There are few chapters in the history of higher education more encouraging than that of the presidency of the great Timothy Dwight at Yale. When Dwight became president of Yale, the anti-Christian forces were solidly in control that a reversal of the situation seemed hopeless. The new class that entered in the autumn of 1796 included only one freshman who was a "professing Christian," while the sophomore class contained none. The college church had itself dwindled to two members.

Dwight's strategy was to force the enemy to take the defensive. He encouraged the students to debate openly the validity of the Christian faith, allowing each student to state his case without fear of reprisal, and then the president entered the list of speakers himself. Shunning battle was not his way. He struck out in the open, full and hard, where all the world could see the enemy fall hard. For the next six months President Dwight preached steadily on the central subject of Christian Faith. Though his eyesight became so bad that only with the greatest difficulty could he write or read a single sentence, he still preached twice every Sunday, taught his class, and administered the college. He added to his official duties a special set of lectures on the Evidence of Divine Revelation. It was said, that he, "drove infidelity from first one lurking place and then another."

"After long and patient waiting, in the spring of 1802, a momentous religious revival occurred. Providence, at last, saw fit to reward a faithful servant's labors by sending down a shower of grace. One third of Yale's two hundred and thirty students became hopefully converted. Over thirty of these entered the ministry, while the others, in various ways throughout their lives, spread its influence." (Timothy Dwight: A Biography, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1942, p. 302).

Some externals of living has changed since Dwight's day, and our academic mission fields are more complex than was his, but details do not alter the major challenge. What has been done before can again be done, provided Christians employ their intellectual resources.

Made a difference to that one!

The story was told about two men walking down a Mexican beach, talking with one another. They could see a man in the distance throwing something into the ocean. As they got closer, they saw that he was bending over, picking something up and throwing it into the ocean. The closer they got they noticed that he was one of the natives.

There were starfish on the beach which were left by the outgoing tide. The native was throwing them out where they could swim away. One of the two men asked, "What are you doing?" The man replied, "I am throwing the starfish back out to sea. If they don't get back into the deeper water, they will die." The other man replied, "I understand that part, but look at this beach. It is covered with starfish. There must be thousands stranded out here. How do you feel that this will make a difference?"

The native bent over, picked up another starfish, hurled him out to sea, and with a smile on his face said, "Made a difference to that one!"

There are thousands who need the Lord and need the care of Christians. Each one of us can "make a difference" to someone.

My first church had about 180 members in it when I went there. Three years later when I left they had 150 members. I wondered what went wrong. I did everything that I could. I worked as hard as I could. But they just sat there, immovable. I thought, maybe I am in the wrong profession. I went to the superintendent to talk it over with him. He confessed, "We were thinking of closing that church. We just thought we would give you a chance, see what happens." I was sent to close the church. I couldn't even do that very well. It limped on for another few years. The Sylmar earthquake finally put it out of its misery.

I didn't pay any attention to this text in those days, but it would have been helpful to me if I had seen the meaning of this passage for my situation. It was not until some years later that another preacher revealed the insight in the text. It is for those who try to be faithful disciples who try their best and just cannot do it. The advice of our Lord is, "If no one will receive you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet and move on."

During America's early years our land was filled with evangelism.  It's no wonder there is a Methodist and Congregational Church in nearly every town in New England today.  Circuit riders were so relentless in their ministry that on stormy days there was a proverbial saying: "There is nothing out today but crows and Methodist preachers."  (from Camp Meetings & Circuit Riders-Untamed Faith on America's Early Frontier, Christian History.)

If it worked before, why not again today?  The only question of success is really, "are we going?"

If we are going to be effective in reaching people for Christ we are going to have to start showing people that we really care. Evangelism and missions must be relational in nature. There is no record of Jesus walking up to someone out of the clear blue sky and saying: I am the Messiah and then him beginning to show his care for them. No, he showed his care for them first and then he revealed himself to them.

A story is told about a man who was on a luxury liner and suddenly he falls overboard. He can't swim and in desperation he begins calling for help. Now it just so happens that there were several would be rescuers on deck who witnessed the incident. The first man was a Moralist. When he saw the man fall overboard he immediately reached into his briefcase and pulled out a book on how to swim. He now tossed it to him and he yelled: Now brother, you read that and just follow the instructions and you will be alright.

