©Thomas B. Cundiff
Mark 1: 29-34
As soon as they left the synagogue, they
entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and
they told him about her at once. He came
and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she
began to serve them.
That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were
sick or possessed with demons. And the
whole city was gathered around the door. And he
cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and
he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
II Corinthians 1: 3-7
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in
all our affliction, so that we may
be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with
which we ourselves are consoled by God. For
just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation
is abundant through Christ. If we are being
afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled,
it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the
same sufferings that we are also suffering. Our
hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation.
I.
The Gospel of Mark. You may wish
to open your pew bibles as we walk through the opening verses of this book.
Biblical
scholar Eugene H. Peterson has said of the gospel: “Mark
wastes no time in getting down to business – a single-sentence-introduction,
and not a digression to be found from beginning to end.”[1]
Verse 1: The beginning of the good news (or gospel) of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Mark doesn’t
describe Jesus’ birth. Nothing is said
about Jesus’ childhood. Mark gets immediately
to the core message: Jesus is the Son of
God! And yes, this is GREAT NEWS!
Verses 2 thru 8: “As it is written by the prophet Isaiah, …“See,
I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness
‘Prepare the Way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”
At this
point we are learning more about John the Baptist than Jesus…and this is
important because John is proclaiming baptism of repentance for the forgiveness
of sins – a concept that existed before Jesus arrived on the scene!
By verse 9 Jesus is
baptized. And boy does time fly!
By verse 12 Jesus is in the wilderness being tempted by
Satan for forty days and forty nights.
By verse 16 Jesus is calling his first disciples, Simon and
Andrew, James and John.
By verse 21 Jesus, this “Holy
Man of God” is engaged in an active ministry of preaching and teaching
and healing those with various physical and spiritual ailments.
This is a
lot of information for one short chapter, 21 verses, less than 1000 words – just
half of what I put in an average sermon!
By verse 29, our scripture lesson for this morning, we get
in to a subject that Jesus is a great healer.
Jesus enters the home of his newly called disciples Simon and his
brother Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law is
in bed with a fever. Jesus takes her by
the hand, lifts her up, and the fever goes away.
By verse 32 word gets out and many who are sick or possessed
with demons show up. It appears that almost
the whole community gathers around the door of this house to learn more about
this man named Jesus.
By verse 34 Jesus is busy curing diseases and casting out
demons.
We know
Jesus is a good preacher and teacher.
But what stands out in our scripture today, early in this gospel of Mark
– Jesus is healing the common everyday ailments of the people – touching them
and acting on their behalf to make them WELL .
It is important to note that words
for Jesus are one thing. Actions are his
specialty – touching people and making them WELL !
II. To Be Well
TO BE WELL .
Who doesn’t long for good health, to feel good, and to be well?
As I
struggle with personal health issues, this has become one of the most important
themes in my ministry. On a daily basis
in my conversations with you, this is the number one issue! What does it mean to be happy, healthy, well
– as individuals, as families, as a community and church and world. This a basic human longing – to be healthy
and whole and well.
It was
roughly 25 years ago at an urban ministry conference in Chicago Riverside Church New York City
James
Forbes is known globally as a modern day prophet who speaks softly and succinctly
to issues that relate to our personal health, relational health, and the health
of our communities, cities and nation.[2]
Dr. Forbes preaches
passionately about a vision of WELLNESS that touches all aspects of life –
connecting the gospel of Jesus Christ with all of our needs. This is one of those themes that runs through
the entire bible – what it means to reach the “promosed land of wellness”! For a few minutes I want to speak briefly
about three levels of wellness:
III.
Personal Wellness
First is
personal wellness. With God’s help, how do
we take care of ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually.
We always seem to be asking: “How are you?” “How do you feel?” “How are things going?” We ask these questions often receiving the
affirmation: “I am doing well!” But how are we really doing?
In reality,
I find myself pastorally listening to you as we all struggle with a host of
health issues. I have my own fair share
of health issues. A significant part of
ministry is dealing with health issues – physical and spiritual health issues.
There are a
host of topics and issues and concerns that come up…..many that transcend our
physical concerns. Some of these health
issues: When someone loses a job; finds out a loved one is getting a divorce; learns
that a son or daughter is gay. Perhaps
there is an issue with the legal system.
A large number of health issues revolve around the devastating impact
the economy has had on our personal lives.
All of these issues are connected with our desire to be healthy and
well!
Consider
for a moment this list of what are
called THE SECOND TEN COMMANDMENTS[3] written by a cardiologist, the late
Dr. Stephen R. Yarnall who died just a few months ago. The first four commandments refer to that
word we all love – EXERCISE:
1. Thou shalt exercise thy body
2. Thou shalt exercise thy mind
3. Thou shalt exercise thy spirit
4. Thou shalt exercise thy willpower –
perhaps one of the toughtest exercises of them all!
The rest of these commandments get to some key issues in
achieving wellness in our lives:
5. Thou shalt have a happy heart – the
search for joy in life!
