Hidden glory in the healing

Mark 1:29-39 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. ³⁰ Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. ³¹ So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. ³² That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. ³³ The whole town gathered at the door, ³⁴ and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. ³⁵ Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. ³⁶ Simon and his companions went to look for him, ³⁷ and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!" ³⁸ Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else-- to the nearby villages-- so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." ³⁹ So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3). Amen.

Joseph DiMeo was involved in a horrific car accident when he was 19 years old. He fell asleep at the wheel and flipped his vehicle. Thankfully, someone pulled him from the burning car before it exploded. But Joseph still suffered severe burns over 80% of his body. He spent 3 months in a medically induced coma while physicians worked on him.

Even after countless skin grafts, Joseph was left disfigured and unable to use his hands. But the amazing doctors at the NYU Langone Health were able to do something that is just completely wild.

They transplanted both his hands … and his face!

Nine months into their search, the doctors were able to match him with an ideal donor. The medical team worked in shifts for the 23-hour long procedure to transform Joseph’s life.

Last week we heard how Jesus was in the Capernaum synagogue preaching in the worship service. Then he found himself face-to-face with a demon-possessed man. First, Jesus set the people free by preaching forgiveness and salvation in his name. Then he set this poor man free as he sent the demon back to its hellish prison.

Jesus’ day is just beginning. Our Gospel today says, “As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew.  Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever.” Jesus and his disciples cross the street from the synagogue to Peter’s home. There they found Peter’s mother-in-law in bed with a fever.

How well do you get along with your mother-in-law? Some of you struggle. Others have a great relationship. We don’t know how Peter felt about his mother-in-law, but I imagine that he was deeply moved by Jesus healing his wife’s mother.

When Pastor Laitinen and I talked about the introduction of Mark’s Gospel in our Thirsty podcast, we mentioned that this is really Peter’s Gospel. Mark is the author, writing by description from Peter and inspiration through the Holy Spirit. Peter would see plenty of miracles from Jesus. But this one was very personal. It never left him. Think about how many times Mark must have heard about this miracle directly from Peter’s lips in his preaching and teaching. And again as he relates the story to Mark to write in his Gospel.

Peter told the story of his mother-in-law’s healing for years. Others must have heard about Jesus healing her fever and the demon-possessed man over the remaining hours of the Sabbath. Because as soon as the sun went down people started coming from all corners of Capernaum. The whole town took up residence at Peter’s little house. People were being carried on mats or draped over shoulders. Demonized people were spitting and cussing and foaming at the mouth. People with horrible, disfiguring diseases crawled their way to the house. The front lawn must have looked like an episode of MASH (without the laugh track).

What Jesus did for Peter’s mother-in-law, he did with everyone who came to Peter’s house to be healed. He touched every one of them. Not a single one was turned away. Not a single one was sent home with their illness, not a single one left the house void of Christ’s love. He healed their diseases. He cured their sicknesses. He stopped their runny noses. He cleansed their leprosies. He drove out their demons. He loved every one of them. Now they could all go home and be with their families.

But, if Jesus had the power to drive out their demons, if he had the compassion to heal their diseases, if he loved them enough to cure them, then why did he get up early Sunday morning and leave Capernaum? Mark writes, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: ‘Everyone is looking for you!’”

Jesus seemed so nice to those with fevers and broken bones and demon possessions. He healed them all. But then he left. There were still more to heal. Where did he go? Why didn’t he keep on healing?

We often think the same things, don’t we? Jesus doesn’t seem so nice when he allows our child to be sick enough to end up in the hospital. It can feel like it is Sunday morning and Jesus is nowhere around when the doctor tells us “cancer.” Jesus can appear distant when he doesn’t touch us with a miraculous healing. He can seem aloof when he doesn’t answer our constant prayers for better health. He can seem cruel when he takes months to transplant a face and hands.

It can seem like Jesus has gone away for the day.

If Jesus has the power to drive out demons, if he has the compassion to heal diseases, why doesn’t he heal me? If he loved them enough to restore their health, then why doesn’t Jesus love me enough to stop my constant pain? If he is so busy on Saturday, why does it seem like he takes off on Sunday? 

We expect healing to come from Jesus’ hands when we pray for healing. We want the same kind of miracles performed on us that Jesus performed in Capernaum. We anticipate that Jesus would just take us – or our sick loved ones – by the hand and make the fever go away. We assume that if the Great Physician worked the late shift on that Sabbath evening, he would put in overtime for us on Sunday morning, too.