The man next to him happened to be a Idealist. When he saw the man fall overboard he immediately jumped into the water and began swimming all around the drowning man saying: Now just watch me swim. Do as I do and you will be alright. The person next to him happened to be a member of the Institutional Church. He looked upon the drowning man's plight with deep concern. He yelled out: Now, just hold on friend. Help is on the way. We are going to establish a committee and dialogue your problem. And then, if we have come up with the proper financing, we will resolve your dilemma.

The next man on deck happened to be a representative of the school of Positive Thinking. He yelled out to the drowning man: "Friend, this situation is not nearly as bad as you think. Think dry!" The next man on board happened to be a Revivalist. By this time the drowning man was going down for the third time and desperately began waving his arm. Seeing that, the revivalist yelled out: Yes brother, I see that hand, is there another? Is there another? And finally, the last man on deck, was a Realist. He immediately plunged into the water, at the risk of his own life, and pulled the victim to safety.

My friends, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. We need realist in the church willing plunge into the water and go to work.

There is an old story told about a man by the name of Ali Facid. He had a small farm and a family. One day, the story goes, a Buddhist priest came by and said to Ali Facid: You know, there are valuable stones called diamonds, and if you get one of these you could be a wealthy man." Ali Facid went to bed that night, but the words of the old priest haunted him. He was so obsessed that he felt that he must find him one of these diamonds so that he could become a ruler. He sold his farm, put his family out to neighbors and went out to find his acres of diamonds. Months passed. He was broken in body and spirit. His funds were gone. And at the Bay of Barcelona, he threw himself into the water, never to walk this earth again.

Meanwhile, the man who bought his farm bent over one day and picked up a little stone. He laid on the mantle that night not knowing what it was. A few days later the old Buddhist priest cam by and saw it and exclaimed: Ali Facid must be back from his search. No, came the response. Then where did that diamond come from? The farmer replied: I was out plowing in the garden and found it there. And friends, did you know that from that very garden, for this is not a legend but a true story, came the jewels and diamonds that today adorn the crown heads of Europe and Russia. In Ali Facid's own back yard there were acres of diamonds and he knew it not.

My friends, I know that the [your church's neighborhood] is not like [name two neighborhoods in your area that are experiencing growth] in terms of extensive growth. But, I also know that there are acres of diamonds right here in our own back yard. There are people right here in our area that do not have church families, who are not committed to Christ, and who are waiting to be asked. We don't have to look to other areas of the city. All we have to do is pick up the diamonds that are right beneath us.

From the twelve, the group grew to 120 by Ascension Day. A little over a week later, on Pentecost, it increased to over 3,000. By the time the last of the twelve died, there were an estimated half-million followers of Jesus Christ. That was the end of the first century. By the end of the second century, this number had increased to almost ten million. By the end of the third century, all heathen temples were destroyed or converted into church sanctuaries. By the close of the ninth century, there were 100 million Christians. Today, the number has grown to over one billion believers around the world. None of this growth would have been possible had Christians not been excited and supportive of missions or prayed to "the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

When we model a spirit of peace it can be contagious. One time Charles Kuralt was traveling through the back roads in Ohio. He passed a farmhouse with a homemade banner on it that read, "Welcome Home Roger." One of his associates said, "I wonder who Roger is?" They decided to drive to the farm and meet the family.

Roger was a soldier on his way home from Vietnam. The family was anxiously awaiting his return from the war. Roger's mother was baking a cake and his wife was there, playing with the baby son that Roger had not yet met. Kuralt and his crew brought in their cameras and interviewed the family.

Charles Kuralt then wrote a story about all the soldiers who were returning home. He shipped the story to New York and Walter Cronkite put the story on the evening news. The story was a huge success and hundreds of viewers called in to express their gratitude for the story about waiting for Roger. Kuralt's trip through the back roads of Ohio affected thousands of lives.

Jesus wants us to travel to places we've never been because of the potential to meet new people. Life is about relationships, sharing the good news and spreading peace. As Jesus said, "If the house you enter is worthy, let your peace come upon it."

