St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City NJ
June 9, 2013
Year C: Proper 5 –
The Third Sunday after Pentecost
1 Kings 17:8-24
Psalm 146
Galatians 1:11-24
Luke 7:11-17
Healing Miracles
For
the second Sunday in a row we’ve heard a powerful story of a healing miracle
performed by Jesus. In fact, today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke picks up
right where we left off last Sunday.
If
you were here, you may remember that we heard the story of Jesus healing the
centurion’s slave. We’re told that when the centurion, a gentile who was
friendly with the local Jewish people, heard about Jesus he sent a delegation
to ask Jesus to come and heal his highly valued slave.
The
centurion, a soldier who would have had 100 men under his authority, has not
only great faith in Jesus, but is also very humble. He says,
“Lord,
do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof…But
only speak the word, and let my servant be healed.”
Amazed
by the centurion’s faith and without saying a word or even going to the
centurion’s house, Jesus heals the slave, returning him to good health.
And
then Luke immediately follows the story of the centurion’s slave with an even
greater healing miracle, one unique to the Gospel of Luke and that echoes what
we heard in today’s Old Testament lesson: Jesus resuscitates the son of the
widow of Nain.
Luke
mentions that this was the widow’s only son. He doesn’t have to mention that
his death was a disaster for her. Not only had she lost her only son but she
had also lost what was probably her only financial and material support. Her
future must have looked bleak indeed. I’m sure for more than one reason she
wished that she were the one dead and being carried out of town.
Notice
that, unlike the centurion, the widow doesn’t ask for Jesus’ help – doesn’t
even seem to see Jesus or know who he is. Instead, we’re told Jesus simply “had
compassion for her” and said, “Do not weep.”
And
then Jesus performs one of his greatest healing miracles, saying to the dead
man, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” Death was turned to life when Jesus gave
the reborn man back to his mother.
In
this story we see divine power and compassion working in and through Jesus.
I
wonder how we feel when we hear these stories of healing miracles.
They
raise one of the big most difficult questions for people of faith – why does
God choose to heal some and not others? Surely there were lots of sick slaves
back in the First Century, yet Jesus chose to heal the centurion’s slave and
not the others.
And
surely the widow of Nain wasn’t the only widow back in the First Century who
lost her only son, yet Jesus chose to bring him and not the others back to
life.
And
today we often pray for healing for others and for our selves. Sometimes health
improves but often it doesn’t.
Many
times as a priest I’ve been called upon to offer prayers for healing and to
anoint people with holy oil. It’s a great privilege - one of the most important
and moving things I get to do. And because I want to be careful in my prayer, I
always say pretty much the same thing – a healing prayer taken right from the
book – the same prayer I’ll say at our healing Eucharist starting on Wednesday
“I
lay my hand upon you and anoint you with oil in the Name of our Lord and savior
Jesus Christ, beseeching him to uphold you and fill you with grace, so you may
know the healing power of his love.”
“The
healing power of his love.”
There
have been many times when I’ve said that prayer over the same person day after
day – good, faithful people who were loved and prayed for by many. I wish I
could tell you that they always or even usually sat up and returned to good
health and their old lives. But that’s not true. Often their physical decline
continued and soon enough there I was participating in their funeral.
It’s
hard. And the only way I’ve managed to continue is by realizing is that healing
miracles are not really about physical healing. Yes, that’s a real blessing
when it happens. But, the physical healing isn’t what’s most important.
Think
about it. Yes, Jesus healed the centurion’s slave, but, like all of us, I’m
sure he continued to face pain and suffering. And, eventually, the day came
when the slave died.
And,
Jesus resuscitated the widow’s only son, but, like all of us, I’m sure he
continued to face pain and suffering. And, eventually, the day came when the
widow’s son died.
And
even if we’ve experienced a healing
miracle, we’ll still face pain and suffering in our lives. And, eventually, some
day death will come for us, too.
So
I’m convinced the healing miracles aren’t really about the physical healing.
Instead, the healing miracles are signs – signs of God’s kingdom. The
healing miracles are glimpses of what God has in mind for all of us – what ultimately
God offers all of us.
The
healing miracles give us sneak preview of God’s kingdom - the time and the
place when and where our tears are wiped away, what’s broken is repaired, our
mourning is turned into dancing, and death is transformed into life.
In
and through Christ – and in and through us today, the Body of Christ on
earth - God continues to offer all of us healing miracles – God continues to
offer us the healing power of God’s love.
Healing
miracle: two adult sons stood on either side of their beloved mother’s hospital
bed as she gently gasped her last breaths, drifting off into death. Somehow,
instead of weeping they were able to tell story after story of their growing up.
So, the last sounds that woman heard were her two boys laughing as they
remembered good times taking long rides in the family station wagon.
Healing
miracle: after a long and painful illness, a lovely and talented woman
succumbed to cancer far too young. At her packed funeral in church, at the
start of the service, her teenage daughter somehow found the strength to stand
up all by herself and flawlessly sing a beautiful piece of music, offering one
last gift to her mom and an unforgettable gift to all of us there that day.
Healing
miracle: I sat for a long while in a hospital room with an old and dying woman
in great discomfort because of a feeding tube up her nose. Most of the time she
mumbled and said things that made no sense. And then, suddenly, she turned to
me, her eyes as clear as could be and said, “I never knew I could love my
children so much.”
Healing
miracle: I visited many times with a woman about my age whose body was filled
with cancer. One day she said to me, “When I first got sick I asked God, ‘Why
me?’ But now after having been in the hospital so much and having seen so many
sick people, I ask, ‘Why not me?’”
Healing
miracle: one day I was sitting beside my grandmother in the hospital during the
last days of her life. She assured me she wasn’t afraid. And then, whether she
knew it or not, she quoted Jesus in the Gospel of John, (8:14): “I know where I
have come from and where I am going.”
I’ve
seen that kind of healing miracle – the healing power of God’s love – over and
over.
For
the past two Sundays we’ve heard stories of Jesus’ healing miracles – the
healing of the centurion’s slave and the resuscitation of the widow’s son. In
these stories we see God’s power and compassion working in and through Jesus.
But,
the healing miracles aren’t so much about the physical healing. Instead, the
healing miracles are signs of God’s kingdom – they are glimpses of what God has
in mind for all of us – what God offers all of us.
The
healing miracles are sneak previews of God’s kingdom - the time and the place
when and where our tears are wiped away, what’s broken is repaired, our
mourning is turned into dancing, and when death is transformed into life.
And,
if we keep our eyes and ears open we realize that in and through Christ – and
in and through us today, the Body of Christ on earth - God continues to offer
all of us healing miracles.
May
Christ uphold us and fill us with grace, so we may know the healing power of
his love.
Amen.
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