2024 02 04 FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY Year B
Isaiah 40:21-31 •
Psalm 147:1-11, 20c • 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 • Mark
1:29-39
Failure,
sickness and death are facts of life that we all share. However, this is not the way God
intended. The proof is that Jesus came,
healed many, raised some to life, and Jesus died to atone for the failure of
all. The question is; how does this play
out in our lives today, and make a difference to the way we live?
In
this season of the green vestments, the Sundays following Epiphany, we have
been on a journey of discovery. We been
discovering God’s call to us. We have been reminded that he continues to call
us and also calls us to an action. For
Samuel, it was to hear God and deliver His message, for Jonah it was to proclaim
God’s word to the Ninevites, showing us God’s love and concern for all, as the
Ninevites were Israel’s enemy. Last week we discovered the heart and attitude
we need to have as we go about answering that call of God. We were reminded that Jesus had all
authority, yet His attitude was not one that lorded it over people, and in
silencing the Demon, rather than proclaim His divinity, and therefore, His
authority, He allowed them freedom to choose.
Therefore, the same respectful and freeing attitude of Christ is what we
need to exhibit when we are active in our God given calling – which each of us
has. – no exceptions.
This
week we explore the nature of God. We become
fully aware of just how magnificent is the power of God, and we reflect on how
that power is manifest in our own lives.
Our first reading and our Psalm both proclaim aspects of God that reveal
His magnificence. “Lift up your eyes
on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers
them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in
power, not one is missing.” The
author is speaking of the stars in the sky.
Not one is missing, because God is in control. This is the God who parted the sea for the
Israelites and fed them with manna in the desert. When Jesus was revealed to humanity, He
commanded storms to cease and trees to wither, demons to come out and be silent
and bodies to be healed. There are many
who like to try and make sense of these things by claiming some kind of natural
phenomenon. To them I say, “Is God God,
or not?” and I might quote out reading
from Isaiah.
God
is not some demi-god like we watch in the movies, who loses his hammer and
makes bad decisions. This is our God who
created all that is. He is omnipotent and
above time and place. We believe in one
God, the Father, the Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen
and unseen. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally
begotten of the Father; God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God;
begotten not made, one in being with the Father….
This
is our mighty God who, though he spreads out the heavens, he cares for us and
heals the sick and casts out demons. His power is limitless and He
sent us His Holy Spirit to be with us always.
Perhaps I should pause for our silent reflection…… Are we aware that God is with us? He wants to be with us and he wants to
live through us. How IS the power of God
manifest in our own lives?
Before
we all get too hard on ourselves thinking that maybe we could do better…. A great Chinese Christian man by the name of
Watchman Nee said, “For those who walk in the Spirit, the supernatural becomes
natural.” Therefore, unless we stop to
reflect, we might not realize just what impact our relying on the power of God
is having in our lives. That being said,
it is also worth reflecting whether we are relying on God’s power or whether we
are living our lives in our own strength.
One
of the mysteries of our faith is that Jesus was both fully human and fully
God. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem,
grew, ministered, suffered and died, He operated as fully human – even though
he was fully God. Because Jesus operated
as fully human, He also, like us, needed to rely on the power of God the Father
for His ministry. This is why we find
Jesus at times ask, “Who touched me”… and at yet know that something
significant and spiritual had happened…. Ah but that story is not until chapter
5 and we are still in chapter 1.
In
today’s Gospel passage, we follow on from last week’s reading where Jesus was
in the Synagogue teaching and had healed the demonic man. For us a week has past, but in the story, we
are on the same day. Jesus goes from the
Synagogue to Andrew and Simon’s house where they tell him Simon’s mother-in-law
has a fever. This was a time when a
fever could end in death. Jesus heals
her and she began to serve them.
Contrary
to what some may think, Jesus didn’t heal her so that He’d have someone to
serve them dinner. There are times when
Jesus heals and the person healed is so grateful and convicted about the power
of God that they want to stay and work with Jesus. I believe this is one of those situations,
and I believe this passage is indicating more than the woman serving
dinner. She served them… His disciples….
She worked with them, assisting them in their ministry.
We
are told that after sundown, people brought the sick and possessed to
Jesus. Remember the day that Jesus
arrived at the house was the Sabbath, but after sundown the Sabbath was over
and the healing would have been acceptable by the Pharisees and all those who
adhered to God’s laws.
This
was a time when sickness meant being an outcast, a sinner, a person considered
unclean. We are told that there were
various diseases and they were all healed and demons were cast out, but Jesus
wouldn’t allow them to speak.
There
are many speculations about why Jesus wanted the demons to remain silent and
not disclose his divinity. It is called
the Messianic Secret. If Jesus had have
allowed them to speak and proclaim His divine nature, it certainly would have
drawn attention from the authorities much more quickly, not allowing him the
freedom to go to certain places. But more
than that, I believe Jesus kept them silent because he never demanded adoration
or worship. This is a God who desires
instead, to be loved by someone who is free to reject him. It isn’t truly love if we are commanded,
coerced or frightened into it.