James Michener, the famous author used to hitchhike when he was a young man. Michener didn't live in a happy home. He was also unhappy at school. When he was fifteen he hiked westward from Detroit with only 35 cents in his pocket. He said, "The simple fact seems to have been that once I saw that mysterious road outside my house, the eastern part leading to a dead end, the western to worlds unknown, I was determined to explore the latter." (from Chicken Soup for the Traveler's Soul)

Most all of us have had experiences when we just wanted to get away from it all, venturing into the unknown with out a care in the world. That's easier to do when you are young and you don't have lots of obligations and responsibilities.Youthfulness tends to make us more carefree. And there is a tendency to think that nothing will happen to us.

When Jesus told his disciples to head out into the world he told them to travel light. "Take nothing with you, no bag, no money, no sandals, no extra clothing, not even a staff," he instructed them. Perhaps he wanted them to learn to trust in the providence of God. Perhaps he wanted them to experience strangers in strange lands, thereby making new relationships. Or, perhaps he wanted them to be free from the burdens of the world. I believe it was most likely a combination of all three.

Have you ever been down to the bank on late Friday afternoons to deposit a check? Are the lines long on Friday afternoons? Yes. Do you enjoy waiting in those lines? No. And you are pleased when you hear the voice of the bank manager echoing through the bank: 'Tellers to the front window please." And you want those tellers to come immediately, when the line is long. Not in five minutes or ten minutes or fifteen minutes. The action is now. We need some extra workers now.

Same song, second verse. Have you ever been grocery shopping on Friday late afternoon about 5:30, when the lines are long at the cash register? The lines are so long. Do you enjoy standing in line for a long time, waiting for your turn at the cash register? Of course not. And so there is a sigh of relief when you hear the voice of the manager of the grocery store speaking through the loud speaker system: "Cashiers to the front please." And you want them now. Not in five minutes. Ten minutes. Fifteen minutes. The crisis at hand is now and needs to be solved now, not in fifteen minutes.

Same song, third verse. It's that time of year when we start to hear radio advertisements calling for strawberry pickers. When the strawberries are ripe, they need to be picked immediately, so we will hear advertisements calling for "workers for the strawberry fields are needed now." Not in a week, five weeks, ten weeks. Those workers are needed now in the fields when the harvest is so ripe.

It is with these images that we hear the famous teaching of Jesus when he says: "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest that he will send workers...now!"

There's a wonderful legend about Saint Francis, the kindly thirteenth century monk, who one day informed his brethren that he planned to go into the nearby village on a preaching mission. He invited a novice to go along. On their way, they passed an injured man and Francis promptly stopped, saw to the poor fellow's needs and arranged medical care for him. They went on and soon passed a homeless man who was near starvation. Again, Francis stopped his journey and ministered to the hungry, homeless man. So it went, through the day: people in need, Francis lovingly caring for them as best he could until the sun was low in the sky. He told his novice friend it was time for them to return, now, to the monastery for evening prayers. But the young man said, "Father, you said we were coming to town to preach to the people." Francis smiled. Then he said, "My friend, that's what we've been doing all day."

That's evangelism at its most faithful. Ministry to people in their need. Not worrying about numerical growth, or adding to one's own conversion record, or winning acclaim within the denomination. Evangelism is sharing the love of God in concrete form among God's people.

Carl A. Boyle, a sales representative, was driving home when he saw a group of young children selling Kool-Aid on a corner in his neighborhood. They had posted the typical hand scrawled sign over their stand: "Kool-Aid, 10 cents." Carl was intrigued. He pulled over to the curb. A young man approached and asked if he would like strawberry or grape Kool-Aid. Carl placed his order and handed the boy a quarter. After much deliberation, the children determined he had some change coming and rifled through the cigar box until they finally came up with the correct amount. The boy returned with the change, then stood by the side of the car. He asked if Carl was finished drinking. "Just about," said Carl. "Why?" "That's the only cup we have, "answered the boy, "and we need it to stay in business."

It's difficult to operate a Kool-Aid business if you only have one cup. We sometimes make that mistake in the church.

This morning we are focusing our attention on the evangelistic task of the church. For many persons the word "evangelism" brings to mind one cup: The televangelist and the tent revival, or the street corner preacher handing out tracts. In some churches, it means a once a year special event or a particular strategy for incorporating newcomers into the life of the church.