Friends, our priorities are upside down. We expect all the wrong things. We want band-aids from God. Happy pills. A quick fix. Something to make us healthy, wealthy, and wise. We want answers to all our perplexing questions. We want solutions to all our stubborn problems. We want healing for all our diseases. We want our demons silenced.

But that’s not why Jesus came. Jesus did not enter our world in order to cure our diseases. He entered our world to be the cure for the sin that kills us. He did not reach out his hands to make our bodies feel better. He reached out his hands so our bodies might one day enter heaven. He did not come to restore our health. He came to restore our relationship with God.

Notice how we pray in both our personal prayers and in our intercessory prayers in church. We pray for healing, for recovery, for returning home from the hospital. Then that’s the end of our prayer. A better way to pray is, “Lord, please heal me. But if it is your will that I be sick so you can use this illness to teach me or train others around me, then let your will be done.” “Jesus, if it is your will to not return my strength, then give me a double portion of our Spirit to make me stronger in my faith.”

We are too focused on this world and not focused enough on the world to come. We are praying that our will be done, forgetting to take into account that our illness may be God’s will being done. I’ve had elderly saints say they feel guilty that their children are taking care of them. I gently remind them of the Fourth Commandment. This can be God’s way of allowing their children to “Honor their father and mother.” When we are ill, that may be God’s way of allowing fellow saints around us to demonstrate love to their neighbor in acts of service or encouraging the saints to “pray in every circumstance.” When we are ill, homebound, hospitalized or in hospice care, we are a captivate audience. We are right where God wants us. We have nothing else we can do but listen to Jesus. We have no one else to trust, so we trust God’s love and providence. We have no physical strength, so we find our spiritual strength in the Lord. We finally despair of ourselves and put our faith in God.

When Peter finally found Jesus on Sunday morning, this is what Jesus said about his absence: “Let us go somewhere else-- to the nearby villages-- so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”

Jesus came to preach, not heal. But it is the healing that we like. It is the miracles that we like. Preaching, well that’s another matter.

Answers. Miracles. Healings. We’re hooked on these things. We pray for answers, miracles, and healings. And all Jesus offers is a sermon. That’s so contradictory to our way of thinking! We don’t pray for longer sermons. We don’t ask for more preaching. We don’t expect more worship services. But that’s what Jesus offers. He calls pastors into pulpits to preach. He puts teachers into our Lutheran grade schools and high schools to preach. He places Bibles into your hands so he might preach.

Jesus does not demonstrate his love by healing you. Jesus does not demonstrate a lack of love for you by not healing you. Rather, Jesus uses the diseases and ailments and injuries that you endure to strengthen your faith in him. That’s what Paul means in Romans 8:28: “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Every person that Jesus healed in Capernaum that Sabbath would eventually become sick again and die. Every person that Jesus did not heal in Capernaum on Sunday might get better or they might get worse, but eventually they would die. Jesus had not come to fight diseases. He had come to fight death. … And win!

But people needed to know this. We need to know this. We don’t learn this in the visible glory in his healing. We learn this in the hidden glory of his preaching.

Jesus didn’t heal everyone in Capernaum because it wasn’t necessary to heal everyone. That’s not what he came for. That’s not how he deals with diseases and demons. The way Jesus deals with demons and diseases is to die, and to drop all our diseases and demons down into the black hole of his death. The way he heals us is not to give us band-aids and painkillers, but with his painful death and glorious resurrection. The diseases we endure are merely symptoms of a much greater disease – sin. Jesus did not come to deal with the symptoms by healing every disease or mending every broken bone or repairing every torn ACL. He came to deal with the disease itself – sin. He dealt with it by carrying humanity’s sins upon himself to the cross. He buried our sins in his grave. He rose from the grave leaving our sins in the tomb. The earthly effects of sin still remain. But the much more important eternal effects of sin have been removed.

Death and resurrection is the way Jesus works true and lasting healing. The miracles just point the way to Jesus. Then we can listen to His preaching.

Our great comfort as Christians comes not in the fact that our bodies are healed, but that our souls are saved. Receiving healing for our bodies from Jesus is great. Receiving salvation for our bodies and souls from Jesus in answer is eternally better. Miracles are great. Preaching is always greater. Amen.

“May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with you all.” (2 Thessalonians 3:16). Amen.