No
doubt the healings in themselves created quite a buzz, and Jesus constantly
withdrew. He desired to proclaim the
Good News of God’s great love to all and to set people free and that means He
desired to heal them of their afflictions also.
Do you think that Jesus, who desired to heal those he encountered,
desires you and I to be healed also?
Also, does Jesus still desire to set people outside the churches free by
healing them? How can he reach them
today?
Freedom
has been another theme running from week to week in our Corinthian reading. We have been set free. But in the year 2024 have we? Are we really living in the freedom that
Christ brings us? A great Bible speaker
used to say, “You indeed have every gift that God has to offer, but that
doesn’t mean that you are enjoying that gift.”
What he means is that God does certainly set us free. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit sent to
the church at Pentecost, we’ve been given access to all that God is, but are we
even aware of all that God has given us?
The
answer is always going to be NO, because the magnitude of God is unfathomable
and so too are His gifts. However, there
are some that are obvious and He has revealed them. The challenge is always going to be there, as
we rely on the Holy Spirit to lead us into the revelation of these gifts, but I
think it is pretty fair to say that we need to be actively seeking God’s
revelation. God has given the body of
Christ every thing it needs…. But are we enjoying those gifts?
Are
we praying for healing and those people are healed? Healing is one of the gifts of the
spirit. Jesus did tell His followers, “Very
truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing,
and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the
Father.”
We
are all called by God. We are all called
to an action… As we go about this
ministry, we need to embody the attitude of Christ, who was totally confident
in His authority, but totally respected those he dealt with and never demanded
anything from them… in fact, there were a number of healed lepers who left
Jesus and only one returned to give him thanks. Did the others lose their healing because
they didn’t thank him? NO - they were
all healed – Jesus loves! In his love he
desires to set people free. For some
that meant that he had to cast out demons and for others it meant healing from
their diseases and for all of us it means that He made atonement for our sins
and we are all forgiven in his sacrifice.
We
need to know all these things. Not just
believe them… we need to know them by heart, because the next part of our call
is to manifest the power of God in our lives so that not only our lives are
changed, but also those with whom we meet, talk with and pray for will be
healed and set free.
Saint
Paul explains that he became all things to all people, so that he might save
some. This isn’t about pretending to be
something that we are not, but it is about identifying with them. When we are chatting with someone who feels
that they have been unfairly treated, we need to so understand their situation
that we can acknowledge their pain. Then
we pray.
Do
our prayers achieve anything? A few days
ago, my grand daughter came running into the kitchen at my place holding her
finger – which looked totally normal.
“Owie” she said. And I
immediately said, “Nanny will get you ice and fix it”. “No, Rex” she said. Previously at my place, she had hurt herself
- nothing serious - and Rex did what Rex, my husband always does – He prayed
for it.
I
don’t know what goes on in that little person’s head, but I do believe that she
recognised something of God’s truth - something I too believe, which is that my
husband has a special gift of healing. Early
in my relationship with Rex he prayed for my neck pain that I’d been suffering
with for a couple of years and was getting worse– and after prayer it started
to diminish and finally disappeared. This little episode with the granddaughter
and preparing for this service prompted the question that Rex and I discussed –
are we being good stewards with the gifts that God has given us?
When
anyone asks, Rex will pray. I think he
is a pretty good steward, but this all prompts another question; do we even
know what gifts God has given us? And how can we be good stewards if we aren’t
fully aware of the gifts that we have?
And
here is the next part of our call…. We are called to carry on the work of Jesus
in setting people free and we need to understand that in doing this we need to
pray for them in the same way as Jesus did - relying on God’s power manifest in
our lives, which may include all those gifts of the spirit - words of
knowledge, increased faith, the gifts of healing, the gift of miracles,
prophecy, the discernment of spirits, kinds of tongues, interpretation of
tongues.
After
that busy day that we read about Jesus’ healings and casting out demons, Jesus rose early in the morning and went by
himself to pray. It was in this quiet
time with God that Jesus received the direction about what His next action
would be… not only that, but it was in that action that he received the energy…
the life… the ability to be fit for the task.
Our
first reading contains verses that are really special to me; “He gives power to
the faint, and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but
those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up
with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and
not faint.”
Do
you feel weary, exhausted, in competent and unworthy? Good!
You are a prime candidate for a manifestation of God’s power – His power
is made perfect in weakness and as we wait on the LORD, we renew our strength
and we become fit for the call of God – totally reliant on HIS power.
My
prayer for us all today, and I hope you can join me in making this a focus for
our week to come, is to wait on God, to seek His direction in our lives and to
look for opportunities to pray for those we meet. We ARE the body of Christ and His spirit is
truly with us. Let us BE the body and carry
on the ministry of Christ in all its power and love.
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