By limiting our vision of evangelism to one of these cups, we may be stifling Christ's work on earth and cheating ourselves out of one of the most rewarding endeavors Christ offers us: Evangelism. What is needed is for all of us to become daily involved in evangelism. How?

1. Anchoring Our Concern in Christ's Compassion for the World
2. Shepherding Those who are Lost in the Crowd
3. Committing Ourselves because the Workers are Few

Guyde Maupassant's "The Necklace" tells the sad story of a young woman named Mathilde who dreamed, as many do, of making it in high society.  However, she was the wife of an ordinary French citizen. One day Mathilde's husband obtained an invitation to attend an elegant ball. Thoroughly delighted, Mathilde borrowed from a wealthy friend a beautiful necklace to wear to this elegant occasion. The stunning necklace drew many compliments from the aristocratic guests. However, the worst possible thing happened. Mathilde lost the beautiful adornment.

Panic stricken, she and her husband borrowed thirty-sixthousand francs.  They bought a necklace that looked exactly like the one Mathilde had worn.  Mathilde returned this to her friend, telling her nothing of what had happened. For ten agonizing years, the couple slaved and toiled to pay back the vast amount of money they had borrowed. They sold their home, dismissed servants, worked at two jobs, and lived in a slum in order to raise the necessary funds.

After it was finally paid, Mathilde saw her friend one day. She confessed what they had done. She revealed the hardship through which they had come in paying for the replacement. It was then that her friend explained that the necklace Mathilde had borrowed was the costume version of the real thing. It was virtually worthless.

What a parable of contemporary life! People frantically slaving for values that turn out only to be worthless. Harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

There is a beautiful and important scene in the movie Dr. Zhivago. The Comrade General is talking with Tanya. He asks her, How did you come to be lost?" She replies, "Well, I was just lost." He asks again, "No, how did you come to be lost?" Tanya doesn't want to say. She says simply, "I was just lost. My father and I were running through the city and it was on fire. The revolution had come and we were trying to escape and I was lost."

The Comrade General asked more emphatically, "How did you come to be lost?" She still didn't want to say. Finally though she did say. "We were running through the city and my father let go of my hand and I was lost."  Then she added plaintively, "He let go." 

The Comrade General said, "This is what I've been trying to tell you, Tanya. Komarov was not your real father. Zhivago is your real father and I can promise you, Tanya, that if this man had been there, your real father, he would never have let go of your hand."

That is the difference between a real father and a false father, is it not? A real father would never let go of his daughter's hand. That is also the difference between a real god and a false one.

The first scripture selection relates the healing of a man "who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech." Although nothing is mentioned regarding the faith of the man who was healed, faith was yet an active ingredient in the healing as exhibited by those who resolutely brought the man to Jesus. In verse 34, the phrase "looking up to heaven," underscores the intimate relationship with God that Jesus brought to that moment. Similarly, I have read that when Francis of Assisi preached, he never looked at his hearers, but instead fixed his eyes upon the sky as if expecting Christ to appear before he had completed the next sentence. Jesus, "looking up to heaven," apparently sought to acknowledge and intensify the power of God in his life for this moment of healing.

In our second passage, faith again is important to the healing, but this time it is the faith of the person to be healed, Bartimaeus. By faith, Bartimaeus cried out to Jesus even after being rebuked by those around him: "but he cried out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me" (v. 48). Although blind, he threw off his cloak and ran to where Jesus was standing. Jesus said, "What do you want me to do for you?" and by faith Bartimaeus replied, "Master, let me receive my sight" (v. 51). Jesus’ reply underscores the point; "Go your way; your FAITH has made you well" (v. 52).

