“A Healing God”
In my family, every single family member is guilty of telling convoluted stories. You start here and instead of going directly to the point you kind of weave your story around like this…. (Zig-zag finger around) ...and part of it is, every side story, every rabbit trail is connected in my mind - I know the path my brain is following even when the listener doesn’t!
And this week’s Gospel lesson may seem like one of my family’s stories. We have a lot going on - Jesus finding out news about John, some references to land regions, a quote from Isaiah, a call to repent, calling some disciples to follow him, and then Jesus traveling, preaching, and healing.
To the reader we hear this is at least four distinct stories:
The beginning with the land regions & Isaiah.
Jesus calling to repent
Jesus calling his disciples and
Jesus traveling, preaching, teaching and healing.
But the question is: What was the Gospel writer thinking as he wrote this story and why are these pieces tied together like this? What path of logic was his brain following? What’s connecting these different subjects that may seem like a rabbit trail to us?
I believe the thread that connects them all comes from story #4, the last part of this passage -and that is that we follow a healing God. And the other three threads are really examples of Jesus doing his work and ministry as a healing, life-giving God.
Now each part of this Scripture reading could be its own sermon...but let’s quickly work through and see what each section is saying about Jesus and God’s healing work in this world.
With John’s ministry coming to a close in Galilee, Jesus steps in to continue God’s work in that region and take it to the next level. “The territory of Zebulun and Naphtali” reference tribal lands that God had promised to the Israelites through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - we can read about these in the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua. And to the readers of Matthew, the names of these lands would have brought God’s covenant people and promises to mind. But even though John was doing ministry in these regions and now Jesus was, these regions were not in the hands of the Israelites - they were under imperial Roman rule.
Enter the Isaiah reference - this passage from Isaiah came from a time where the Kingdom of Judah was looking for salvation from Assyrian rule. In the midst of darkness, war and the threat of the oppressive rule of the Assyrians, there was a light - God’s promise to save the land and people from the Assyrian Empire.
Jesus is now that same light in the midst of darkness. His ministry is heralding that God wants to release people from the oppressive rule of the Roman Empire. This Scripture is declaring who Jesus is - Jesus is a Savior from oppressive regimes. Jesus is light and life in the midst of darkness and death.
And now, we have the next quick line “From that time Jesus began to proclaim ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’” The Kingdom of Heaven is in contrast to the Kingdoms - the Assyrians and Romans of this world. And so we have to repent from any Kingdom we are following, any power that is of and in this world that is not God’s Kingdom - turn from anything that is death-wielding to that which is life-giving. This is what we pray for every week when we pray for weapons to be beaten into plowshares. To take that which gives death and turn it into that which tends life. There is so much in our world that is death-wielding and yet - when we look for it, when we participate in it - there is vibrant and abundant life there. For The Kingdom of Heaven is breaking into the world and God is active in this world - so what Kingdom are we actively seeking and following?
It is here that Peter and Andrew, James and John, are invited to follow Jesus - and they quickly answer the call. Fishermen did not live easy lives. The Roman Empire actually controlled all production from the lands and the sea and on top of their jobs being physically demanding, they were contracted and heavily taxed on every aspect of their livelihood. When Jesus shows up and offers them another way - they are quick to answer Jesus, to give up everything they knew, and to follow him. Sometimes we preachers have imagined a longer dialogue here or an inner struggle - but today I am struck by their quick response. When Jesus walks by on the shore - do you think in him they saw light shining in the darkness? I think they did. In Jesus, in his offer to make them fishers of people, they heard hope. They heard freedom. They heard a new way of living and being that offered wholeness. I think we desperately want to hear this see, see this, encounter this hope and new way in our world. And when it’s before you, you don’t hesitate. When you hear an offer like that, when you are given a gift like that, it is one you don’t hesitate to accept - you readily say yes - as the disciples readily followed Jesus.
And then, here’s how Matthew ties it all together:
“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.”
Jesus traveled through Roman controlled land and brought the Good News of another Kingdom, another way of being. A Kingdom of life, a Kingdom free from oppression, a kingdom of healing, a kingdom of wholeness. And this was a Kingdom that people so desperately needed to hear about. We may sometimes wonder why there is so much sickness in the Gospel stories? Why is Jesus healing everywhere he goes? Under the Roman Empire, 70-90% of the population lived in poverty which meant poor hygiene, high stress, dirty water, and food scarcity. These factors make for a petri dish of diseases. They also did not have the science and medical care that we have today. The people not only needed physical healing from their ailments -- they desperately needed hope and a new way to live. Living as a poor person under the Roman Empire basically guaranteed death at some point or another. Death like John the Baptist’s, his head on a platter for Herod. Death like Jesus’s, hung on a cross, considered an enemy of the state. Death from disease, from the strain of work, from poverty and hardship. So Jesus not only brought healing -- he brought the Good News -- that there is another Kingdom to follow. Another Kingdom that will eventually establish its full reign on Earth: not a Kingdom like the Roman Empire, but a Kingdom of Wholeness, of Life, of no more pain, death, or tears - the Kingdom of God.
