Pasadena Presbyterian Church
Sermon Text
 

Healed for Good

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. Jesus came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And Jesus cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. - Mark 1:29-39

Last week, the PBS program, Frontline, featured a documentary on Parkinson’s Disease produced by an award-winning journalist who has Parkinson’s, himself. I learned a lot and was deeply moved by the people to whom viewers were introduced.

Most of them were ordinary people like you and me, with stories of pain and joy, courage, anger, peace, and hope. Michael J. Fox, the actor diagnosed with Parkinson’s when he was only thirty-years-old, was also interviewed. Asked if he wishes that he didn’t have Parkinson’s, Fox responded, "No, I don’t. Through this, I have become much more than I otherwise would have been." Astounding. Fox has grown emotionally and spiritually stronger through his personal acquaintance with Parkinson’s. It was the catalyst for valuing his family and his life more deeply. It opened his heart to the hardships of others. It gives his life deeper meaning. Since his diagnosis, Fox has created a foundation for research, provided a public face for the illness, advocated before Congress for stem cell research, given and received hope and courage, love and grace among others who know Parkinson’s first-hand. Fox wants a cure, certainly. And sooner, rather than later, please. At the same time, Michael Fox knows that God has already brought healing to his spirit, and through him, to others. He hasn’t been cured, but he has been healed for good. He would not have asked God to give him Parkinson’s, but now that it has happened, he works with God to bring good from it. Michael Fox has become more than he would otherwise have been. He’s been healed for good.

According to the Gospel of Mark, when Simon welcomed Jesus as a house guest, Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a fever. "Jesus came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them."

When you and I get a fever, we tend not to worry. In Jesus’ day, however, nearly any illness that had a fever with it carried the potential of death. When Jesus healed Simon’s mother-in-law, he may have literally saved her life.

Being cured of a fever is great, but having your life saved is even better! No wonder she got up and served him! I don’t think she served him just because it was a woman’s duty to serve anyone who came into the household, however. It also probably wasn’t because her parents taught her to say, "please" and "thank you." Jesus saved her life. She wanted to say "thank you" by doing good and serving him. Her service was rooted in gratitude. Her service came from knowing what God had done for her. I don’t think her life was ever the same.

"Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. ‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home," we sing in the familiar words of Amazing Grace. I know the truth of those words in my own life. Healing doesn’t always bring a cure, but God has always brought me safe to the other side, and healed me for good.

How have you been healed? Healing comes when light shines through the cloud of depression. Healing comes when we find peace with a diagnosis. Jesus heals us when he gives us courage to step into the future.

What are you doing with your healing? When healing comes, it’s given not just for us, but that we might, through our lives, bring about good for others. Recovering alcoholics know what it’s like to have others help them and they often show their gratitude by helping others walk the steps. Attend a support group for people living with cancer, M.S. or mental illness, and although participants may not have been cured, you sense that they are using God’s healing power for good. Watch people in this church who’ve experienced personal tragedy or sorrow reach out to someone else in similar circumstances. You’ll see abundant grace, gentle strength and the love of God pass between them. They’ve been healed by Jesus and are working with God to redeem whatever happened to them, by reaching out to others.

These are people whose prayers may not have been answered in the way they wish, but who were healed, nevertheless. From prisons of addiction, pits of despair, and islands of isolation, Jesus saved their life as surely as he saved Simon’s mother-in-law. Healed by Jesus, they focus not on their own selves, as though they deserved or accomplished their own healing. Instead, they are filled with humility and gratitude that leads them to serve Jesus and others.

When asked how he came to terms with his illness, Michael Fox said that he remembers telling his therapist, "I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop." She responded. "It already has. You have Parkinson’s." At that moment he started living again, and began working for good. He wasn’t cured, but he was healed. Like Simon’s mother-in-law, he is saying "thank you" with his life.

Simon’s mother-in-law, whose name is not recorded, teaches us how to say."thank you." Were you ill and you came back to life? Was a loved one ill and God gave all you needed to be with her in that time and to care for yourself, as well? Did you worry about your children, and then find a community of support that brought goodness to your children and yourself? Did you lose a job and find others willing to walk with you? Did friends carry you on their shoulders when your life fell apart? Did the music of worship and the comfort of hearing the church at prayer sustain you in hard times? How do you say,"Thank you?" You humbly serve Jesus and the others who are hungry for what you can offer. You’ve been healed for good. Amen.