A congregation I once served included a young man who had been deaf from birth. He was a big, robust, handsome fellow whose sweet spirit enabled him to smile easily. During worship, he stood for the hymns and responsive readings, and participated as best he could in the entire service. During the sermon, his eyes were steadily fixed upon my lips, and in those few times when he was unable to lip-read what I was saying, he would turn to the young lady beside him and "sign" for clarification. I remember the day that he and the young lady came to my study to make plans for their wedding. She asked such questions as necessary and signed to him at intervals. As I spoke, she continued to interpret, even though he seemed already to understand. During the wedding ceremony, they held written copies of the vows and signed their pledges to each other. Before I left that congregation to acccept another appointment, the young man underwent an operation which enabled him to hear his first sounds. That was the first step. By God’s grace, one day, perhaps even now, he will be able to listen to all those things which you and I have grown accustomed to. Although different than the deaf man who was brought to Jesus, it will be a genuine miracle of healing, and it will have been done for one who has cried out from the silence in faith.

We are far removed in time and space from ancient Jericho where our Scriptures relate two of our Lord’s healings. However, as a society and as individuals, we yet stand in need of the healing touch.

Charles H. Scott’s familiar hymn says it well; "Open my eyes that I may see, glimpses of truth Thou hast for me ... Open my ears that I may hear voices of truth Thou sendest clear." And then the all-important third verse concludes, "Open my mouth and let me bear gladly the warm truth everywhere."

I believe it was the Mills Brothers who made popular the song, "You Always Hurt the One You Love." Fighting is one of the realities of married life. Unfortunately, most of us do not handle it well. Fighting is a negative way of communicating some very strong feelings. If we accept the premise that the point of all communication is to get closer to each other, then we might seek more constructive and positive ways of communicating our strong feelings rather than destructive fighting. Although space doesn’t permit us to consider all the suggestions for what I call "good fighting," let me mention just a few. Discover what you are really fighting about. What’s really underneath it all, then stick to the subject, don’t bring up past history. No name calling. Remember you are fighting with the one you love - hurt her and you are hurting yourself and your marriage.

Back to the Mills Brothers ... if we are able to hurt the one we love more than anyone else, then we, as a spouse, have the greatest ability to bring healing to our relationship. If we really want to heal the other person, we can. Healing not only after fights but throughout life. Healing comes through a gentle touch or by saying "I’m sorry" and really meaning it. Healing also comes through forgiving one another and accepting each other’s limitations.

Jesus Christ is the greatest facilitator of healing in marriage. He gives us the power to forgive our spouse - not because he/she deserves it but because he/she needs it. We forgive not only for his sake but for our sake and for our marriage’s sake. For marriage is something that we are in together, and when one or the other is hurting, both of us are hurting, and our marriage is hurting.

Those who are wise, work hard at their marriages. Those who are wiser work hard too, but they also invite God’s help in loving each other. If God wants your marriage to work, and he certainly does, then he is anxious to give you whatever you need to make it work. Both of you must keep strong in the Lord. There is a little Christian saying that goes, "When I try, I fail. When I trust, He succeeds." The best thing we can do in our marriage is not try so hard but to trust even harder.

As people, there will be those moments when we cannot help but express negative feelings to our spouse. Be careful not to try to hurt the person, but rather attempt to express how his/her actions are hurting you. Tell it like it is. Don’t hold back. But let the Lord help you share your strong communication in a loving manner. When you have a fight, have a good one.

Lest we miss the drama involved, it might help to recall what kind of disease we are talking about. Leprosy is still a problem in India, of course, where Mother Teresa worked with lepers for many years. It still stalks parts of Africa and Asia. But leprosy has largely disappeared from the Western world, so we tend to forget what a terrible and terrifying disease it really is.

You can carry the disease for years before the symptoms appear, but leprosy first appears as nodules on your skin which grow larger and larger, until they force deep wrinkles all over your body. Then your lips, nose and ear lobes grow thicker, until your face begins to resemble an animal's. You get ulcerations everywhere, which cause your arms and legs to be horribly mutilated. You start losing your fingers and toes and as the disease continues to progress, you are left blinded.

As if the disease itself wasn't cruel enough, there was also the social ostracism. Even in the Bible, there were strict rules given for dealing with lepers (see Leviticus 13-14).

In the Lutheran parochial school I attended as a child I was taught to fear God, and that I risked punishment for sin. When I was 17 years old, my younger sister died of a brain tumor, and I began to question everything that I had been taught. I could not understand how God could allow this. Her death left me confused and angry. I became more of a doubter than a believer. I came to the conclusion that I could only believe in myself. I pushed myself, I worked hard; I became an over-achiever and eventually a workaholic. This program propelled me to financial success, but it was accompanied by personal failure. I learned that the love of money can bring financial gains that are accompanied by personal loss.

