Jesus Heals Many People

At the advent of this Lenten season, we are sharing the sermon from the February 4th blessing of the hospital chaplains. It connects the gospel reading for the day (Mark 1:29-39) with the work of those chaplains, and indeed all Christians as they seek to “live faithfully” in their care of and service to others.

The one-line descriptor of today’s gospel reading is Jesus heals many people. Jesus heals many people. And in this story that we hear from the gospel today, Jesus does indeed heal many people. And since today we find ourselves here with a number of our volunteer hospital chaplains, this seems to be a relevant theme for us to consider.

People go to hospital because they are unwell. It’s a logical extension of Jesus’ own words that those who are well do not need a doctor. He also suggests then that those in hospital do need healing. Now we know what happens in hospitals. Sometimes healing occurs, but also as we know, sometimes it does not.

But that is where a spiritual carer, a Chaplain might well come in. They are not there to give advice on how to get well physically, but certainly, they can give the individual who’s lying there in the bed a chance to contemplate their life and think about the bigger picture of their wellness before God. A chance to talk with someone about how they feel about what could be matters of life and death.

We are physical beings, but we are also more than physical beings. That is the case even when our bodies are failing us – and let’s be honest for all of us that will be the case, eventually. But even if our bodies do fail us, God does not fail us. Our belief in God, our spirituality, our understanding of ourselves in relation to God, helps us to make sense of the bigger picture of who we are, and to whom we belong. And for those of us who are Christian people, this is relatively simple: No matter what happens to us, we can still have a strong sense of God caring for us deeply, of us having a sense of being someone who is dearly loved by God. This is a sacred role to remind people of that, that hospital Chaplains can carry out; and indeed, all of us as individual Christians can remind each other of this great truth of God’s love for us.

Jesus heals many people.

It is typical of the Evangelist, Mark, who wrote this, that everything keeps moving quickly. He doesn’t get tied down in the details. He’s always in a hurry to move on to something else. And here in these mere 10 verses Jesus does indeed heal many people. And this is only the first chapter of Mark’s gospel. He doesn’t bother with things like the story of Jesus’ birth or his early years; he starts with the grown man Jesus, who is baptised and poised for action.

Now of course, the danger when we move at such a pace is that we can skip past the individual. There’s only one person who’s named in this reading – and actually they’re not named exactly – there’s someone who’s identified, and that is the mother-in-law of Simon. Mark stops long enough to give us a little detail about this one case, this one person, and how she was healed. But for everyone else it was enough to mention that many were sick or possessed by demons, and that the whole city was out looking for him. Then he disappeared, and Simon and his mates found him. And Jesus said, we actually need to get off into the neighbouring towns, and throughout Galilee. Jesus did this, Jesus did that, Jesus did something else and then he left. It’s a dizzying day’s work.

But skipping past the individual is one of the roles Chaplains and indeed potentially any Christian person can make a point of not doing. Instead, we can take the time to listen. We can treat each individual as special as they are made in the image of God, and not treat them just like a number. We can – each of us – listen to someone else’s story, hear their concerns, listen to where they are at. We are not like the nurses in the hospital who have to keep moving from one task to another.

But I should clarify, it is not Jesus who does not deal with the individual carefully. He probably did do so very much, but the way Mark reports it, it’s like a production line, one after the other. I suppose, as they say, it’s a long story short.

Jesus heals many people, and Jesus shows his love to many people, but that doesn’t mean that he just treats us like a number. No, he calls each of us by name. Many of us would say that’s in our baptism: that God calls us by name. Actually, we used to say: ‘What is your Christian name?’ As if it’s the name by which Christ knows us.

Interestingly, when we talk about healing, in the instance of the mother-in-law of Simon, it says that once that she’s healed, she goes and starts serving. She serves. Now if you know anything about this department of our church, called Lutheran Services, which looks after aged care, disability services, domestic violence and also people in hospital, we know the word “services” is a special and holy concept. We serve because Jesus serves us. Jesus himself said he did not come to be served, but to serve. And this mother-in-law of Simon, when she is well, begins to serve. Of course all of us that are his followers can emulate his serving us, by serving others.

What better example to all of us than people willing to volunteer their time to visit individuals in hospital one-by-one: people who are often vulnerable and unsure of the future. Someone coming to the bedside, calling them by name, listening to their story, and reminding them that they are a dearly loved child of God.

Jesus heals many people.

And he keeps moving. And he keeps moving…not to get away from us, but to blaze a trail for us. Jesus goes ahead of us in this journey of life. We don’t always know where this journey is going to land us. But in Jesus is someone who goes ahead of us, and even goes ahead of us into death itself. And then in his wonderful resurrection, he opens for us the way to eternal life.

Eternal life is the hope, and it is the goal that we all move towards. In the meantime, we have the chance to serve…as he has served us. Amen.