acts upon it.

It is a living out of his words:

"Ask and you shall receive."

Let all the people pray, "Heal us, Lord."

It is the same for us, isn't it?

Why should we be involved in healing

ministries?….because they are needed!

(2) The second reason for Jesus involvement in healing ministries is a bit more complex.

For many, a healing must take place before any other Good Words can be heard and understood.

If you fall and break a leg, and someone comes along and says, "There, there, now, It's OK, Jesus loves you,"

you would hardly appreciate the statement, even though it be true!

You might even try to kick the person with your good leg. What is needed is emergency medical attention before you can hear the Word.

I've always been amazed and humbled by those persons with chronic pain who have been given a gift of patience and endurance so that they can still hear Good News and live within it.

For the rest of us, pain, sorrow, and heartache often get in the way, and must be dealt with before the Good News of God in Christ Jesus can be heard.

A wise person has observed:

"Telling the story of Jesus often begins with saying nothing about Jesus, but listening to the story of the person in front of you.

Letting persons open up and pour out the sickness of their hearts is the first step of telling good news.

Before they can believe in and serve the Lord, they must be cured, and before they can be cured, they must be heard."

This sounds very familiar to our Stephen Ministers, for this is the beginning of their work, the ministry of listening; but of course it is not limited to them.

Each of us can practice this with one another.

Often we hear people say that a word, a kind deed, or time spent in listening "touched them deeply." It got through to them at the place and time where they hurt.

This is not the sensational faith-healings that the TV hucksters promote.

But in the long run, these are the

healings in faith

which help to build up the Body of Christ.

For persons in all these situations,

the easy ones or the difficult ones,

Let all the people pray, "Heal us, Lord."

(3) The third reason that Jesus is involved in miracles of healing

is pointed out in the sentence:

"He took her by the hand, the fever left her, and she served them."

They were the things that needed to be done,

and she got after them right away.

We Lutherans have said quite strongly that we are not saved by our good works,

but we tend to forget that we have been saved for good works.

There is nothing we need to do in order to be saved, but everything to do because we are saved.

Peter's mother in law did not suddenly take up something new and foreign to her.

Her ministry was one of serving,

and so with restored life,

she jumped into her proper job, with vigor.

There is an old story about a person who showed up at a seminary saying that he wanted to be a pastor.

He was eager, but it soon became evident that he was not a good match for the academic work of seminary.

So the advisor asked him, "Why did you think that you should be a pastor?"

"One day I was resting in the field,

I looked up and saw a shape in the clouds that looked like a P C = preach Christ."

The advisor said gently,

"Perhaps the P C meant 'plant corn',

and that would be OK too."

The important thing is that whatever skills and opportunities are placed in front of us by God are used and not neglected.

So that we can serve,

Let all the people pray, "Heal us, Lord."

(4) The fourth reason that Jesus heals, and also that we are involved in ministries of healing

is the most profound of all.

Jesus heals as a sign of the final future planned by God.

At the last, everything and everyone that is broken and incomplete will be put right, fixed, and made whole.

Left on our own, everything and everyone sooner or later wears out, falls apart, and dies.

When Jesus heals, it is a sign that death will not finally win, that God will overcome the fall of everything and everyone.

This perspective moves the healing story from the sidelines or a little sideshow of Jesus ministry into the center of things for every one of us.

Who among us can say that he or she is whole or complete?

Even if we do not have broken bones,

we have broken relationships

with God, our neighbor, our family.

We speak broken words,

and we do broken deeds.

In that service of prayer for healing which I mentioned at the outset, the prayer asks not for a quick fix, but for the final making whole of our lives within the resurrected life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is the prayer:

Father in heaven, for Jesus sake,

send your Holy Spirit upon your servants;

drive away all sickness of body and spirit,

make whole that which is broken;

deliver us from the power of evil,

preserve us in true faith,

to share in the power of Christ's resurrection,

and to serve you with saints now and evermore.

It also reminds us of several phrases from the Lord's Prayer, doesn't it?

That prayer causes us

to reflect on the broken places in our lives,

to discern them, to name them,

to pray for Christ the cure-giver to act in his wisdom, ....

and also to look for the opportunities

where we can become the care-giver

who mediates God's cure to someone else.

For the gift of all things made whole,

let all the people pray: Heal us, Lord.

(5) And this brings us to the fifth reason that Jesus is involved in a healing ministry.

Each of these stories of healings in the gospel

is a prelude to the greatest healing of all, the healing of the breech between God and mankind brought on by our sin,

the healing that is offered to us each time we gather for Holy Communion.

Each of the individual healings point us to Christ's death on the cross and his resurrection,

so that we come to understand that when we share in the Holy Communion, Jesus continues to heal the brokenhearted.

So then, Jesus focus on healing

is not a little circus sideshow,

but a central part of his work,

work that continues among us today.

For the continuing gifts of God,

let all the people pray: Heal us, Lord.

Jesus heals

(1) because it is needed.

(2) because it must be done before those

who hurt can hear the word of promise,

(3) because it opens the possibility of a life

of service.

(4) because it is a sign of God's final

intention for us and all creation.

(5) because its benefits continue among us

today.

For all of these reasons,

Let all the people pray, "Heal us, Lord."

Can we trust it?

Is that prayer effective?

Is it worth the bother?

After all, lots of people pray lots of times

for a healing that doesn't happen, it seems.

But God's answer to our prayer varies:

it could be Yes, right away.

it could be Not yet.

it could be Wait for something better.

And each of them is a legitimate answer.

In faith and trust that God will answer in the way that he judges to be best for us,

let all the people pray, Heal us, Lord. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.