I became an empty person. I couldn't stand success and began to self-destruct. I lost everything, my friends, those who had pretended to be my friends and my family. It was all like an unbelievable soap opera -- and before it was over I learned quite a bit about the judicial system, the Mafia, extortion and revenge. There were times when I feared for my life and for the lives of the members of my family. It was the kind of situation that causes one to think about taking his own life.

But I wasn't ready for that option. The love I had for my children gave me courage and made me determined to try again. I wanted to be a believer in something bigger than myself, but it was difficult. It would take a miracle. I carefully planned a comeback. I wanted to be successful again and not make some of the same mistakes. The task seemed monumental.

In the process I met an independent preacher named Andy. He worked for me on a part-time basis and we soon became friends. He wasn't pushy with his religion, so I decided to go to one of his church services on a Wednesday night. It was quite unusual to say the least. Wednesday night was testimony night. The opening song service was quite an experience. The songs had beautiful melodies and were easy to sing. When they sang songs like "He Touched Me" and "O, How I Love Jesus," I noticed that many had tears in their eyes as they sang with great feeling. I felt touched by this, and quite uncomfortable. The testimonies that followed were as impressive to me as the song service. People spoke about what God had done for them, how God answered prayer and healed them. Was this real? Do they know a different God than I do, I wondered? It was all so confusing.

I didn't know if I could believe it, but I went back to observe more. I knew these people had something I didn't have. I guess it was a simple faith in God. It seemed like a good way to live, but I still wondered if it was real. If there was no God, I think we would have to invent one to keep our sanity. I tried to keep an open mind on the subject. I found myself reading the Bible because I was hungry for truth.

One Saturday night my mother called to tell me that my grandmother was gravely ill. I needed strength to face this so I went to church the next morning before going to the hospital to see her. That morning Andy spoke of the healing power of Jesus. I cornered him after church and said, "Andy, are you sure he heals today?" He was sure. I marked several of the healing promises in my Bible and then I went to the hospital. As I entered the waiting room, I saw that many of my relatives were there to pay their last visit to Grandma. The pastor of her church was about to get on the elevator after praying with her. I stopped him for a brief talk. I said, "Don't you believe God has the ability to heal people?" He assured me he believed that God does have the power to heal, but he added that we all have a time to die. I knew he was right, but a voice in the back of my mind said, "Prove me and know that I am God."

I followed my cousin and his wife into Grandma's room in the intensive care unit. When I spoke to Grandma she regained consciousness, and her smile told me that she was pleased to see her oldest grandson. I got right to the point. "Grandma, do you want me to pray that God will heal you?" She agreed. The four of us held hands and I prayed for her healing. It was a special moment. The nurses and other members of the hospital staff who were present stood with tears in their eyes. When I finished I had a feeling that Grandma was healed. My cousin's wife knew it, also. Grandma fell into a deep sleep. When we went out to the waiting room, my relatives were talking about Grandma being ready to pass away. The doctor had told them that she would not live through the day. I said, "Grandma is not going to die today. She is healed." I went home and then back to the church for the Sunday evening service.

On Monday morning my mother called to tell me that Grandma had made a complete recovery. I said, "What did the doctor have to say about this recovery?" She answered, "He said it was a miracle." I believe God knew just what I needed. I had the audacity to take God at his word, and God cared enough not to let me make a fool of myself.

Author's Note: Gerald Wagner shared this story of his grandmother's healing with a new member class in our church in the Spring of 1990. It is printed here in his own words. Mr. Wagner, an independent semi-truck driver, lives in Kenissha, Wisconsin.

The other day while visiting someone in a nursing home I stepped out of the elevator and into a room where frail men and women were slumped in wheel chairs in a posture that made my neck hurt looking at them.  Their chins were on their chests or their heads were leaning limply on one shoulder. Some were drooling. All the chairs were lined up in front of a television showing a soap opera and the sound was much too loud for anyone, even those hard of hearing. It was a miserable sight. But then something unexpected happened.

