The Healing Touch: A Life Renewed
Rev. Eugene N. Nelson, Jr.
The Community Church of Sebastopol
February 8, 2009
Mark 1:29-39
Reflecting on this text, Laurence Wood, pastor and author, writes, "I've been pleased to know some remarkable women, whose names may never be written large in church history, even though their influence has been widely felt." I could say the same. He continues, "May I publicly thank Sharon Thorton, Muggs Jardene, Wanda Hubble, Jaretta Beskey. Every summer these matriarchs would help to put on a church dinner. One year one woman could not help out having just had a hip replacement. I went to check on her the day before the dinner. 'They're not using boxed potatoes are they?' She demanded. 'The people who come here expect real potatoes.' 'They're planning to peel potatoes all morning.' I said. 'And the ham. Did they get a good dry ham or the watery kind.' Says the minister, 'Honestly, I didn't know. It was probably the same ham as always.' I asked if she'd always enjoyed cooking. To my surprise, she adamantly said no, that cooking was nothing but a big chore. 'Really,' I asked? 'I thought you enjoyed this.' She responded, 'I sure don't love those potatoes.' Then she looked at me and said, 'Really, young man, you should know that I love Jesus and there are only so many ways a body can do that.' And so, in that church kitchen, year after year after year, she found a way to give something of herself and to express her love for her Lord. How many like her have there been over the years."
How many in this church, women and men, express their love for Jesus and the church by doing what they can to serve? Maybe just doing an inventory in fellowship hall kitchen, cleaning the gutters, whatever, doing what they can.
And I wonder if the same could be said for Peter's mother-in-law. We don't even know her name. Everyone knows Simon Peter's name, no one knows her’s. It was not uncommon for a woman in first century Palestine, some would say, not that uncommon now. We guess she must have been widowed since she lived with Peter and his wife, her daughter, and Andrew, Peter's brother. And it's safe to assume that she worked hard doing what she could to help care for the family: chopping wood, salting fish, watching the grandchildren, whatever she could do. But one day she woke up and could do none of that. She was sick in bed, had a fever. In that time and place she was in a dangerous state. There were no antibiotics, no x-ray of her lungs to check for pneumonia. All her daughter could do was hold her Mother's hand and hope. Then Jesus showed up at the door. In fact, he came into the house, he risked catching the infection, he risked becoming ritually unclean by touching the sick woman. It was something a family member might do, but not a complete stranger. He came in and he touched her. Says Mark, "He came, took her by the hand and lifted her up." He touched her, and everything changed.
Ten years ago, my good friend in ministry, Michael Moore, was here for my twentieth anniversary. He told the story of our meeting, some of you might remember this. We were down at the annual meeting of the United Church of Christ of Northern California at Asilomar, in a big room down there. He said, "We looked across the room and caught each other's eye. And in that moment, we knew that we were the only two people in the room who neither needed nor wanted a hug." Well, maybe one advantage of getting a little older is that hugs can come easier now, especially when you begin to have grandchildren. And I think I'm beginning to realize that this flesh of ours is one way God gets through to us, encounters us. Jesus will not be spiritualized, he will not be kept at a distance. He takes the initiative. He goes in the house. He takes her hand, lifts her up and God's healing power is released.
Some of you may have come across this story told by a physician, Dr. Richard Seltzer. "I stand by the bed where the young woman lies. Her face postoperative, her mouth twisted, palsied, clownish. A tiny twig of the facial nerve, the one to the muscles of her mouth had been severed. To remove the tumor in her cheek, I had to cut that little nerve. The young husband is in the room. He stands on the opposite side of the bed, and together they seem to dwell in the evening lamplight, isolated from me, private. 'Will my mouth always be like this,' she asks? 'Yes,' I say. 'It will, because I had to cut the nerve.' She nods and is silent. But the young man smiles. 'I like it,' he said. 'Kind of cute.' He then bends to kiss her crooked mouth, and I'm so close, that I can see how he twists his own lips to accommodate hers. To show her that their kiss still works. I hold my breath and just let the wonder in." Jesus would understand the importance, indeed, the sacredness of that kiss.
Look at the number of times he reached out to those whose bodies were undervalued, even rejected by the world around them. A touch, an embrace, a hand on a hurting place and lives were changed. I think Jesus would understand what Johnny Cash was talking about when he sang, "Flesh and blood, need flesh and blood. And you're the one I need." Again, Jesus is not interested in a spirituality that leaves the body behind. Eugene Peterson, an author that I greatly admire writes, "Everything Jesus does, he does with his hands deep into the soil and flesh of creation." So he goes into Peter's house, sees his mother-in-law and the word becomes flesh, makes a home in her flesh, and there is healing.
