Healing, Wholeness, and Faith

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

DFMS Noonday Prayer

October 13, 2020 

Psalm 10; Jonah 1:1-17a; Luke 8:40-56

 

Hearing this Gospel story today is a powerful reminder for me that the stories of Scripture continue to speak to us, no matter how many times we have read them.  As you might imagine, these stories of healing have always had particular significance for me. In my own spiritual journey as a cancer survivor, I have struggled with what it means to be healed.  So often the healing stories in the Gospels are miraculous ones that seem to provide a complete restoration to health.  Yet that is so often not our own experience.  

Alongside the healing of Jarius’ daughter, there is another story of healing that happens while Jesus is on the way to the house.  He heals a woman who has been bleeding for 12 years.  Jesus says to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace and be healed of your disease.”  This is another miracle story, but there is something very profound for me in that statement, “your faith has made you well.”  For me that statement shows me that healing is about more than the absence of disease.  It is through faith that we can be restored to wholeness.  It is not about whether our scars disappear or our physical challenges go away completely.  The gift of faith enables us to be whole people no matter our physical limitations.  Our identity as children of God has much more to do with the strength of our faith than with the strength of our bodies.

For me these Gospel stories of healing ask us to reimagine our understanding of what it means to be “cured” or made well or whole. If a cure is just about the absence of disease and we do not have to walk the often challenging road of healing, then we may also miss out on the lessons that can be learned along the way.  It has been my experience that some profound moments of perspective, of deep connection to God, and even moments of joy, are found when we have experienced deep pain. 

A friend once asked me, if I had to do it all over again would I choose to have cancer?  Well this may sound strange to you, but actually the answer is yes.  Now,  of course, part of the reason I say that is because I am healthy today. And yet truly the benefits and gifts of my experience outweigh the pain and challenges. I met so many wonderful people and had opportunities I otherwise would not have had. Most of all I was given another perspective. I had to face my own mortality as a teenager, when most of my peers were convinced they were invincible. I learned firsthand how precious and fragile human life is. This perspective helps me live each day a little more fully and to be more aware of all the blessings I have. It helps me not to take things for granted, for we never know how long we have.

I also believe that in a subtle way the Gospel lesson is hinting at this broader idea of healing, when Jesus heals Jarius' daughter, he does not let the focus be on his miraculous efforts, rather he focuses on the needs of the daughter so that she may be brought back into the family life and may live life fully.  A reminder that the real object of healing is to bring us more fully into a place of living faithfully. Healing may or may not be physical, but if we can live in faith, find peace, and live fully into each day, then maybe, we all shall be healed. Although the reality of that healing may not be what we had initially hoped or desired. This story tells us that Jesus is there in our places of pain and suffering, amidst all the challenges. We are all too aware in these days and times of the realities of human suffering. 

        There is an invitation today to find peace and joy even amidst our suffering and our pain.  To remember that God is there walking the road with us.  God knows our suffering all too well. God weeps with us in our pain. God embraces us and offers us hope.  We have hope in Love, in forgiveness, and redemption. Hope in the all important truth that no matter what we are not alone in our suffering.

I also think it is important for us to see another invitation to hope and possibility in this Gospel story. It is about our interactions with others.  I am struck by how many people in the crowd around Jesus were discouraging. The crowd believed Jarius’ daughter was dead.  They did not think it was worth Jesus time or effort.  Some laughed at him when he told them not to mourn and not be discouraged, because the child was only sleeping.  Jesus did not only offer the gift of healing to the daughter or the woman who was bleeding.  He offered  it to all who are witnesses.  As I am sure you all have experienced, those of us who have been witnesses to moments of healing and transformation do not remain unchanged.  Witnessing God's transforming love at work in the world changes us.  Jesus offered the gift of wholeness to all those present with him on that day.  Yet so many there were so sure of themselves, so sure of their own ideas that they missed out on that invitation.