6. Thou shalt play
7. Thou shalt sensibly eat, drink and be merry
8. Thou shalt give up guilt, regret and
depression
9. Thou shalt not fear the future
10.Thou shalt LIVE now
BALANCE and
SENSIBILTY are two key words when it comes to reading through this list. What do we need to do sensibly and with balance
in order to be HEALTHY AND WELL ?
To add a
spiritual dimension to this discussion on personal health and wellness. – Paul says to the Corinth community – it is
God…..
“…who consoles
us in all our affliction, so that we
may be able to console others who are afflicted
with the consolation with which we ourselves have been consoled by God.”
My
eleventh commandment: THOU SHALT CONSOLE THOSE WHO ARE
AFFLICTED –JUST AS GOD CONSOLS US ARE AFFLICTED….
There
are many ways we can console those who are hurting. We have our prayer lists. We write notes and make phone calls. We come together in worship and fellowship
activities – and we know we are not alone when it comes to issued we face in
our lives.
One
of the most important things we can do as a church is create a welcoming
environment where all can come and worship and share what is going on….where we
can trust those around us with some of our personal issues – thus opening all
kinds of doors so we can be in ministry one to another all in the name of
Jesus, the Son of God – Jesus who is the source of stability and health and
wellness in our personal lives.
IV.
Health in our cities
Second, beyond
personal health, we are also concerned about the health and well being of our
metropolitan community. There are
challenges all around us. On the top of
my list of ailments:
Escalating violence, stabbings and
shootings. An innocent four year old
shot in the arm; a twelve year old boy
shot in his home because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time! Stabbings outside a Madison St. Bay City Midland
People are hurting. There are a host of social ailments related
to the economy, the foreclosure on homes, bankruptcy, challenges in getting loans. Unemployment in our community and high cost
of medical care are issues that impact all of us directly and indirectly. While
a lot of good things are happening in our community, there is also a lot of
stress in the lives of lots of people. Just
look at the problems we are having in funding police and fire departments? These challenges all escalate and impact
other major issues like hunger, homelessness, decline of neighborhoods – and
crime.
There is a
longing for health and stability and wellness on a community level. And the church is called in the name of the
living Christ to “console the afflicted”.
How do we do this? We do
this because we are here! We do what we
can with the resources God has entrusted our care!
V.
The Church
So what
about our health as a church? The church
is not immune of issues that create congregational ill-health. I am hearing about stories almost every day
about congregations in conflict, congregations that are split over what to do
with scare resources; theological and doctrinal issues are literally splitting
congregations. I am so proud that our
desire to be a healthy congregation transcends the many issues that could
divide us.
We have our
fair share of issues: Loss of members; care for this large building; projections of a tighter and tighter stream
of income that’s going to make it difficult to build anything new into our
church budget. At the same time, with
the meeting we had after church just last Sunday, almost every comment was positive, driven by faith we have in God,
the love we have for this church, and our desire to be doing Christ’s work in
this community in the context of where we are in this place and at this time in
our history with the resources God has entrusted our care.
This was a
good meeting as a large number of you affirming that “FAITH IN GOD” will take
care of us and make KEEP US WELL .
In this meeting, and in worship each week, there is a sense of “family”
that transcends the hard issues before us.
What keeps us going? What makes us well? Faith in Jesus with the affirmation God is
always with us! The most important thing
we do to BE WELL as a church – worship! Coming
together each week to reaffirm that we are Christ’s church – and God loves us
all.
VI.
NATION AND WORLD
I would like to go on to discuss the health of our nation in
the context of the global issues that influence our health each and every
day. What is the churches role in
addressing some of the huge, global issues our nation faces? A topic to be addressed at another time.
The bottom line for me today comes from the gospel of Mark. Jesus was a teacher. He was a preacher. Jesus was also a healer. He didn’t just talk the talk but he walked
the walk in touching the lives of people around him. Jesus
didn’t just deal with just the visible physical ailments of people, but also
the deeper spiritual issues that were
keeping people from fully experiencing the love of God.
So what does God call from us today? We are called to affirm Jesus is our
Lord. Jesus is our savior. Jesus is the embodiment of all God wants for
us in our lives….health and security;
stability and wellbeing of us all.
Take a look into your own personal lives to find those
things that keep you well….feeling good.
I believe it is fair to say it feels good to be Christ’s church. Specifically, it feels good to be the Warren
Avenue Presbyterian Church. Jesus is the
great healer who teaches us how to console others when they are down. God in turn consoles us and lets us know in
numerous ways we are loved.
Let’s continue to set our eyes as a church on things we can
be doing in the name of the living Christ to help curb the violence -- building
up programs that will help others in the community. Let’s continue to find ways to reach out to
others with the love of God we experience each week in our worship.
And finally, may we today be COMMISSIONED BY CHRIST to continue
his ministry of wellness…..in our personal lives, with our families, in our
communities, and in our city, nation and world.
May God continue to encourage and console us -- and make us
well.
No comments:
Post a Comment