I'm essentially a person who likes living in his head. If I had my way, I'd probably spend most of the time in my study at home reading, writing, preparing, thinking great thoughts, hmmm. But a text like this reminds me of the need to get Christ out of my head and under my skin. Matter matters, connection matters, taking a hand matters, a hug matters. Touching the truth with my mind just isn't enough. Forgiveness, compassion, love, prayer, they all need bodily expression, need to become flesh within us. ‘He took her hand and lifted her up.’ Isn't that something we can do for each other? Provide a healing, caring connection in the flesh?
Returning to our text, what is the first thing Peter’s mother-in-law does after this healing encounter with Christ? Mark tells us, "And she began to serve them." OK, I can see some of you, and by you I mean you women, just rolling your eyes now. Here the poor woman's just up from her death bed and what does she do, she gets up, goes in the kitchen and serves the men. Nothing ever changes. This has not been the most favorite feminist text. Subjugation of yet another woman to a patriarchal society. But is that really what happened? You know, no one commands her to serve. This time she is the one who takes the initiative. I have read that she is the very first person in the Gospels who understands that the Messiah, himself, has come as a servant. And her service is a loving and thankful response to the one who has come among us to serve. In fact, in this text, the verb to serve comes from the same word from which we get diaconate: those who care and serve within the church. So one could argue that Simon's mother-in-law was the first deacon. She became a willing and loving servant out of reciprocal love.
The story is told of a man who was looking for a parking place on a street in San Francisco. He did not want to pay the price of a parking garage. As he drove around, increasingly frustrated, he finally uttered this prayer. "Lord, if you lead me to a parking place, I promise to go to church every Sunday, give up drinking, donate 10% of all I have to the church." I guess there are really no atheists in fox holes or in a search for a parking place in the city. Suddenly, right in front of him a space opened up. Immediately, he looked up and said, "Never mind, God. I found one." How easy it is to convince ourselves it's all about me. That I'm all I need. I'm the source of all my blessings. Thanks God, I really didn't need your help after all. But what's so remarkable about Peter's mother-in-law is that she doesn't say that. She moves in a different direction. She knows amazing grace when she sees it, when she receives it. She knows the true source of her blessing. In that moment she knows that Christ has not only touched and healed her but has also made her a full partner with him in the healing of the world. For her the healing is not so much a destination as it is a door, a door opening her to others. So she gets up ready to serve. This isn't subservience, this is discipleship.
I think back to those women working in that church kitchen, particularly the one who faithfully cut potatoes for years but never really liked doing it very much. But, she did it, and she missed it when she couldn't do it. Why? "Really young man, you should know that I love Jesus and there are only so many ways a body can do that."
Yesterday, at the Palm Drive Hospital, was an opportunity to register as a blood marrow donor. Talk about a concrete way to serve and make really a life saving difference. But I also learned that I couldn't register, at least I was discouraged from registering. Why? Well, happy birthday to me, I just turned 60. As if there weren't already enough bad jokes about growing older, by the way, along with everything else, your blood marrow is pretty much shot and we don't really want it anymore. Can't wait to see what other surprises await. The passing years do things to us, and not only physical things. We get a bit tired and weary. We grow cautious. We have investments and pensions to protect, well, we used to! Compassion fatigue can set in. I've done enough. Someone else's turn. I mean, really, who among, us, no matter what age, has not felt that way from time to time. But not Peter's mother-in-law. After her encounter with Jesus you get the feeling she's only just begun. We see the power of his touch, of his call, and of her response.
In the words of one of my mentors, Bill Nelson, "We are not called to get along by going along. From the beginning, Jesus asked his disciples to set the standard, to be the dreamers, have a certain recklessness about seeking a better world. To run a risk or two. That means we do not surrender our high ideals for home and family, do not lose heart when we see confusion and violence all around us. We keep on caring and we keep on trying." "Young man, you should know that I love Jesus." And so, how are you loving Christ in your body? What word is God calling you to embody? What word are you hearing in your flesh? How are you practicing incarnation? Putting flesh on the call to discipleship and service. For matter matters. Flesh and blood need flesh and blood, and we're the ones God needs.