Sermon for February 7, 2021 Epiphany 5 B House of Prayer Lutheran Church

Mark 1:29-39; Isaiah 40:21-31 Rev. Karl-John N. Stone

Last Tuesday was Groundhog Day, so in observance of the holiday I watched the classic movie called “Groundhog Day”. Maybe you did, too? I think it’s got just the right blend of comedy and seriousness. In between laughs, you find yourself rooting both for and against the main character, Phil Conners--who is a misanthropic weatherman (played by Bill Murray), sent to the small town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover their annual Groundhog Day festival. When he arrives, he finds himself caught in a time loop, waking up each morning in the same hotel room, at the same time, in Punxsutawney, and repeating the day of February 2nd over and over again. No matter what he does, Phil Conners can’t get himself out of repeating Groundhog Hog Day--and it’s driving him crazy.

At one point, another character says to him, “You don’t like anybody.” And he responds, “I don’t even like myself!” I won’t give away the movie in case you haven’t seen it, but when he says that line, you can hear in him that maybe--just maybe--he might finally be starting to pay attention to the things in his life that he needs to be healed of. Maybe, by beginning to pay attention to the pain that he’s been carrying around for a long time, he can start finding ways of actually liking himself, and liking other people, and finding healing by becoming more connected to the community.

We see a similar need for healing in today’s gospel story. St. Mark describes the scene in the seaside village of Capernaum, of so many people who had been waiting so long for healing of many and various kinds. It began with one woman (Peter’s mother-in-law) who was suffering from a fever. Jesus healed her, and then the disciples went and rounded up everyone in town who was sick or possessed with demons. Can you imagine the suffering so many people had endured? The illness and ailments that no one knew how to cure back then, and that people would just have to live with for the rest of their lives? This was a time before modern medicine, before the modern scientific knowledge that has improved our quality of life so dramatically over the past couple of centuries. We’re in the middle of so many problems right now during this pandemic, that it can be easy to forget that in many ways, life is easier now than at any other point in history. That’s not to minimize the struggle or suffering that many are still facing--because that is real--and we can see the suffering and struggle in our communities if we’re paying attention. But the advances we’ve made in medicine and science are part of God’s work of bringing healing to the world.

But back in Jesus’ time, on that day in Capernaum, there were most likely a whole range of people--old and young, men and women, rich and poor, different occupations, different talents, different opinions. But one thing that united them was they all knew their need for healing. The gospel even describes, as the disciples carried all the sick people in town over to Jesus at Peter’s mother-in-law’s house, that “the whole city gathered around the door”. The whole city! Anything that can bring a whole city together around a commonly agreed upon need is something worth paying attention to. And even with the various differences the people may have had as they gathered around the door of that house, all of their differences paled in comparison to the common need for healing.

They knew they needed healing back then, and we know that we need healing now. Yes, we need healing on a world-wide scale to finally make it past this pandemic. But even apart from that, there are many aspects of healing that we need in our lives. And there are many ways that we might be healed. Healing from God can come physically, or mentally, or spiritually.

When the opportunity for healing came back on that day in Capernaum, the people surrendered themselves to Jesus for him to heal them. But the first step for the people to be able to do that was to pay attention to the pain, the sickness, the grief, or the loss that you are experiencing. If you try to ignore it or deny it, then you probably will not be healed from it.

Sometimes, when we do ignore or deny the things we need healing for, it’s because we’re scared. We might feel that it’s easier to live with that we know--even if it hurts--than it is to do what’s necessary to find healing. Now, you might think “who wouldn’t want to go to Jesus and be healed?” But the truth is that many, if not most or maybe even all of us, carry around the weight of some kind of pain, illness, loss, or grief. Often we were afflicted by this through no fault of our own. Yet sometimes we’ve been carrying it so long that it just starts to feel normal. And often we just keep holding onto it, rather than trying to surrender it to Jesus and ask for his help.

I wonder if that might be why “the whole city” gathered around the door where Jesus was healing people. When he healed one person, maybe that opened the door for everyone else to say, “hey, that thing I’ve been living with that’s causing me pain--well, I’d really like to feel better. Maybe I can hand it over to Jesus. Maybe he can help me in some way?”

We get another interesting detail in this gospel story, that Jesus cured many--but he didn’t cure all. I don’t know why he didn’t. But this detail certainly fits with our human experience. Many of us have experienced healing, or know people who have experienced, healing, that we attribute to the working of God--sometimes even in miraculous ways. I’ve seen and experienced it myself. But we also know that we don’t always get the cure that we’re hoping, or praying, or fighting for. And again, I don’t have any good answers for why some people get cured, while others don’t.

But I do know that regardless of whether or not you get cured--you can still receive healing. Because healing comes whenever you discover the depths of God’s love and faithfulness. God reveals his love and faithfulness first in Jesus going to the cross for our forgiveness, and being raised to new life for our salvation. And God continues to pour his love and faithfulness into our hearts and souls through the Holy Spirit who does God’s work within us, and who calls us to hand our pain over to Jesus, to ask for his help and healing in our lives.

The everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth, who’s been revealed to us in Christ Jesus our Savior--he never grows weak or weary. God always stands at the ready--like Jesus did for all those people coming to him in Capernaum--to take upon himself the pain and loss and sickness and grief we have in our lives, whenever we are ready to surrender it to him. But again, the first step in our being able to do this is to pay attention to the root cause of the pain.

And I think this maybe gets at a reason why Jesus didn’t cure everybody that day in Capernaum, and why he left the next day to continue his healing ministry in other towns. And that is, Jesus knew that healing happens best when we are connected with others. Sickness, pain, loss, and grief can be very isolating experiences--they can make us feel very alone. So what Jesus brought to the people in that seaside town was connection with each other, commitment to each other. So they could learn how to continue Jesus’ healing ministry together, and stand at the ready for each other. And still today, Jesus gives us each other, so that we have others to lean on who can help us trust in the Lord and find new strength, until we soar high on wings like eagles; run and not grow weary; walk and not faint. Amen.