It is this point - that Jesus is ushering in and inviting us into a new kind of Kingdom ruled by a Healing God - it is this point that all these stories, these seemingly rabbit trails, are pointing us toward, they are connected in showing us a light in the darkness; inviting us to turn from whatever is not life-giving; whatever power of this world, idol, or death-wielding way we are following - and readily follow Jesus and be participants in God’s Kingdom.
And today, I think we need this invitation and we need to answer its call just as much as the fishermen by the sea needed the invitation and needed to answer it. Just as much as those living with disease and every sickness needed healing.
We too need healing. We need healing from the empire we live in. From powers and systems that oppress, that divide us, that separate us, that profit off of our being scared, that profit off of us seeing our neighbors as our enemies, and that profit off of our pursuit for healing.
We need healing from broken relationships and broken homes. From addiction. From grudges. From abuse.
We need healing from disease and sickness, physical and mental, that hurts our bodies, our hearts, our minds.
We need healing in body, mind, and soul and the world we are living in needs healing. We are desperately looking for a light in the darkness to come and offer us deliverance.
And the Good News is...we do worship a healing God.
But, what does that mean? Does it mean we will be healed? Does it mean we can pray for healing? Does it mean we shouldn’t trust modern medicine and doctors? Will we be healed in this life? These are questions many are asking themselves as they wrestle with what it means that we worship a healing God.
These are my answers to that question and you may not find them satisfying.
“Does it mean we will be healed?” Maybe. We simply don’t know the future. We don’t know the way God acts. Sometimes healing doesn’t come in the form we expect either. We may be praying for healing of our bodies or the body of a loved one wracked my illness. The healing may come instead in the form of a mended relationship. Or the healing may come in the next life when we are fully in God’s presence without any pain.
“Can we pray for healing?” Yes, yes, yes. Healing of body, mind, and spirit. Prayers that we are in God’s hands - no matter the outcome. God wants us to talk to God though. To pour ourselves out. To talk, to listen, to be in God’s presence. Even just that act is a kind of healing.
“Should we trust modern medicine and doctors?” I believe God has many routes for miracles and God acts through modern medicine and doctors. We are often participating in folly too when we don’t see this as the way God acts in this world to help offer us wholeness and healing. Unfortunately even this system can cause corruption - for example, physical healing through medicine should not cause us financial distress that brings us into other situations that need God’s redemption.
What does it mean that we worship a healing God? It means that our God is a life-dealing God and wants life for us -- that God walks alongside us through every illness and every challenge. That our God who is “Emmanuel,” God with us, hurts with us and cries with us. And that our eternal hope and rest is in the promises of God, the promises of the Kingdom of heaven - that one day there will be a place of no sickness, pain, or death.
And until we reach that place - God is with us.
May it be so. Amen.
Jesus is now that same light in the midst of darkness. His ministry is heralding that God wants to release people from the oppressive rule of the Roman Empire. This Scripture is declaring who Jesus is - Jesus is a Savior from oppressive regimes. Jesus is light and life in the midst of darkness and death.
And now, we have the next quick line “From that time Jesus began to proclaim ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’” The Kingdom of Heaven is in contrast to the Kingdoms - the Assyrians and Romans of this world. And so we have to repent from any Kingdom we are following, any power that is of and in this world that is not God’s Kingdom - turn from anything that is death-wielding to that which is life-giving. This is what we pray for every week when we pray for weapons to be beaten into plowshares. To take that which gives death and turn it into that which tends life. There is so much in our world that is death-wielding and yet - when we look for it, when we participate in it - there is vibrant and abundant life there. For The Kingdom of Heaven is breaking into the world and God is active in this world - so what Kingdom are we actively seeking and following?
