Epiphany IV B 2009
Theme: Compassion and health
Let us pray.
Most holy, Lord God, your son had compassion on those who were not whole, not well, and who came into his presence; he healed them of those things of which they really need, help us to also show compassion for others, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
The following story has been going around the internet and in emails a lot this week. In a supermarket, Kurtis the stock boy, was busily working when a new voice came over the loud speaker asking for a carry out at register 4. Kurtis was almost finished, and wanted to get some fresh air, and decided to answer the call. As he approached the check-out stand a distant smile caught his eye, the new check-out girl was beautiful. She was an older woman (maybe 26 and he was only 22) and he fell in love.
Later that day, after his shift was over, he waited by the punch clock to find out her name. She came into the break room, smiled softly at him, took her card and punched out, then left. He looked at her card, BRENDA. He walked out only to see her start walking up the road.
The next day, he waited outside as she left the supermarket, and offered her a ride home. He looked harmless enough, and she accepted. When he dropped her off, he asked if maybe he could see her again, outside of work. She simply said it wasn’t possible.
He pressed and she explained she had two children and she couldn’t afford a baby-sitter, so he offered to pay for the baby-sitter. Reluctantly she accepted his offer for a date for the following Saturday. That Saturday night he arrived at her door only to have her tell him that she was unable to go with him. The baby-sitter had called and canceled. To which Kurtis simply said, “Well, let’s take the kids with us.”
She tried to explain that taking the children was not an option, but again not taking no for an answer, he pressed. Finally Brenda brought him inside to meet her children. She had an older daughter who was just as cute as a bug, Kurtis thought, then Brenda brought out her son, in a wheelchair. He was born a paraplegic with Down syndrome.
Kurtis asked Brenda, “I still don’t understand why the kids can't come with us?” Brenda was amazed. Most men would run away from a woman with two kids, especially if one had disabilities – just like her first husband and father of her children had done. Kurtis was not ordinary – he had a different mindset.
That evening Kurtis and Brenda loaded up the kids, went to dinner and the movies. When her son needed anything Kurtis would take care of him. When he needed to use the restroom, he picked him up out of his wheelchair, took him and brought him back. The kids loved Kurtis. At the end of the evening, Brenda knew this was the man she was going to marry and spend the rest of her life with.
A year later, they were married and Kurtis adopted both of her children. Since then they have added two more kids.
So what happened to Kurtis the stock boy and Brenda the check-out girl? Well, Mr. & Mrs. Kurt Warner now live in Arizona. Except, they are not in Arizona today. Today, they are at the Super Bowl where Kurt will quarterback the Arizona Cardinals. Is this a surprise ending or could you have guessed that he was not an ordinary person?
It should be noted that he also quarterbacked the Rams to victory in Super Bowl XXXVI where he was the Most Valuable Player. He has also been the National Football League’s Most Valuable Player twice.
Kurt Warner didn’t see children as a barrier to a relationship. Kurt Warner didn’t see a special needs child as an obstacle and instead ministered to the child’s needs. When Jesus healed people, he did so out of compassion. Jesus didn’t heal everybody. But Jesus wanted people to be whole. This is a sign of the kingdom of God. Kurt Warner couldn’t make his son whole, but he could make the relationship whole. That is also what God wants for us.
We pick up the gospel story where we left off last week. Jesus went fishing along the Sea of Galilee and snagged four disciples. It is now time to rest. It is the sabbath. We know from the gospels that Jesus habitually went to synagogue on the sabbath. The local town that Jesus eventually made his home is Capernaum.
Jesus didn’t just attend synagogue, Jesus engaged in a teaching ministry on Saturdays. The people of Capernaum were astounded. Jesus was direct and confident. Jesus was good! And he didn’t even have a degree nor was he ordained!
It so happened that a man in the synagogue was possessed. The man challenged Jesus, because the spirit in the man felt threatened by Jesus. The spirit’s intent was to out Jesus. “What have you to do with us Jesus of Nazareth?” The spirit, in a narcissistic and paranoid outburst was afraid that Jesus was there just to deal with him and wanted Jesus to know two things he knew that others gathered there may not know.
1) He knows Jesus’ name. To know someone’s name in the ancient world implied power over the person. That may be where the phrase, “You have me at a disadvantage” came from when we don’t know the name of a person who knows our name. 2) The spirit wants everyone to know that Jesus comes from Nazareth. As we heard Nathanael say a few weeks ago, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Being from Nazareth did not inspire others about one’s credentials.
The man then says, “Have you come to destroy us?” Again the spirit assumes everything is about him. He fears that Jesus may act against him. Murder in the synagogue would not be well received in Capernaum.
Then the man issues the coup de gras, “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” That is not what Jesus wanted to hear. Nobody is supposed to know this – at least, not yet. The spirit is spilling the beans before Jesus was ready to reveal his identity. This spirit cannot be allowed to continue to talk. So Jesus ordered the bad spirit, “Shut up and get out of him!” The man went into spasms and then the spirit with a loud noise came out of the man.
Needless to say, the congregation was taken by surprise. You just don’t see that every time you go to church – at least not in the Episcopal Church. The people of Capernaum were even more astounded at Jesus. “He teaches with visual aids! He does what he is talking about! He actually means what he says! Who would have guessed that? Evil spirits obey his commands!” Ironically, after Jesus silences the unclean spirit who was bent on revealing Jesus’ identity, it didn’t take long for word about Jesus to get out through the grapevine.
This is more than a contest between an unclean spirit and Jesus. This is Jesus being confronted by a sick man. This is Jesus feeling compassion for the man. When we, moderns, are confronted with someone like the man in this story, we think that he needs to be cured. A diagnosis needs to be made and then the appropriate treatment to begin.
For the ancients, they would see the man as cursed. The only hope for the man is to have the curse removed. But Jesus provides a way that is not modern and it is not ancient. Jesus provides a miracle. This miracle is produced by Jesus speaking – the Word of God.
This is about Jesus showing people that he is there to make the world whole. This is about restoring the world to the way that God intended the world to be. And it all started in a synagogue in Capernaum nearly 2,000 years ago.
Jesus provides the people of Capernaum a new teaching. He also provides us with a new teaching. Jesus’ words are power. Jesus speaks to us. Jesus makes things happen. Jesus does not just give us information, Jesus gives us transformation.
We now pray: Gracious God and giver of all good gifts, we thank you for allowing us to see beyond disabilities to see the real person there, though we often fail to do so; give us strength, compassion, and empathy to help bring us closer to your kingdom and to your son, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we pray. Amen.
Text: Mark 1:21-28 (NRSV)
21 They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24 and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! Hem commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28 At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.[1]
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m Or A new teaching! With authority he
[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. 1989. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.