May we avoid that pitfall.  May we always be open to the ways that God is leading our lives and our relationships on paths of healing.  May we be open to following the journey to wholeness.  May we be open to the unexpected possibilities.  May our own need for certainty not blind us to the surprises God has in store for us.  May we continue to be transformed and healed as we witness the myriad of ways that God is at work in the world. AMEN.

Love and the limits of the English Language

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

Chapel of our Lord, Episcopal Church Center

Charles Simeon, November 12, 2019

Psalm 145:8-13; Isaiah 12:1-6; Romans 10:8b-17;John 21:15-17

May God’s Word be spoken. May God’s Word be heard. May that point us to the living Word who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Perhaps one of the most quotable movies of my childhood is the fairy tale movie, Princess Bride. One of my favorite quotes is from Mandy Patikin’s character, in response to his friend who keeps saying “Inconceivable!” He says, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” I think Mandy would fit right in with our Gospel reading for today. I can just imagine him standing next to Jesus and Peter, saying, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” So true.  

This is one of those Gospel readings where the limits of the English language really do us a disservice. Jesus and Peter are having a conversation, but when we look at the original Greek, “conversation” might be a little generous. They are really talking past each other. Jesus keeps asking Peter if he loves him. Peter keeps saying he does, but they are not actually saying the same thing. Jesus is asking Peter if he loves him, using the Greek word, Agape. Peter keeps answering that he loves him using the Greek word, Phileo. As most of you likely know, those two words do not mean the same thing. 

Agape love is the love Jesus has for us. It is the love of spouses for each other. It is the love parents have for their children. It is the love of cherished values and principles. It is the kind of love that we would give anything to protect, up to and including our own lives. It is the self-sacrificing love we see most evident in the life and death of Jesus. 

And Peter just keeps answering him with “Phileo.” That’s the love of friends. It can be deep and meaningful, of course. But it is not the all consuming, all giving love that is Agape. It is just another story where it can be tempting to chide the disciples for how thick headed they can be. You want to shake Peter’s shoulder and say, “Don’t you get it? Don’t you hear what Jesus is asking of you? He doesn’t just want you to be his friend. He wants you to be willing to lay down your life for him.” It is easy to chide Peter for his thick headedness or for his fear, but really if we think about it, no doubt, we too have had our Peter moments. 

This conversation has significant staying power because it is a conversation any of us could have on any day with Jesus. We are faced with a question or with a dilemma, and through it Jesus is asking us, “Do you love me?” Jesus is asking us to do the right thing, even if it is hard. To follow the Way of Love. To do the thing that calls us into being our best self. To do the thing that builds up the Kingdom.  

And yet, it can be so tempting to be like Peter. Especially if we are tired or anxious. If we are feeling angry or unloved ourselves. If we are feeling short on patience, then it can be tempting to want to be like Peter and give just a little bit. 

But where our faith is concerned, where Jesus is concerned, a little bit does not cut it. Being a follower of Jesus is not something we can do lightly or half-heartedly. Jesus asks us to jump into the deep end of the pool, not to wade into our knees and call it good enough. It may seem like a lot to ask of us, to give our whole selves, our whole lives over to Jesus, but if we have ever felt the effects of agape love in our own human relationships, we know it is completely worth it. 

Perhaps you know that love from a spouse, someone who has willingly sacrificed in order to bring you joy. Or perhaps you have been blessed to have a parent who has given you that kind of love, where you have seen them put aside their own wants and desires in order to realize a dream for you? And if you are a parent, then you know what it feels like to give this love, it is instinctual and automatic. And the amazing thing is that it does not feel like a painful sacrifice, for the joy that comes from building up and caring for someone we love is a gift, a blessing far outweighs any challenges. And that my friends, is also the love that Jesus has for us. A generous, giving love that overflows into the world. 

In our Gospel today, and everyday, Jesus is inviting us to share in that love. To allow his love for us into our hearts, and to follow him, to love as he loves. Jesus is inviting us to be an example for the world of what it looks like to be a community of people who live lives overflowing with love. Jesus is inviting us to join him in transforming the world. AMEN.