It is here that Peter and Andrew, James and John, are invited to follow Jesus - and they quickly answer the call. Fishermen did not live easy lives. The Roman Empire actually controlled all production from the lands and the sea and on top of their jobs being physically demanding, they were contracted and heavily taxed on every aspect of their livelihood. When Jesus shows up and offers them another way - they are quick to answer Jesus, to give up everything they knew, and to follow him. Sometimes we preachers have imagined a longer dialogue here or an inner struggle - but today I am struck by their quick response. When Jesus walks by on the shore - do you think in him they saw light shining in the darkness? I think they did. In Jesus, in his offer to make them fishers of people, they heard hope. They heard freedom. They heard a new way of living and being that offered wholeness. I think we desperately want to hear this see, see this, encounter this hope and new way in our world. And when it’s before you, you don’t hesitate. When you hear an offer like that, when you are given a gift like that, it is one you don’t hesitate to accept - you readily say yes - as the disciples readily followed Jesus.
And then, here’s how Matthew ties it all together:
“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.”
Jesus traveled through Roman controlled land and brought the Good News of another Kingdom, another way of being. A Kingdom of life, a Kingdom free from oppression, a kingdom of healing, a kingdom of wholeness. And this was a Kingdom that people so desperately needed to hear about. We may sometimes wonder why there is so much sickness in the Gospel stories? Why is Jesus healing everywhere he goes? Under the Roman Empire, 70-90% of the population lived in poverty which meant poor hygiene, high stress, dirty water, and food scarcity. These factors make for a petri dish of diseases. They also did not have the science and medical care that we have today. The people not only needed physical healing from their ailments -- they desperately needed hope and a new way to live. Living as a poor person under the Roman Empire basically guaranteed death at some point or another. Death like John the Baptist’s, his head on a platter for Herod. Death like Jesus’s, hung on a cross, considered an enemy of the state. Death from disease, from the strain of work, from poverty and hardship. So Jesus not only brought healing -- he brought the Good News -- that there is another Kingdom to follow. Another Kingdom that will eventually establish its full reign on Earth: not a Kingdom like the Roman Empire, but a Kingdom of Wholeness, of Life, of no more pain, death, or tears - the Kingdom of God.
It is this point - that Jesus is ushering in and inviting us into a new kind of Kingdom ruled by a Healing God - it is this point that all these stories, these seemingly rabbit trails, are pointing us toward, they are connected in showing us a light in the darkness; inviting us to turn from whatever is not life-giving; whatever power of this world, idol, or death-wielding way we are following - and readily follow Jesus and be participants in God’s Kingdom.
And today, I think we need this invitation and we need to answer its call just as much as the fishermen by the sea needed the invitation and needed to answer it. Just as much as those living with disease and every sickness needed healing.
We too need healing. We need healing from the empire we live in. From powers and systems that oppress, that divide us, that separate us, that profit off of our being scared, that profit off of us seeing our neighbors as our enemies, and that profit off of our pursuit for healing.
We need healing from broken relationships and broken homes. From addiction. From grudges. From abuse.
We need healing from disease and sickness, physical and mental, that hurts our bodies, our hearts, our minds.
We need healing in body, mind, and soul and the world we are living in needs healing. We are desperately looking for a light in the darkness to come and offer us deliverance.
And the Good News is...we do worship a healing God.
But, what does that mean? Does it mean we will be healed? Does it mean we can pray for healing? Does it mean we shouldn’t trust modern medicine and doctors? Will we be healed in this life? These are questions many are asking themselves as they wrestle with what it means that we worship a healing God.
These are my answers to that question and you may not find them satisfying.
“Does it mean we will be healed?” Maybe. We simply don’t know the future. We don’t know the way God acts. Sometimes healing doesn’t come in the form we expect either. We may be praying for healing of our bodies or the body of a loved one wracked my illness. The healing may come instead in the form of a mended relationship. Or the healing may come in the next life when we are fully in God’s presence without any pain.
“Can we pray for healing?” Yes, yes, yes. Healing of body, mind, and spirit. Prayers that we are in God’s hands - no matter the outcome. God wants us to talk to God though. To pour ourselves out. To talk, to listen, to be in God’s presence. Even just that act is a kind of healing.
“Should we trust modern medicine and doctors?” I believe God has many routes for miracles and God acts through modern medicine and doctors. We are often participating in folly too when we don’t see this as the way God acts in this world to help offer us wholeness and healing. Unfortunately even this system can cause corruption - for example, physical healing through medicine should not cause us financial distress that brings us into other situations that need God’s redemption.
What does it mean that we worship a healing God? It means that our God is a life-dealing God and wants life for us -- that God walks alongside us through every illness and every challenge. That our God who is “Emmanuel,” God with us, hurts with us and cries with us. And that our eternal hope and rest is in the promises of God, the promises of the Kingdom of heaven - that one day there will be a place of no sickness, pain, or death.
And until we reach that place - God is with us.
May it be so. Amen.
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