A young girl, maybe 7 or 8 years old, stepped away from her mother who was visiting someone else. With her mother's encouragement this little girl placed her hand upon the hand of man slumped in a wheelchair, numb, the living dead. She looked at him and smiled as she said her name. "What's your name?" she asked. And, I believe I witnessed a healing taking place in the living room of that nursing home. The man tilted his head up slightly and looked at her. His face broke into a smile and he said his name. Then the little girl went from person to person in each wheelchair offering the same healing touch and the same welcoming benediction. No one tossed a wheelchair out the window and no one danced a jig, but I believe we all experienced, for a moment, the restoration of the community of life where everyone has a place. This is the social healing that Jesus brings through people like this little girl.

One of the most memorable sections in Gabriel Garcia Marquez' prize-winning novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude concerns a strange disease that invaded the old village of Macondo from somewhere in the surrounding swamp. It is a lethal disease of insomnia that attacks the whole town. The initial effect is the inability of people to sleep, although the villagers do not feel any bodily fatigue at all. A more critical effect than that slowly manifests itself: loss of memory. Gradually the victims realize they can no longer remember or recall the past. Soon they find that they cannot remember the name or the meaning of the simplest things used everyday.

You've heard of the fellow who said two things happen to you when you grow old — "one is the loss of memory, and I can't remember the other."

Christians are to be reminders, living reminders of Christ's presence in the world. The world's lethal disease is amnesia, the loss of memory.

Thornton Wilder has a three-minute play entitled The Angel That Troubled The Water.  It’s based on the story of Jesus at the pool of Bethesda.  In it there are three characters:  a doctor with a secret burden, praying that the angel may come; a confirmed invalid who has waited long for healing and upbraids the doctor for seeking healing for himself; and the angel who stirs the water to bring about the healing.

The angel says to the doctor, “Draw back, physician.  This moment is not for you.”

But the doctor answers, “Surely the angels are wise.  Your eyes can see the nets in which my wings are caught.” The angel passes him in haste, but speaks again to him, “Without your wound, where would your power be?  In love’s service, only the wounded can serve.”

If we can believe that -- that in love’s service only the wounded can serve -- then we can bear our suffering graciously, even joyously.

Oh, you say, had I been there at Bethlehem that night I would have seen. I would have understood. I would have known it was the Christ child. Would you? There is one way of knowing:

Ask yourself what you have seen and heard this Christmas Season.

• When you watched the 6:00 news did you see chaos and strife, or did you see sheep without a shepherd.
•  When you went out to do your shopping did you see only hordes of people in the stores, or did you notice the worried expressions on some of their faces worried because they are facing this Christmas without employment or enough money and they don't know how they are going to make ends meet.

What did you hear this Christmas?

• Did you hear only the blast of music and carols, or did you hear the silent sighs of the lonely and the bereaved who may be dreading Christmas because it accentuates their loneliness.
• And in the midst of the sounds of honking horns and people arguing over parking places, did you hear [name here the sounds coming from some meaningful mission or event of your local church].

You see, so often what you see and what you hear is not dependent upon the event but upon you. If you did in fact hear the cry from the lonely, the laughter of poor children, if you saw the sheep without a shepherd, then, and only then, might you have noticed the events that took place in Bethlehem that night. If you lacked that spiritual seeing and hearing then you probably would have been with the 99% who were present but who saw or heard nothing out of the ordinary. In the end perhaps one of our carols words it best:

No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin.
Where meek souls shall receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.

Amen.

They really didn't understand it. But, of course, they really had no means to. How could they possibly know that it was contagious only after long periods of very close contact? The only thing they knew about it was what it looked like and what it did to a person in the advanced stages. That they knew well. They understood how it maimed and disfigured. And that was enough for fear to take over.

I'm talking about the disease of leprosy. In a world and a time in which the disease has all but been eradicated except in small pockets, we perhaps cannot appreciate the fear that accompanied this word in the ancient world of Jesus. It was a red flag word. It brought about the same responses as the word Plague did in the 1200s, or Small Pox in the 1700s, or Aids in the 1900s. It frightened them. They felt largely helpless against it, as indeed they were.

What happens when fear takes over is people do not act, they react. And reactions to leprosy were both swift and cruel. In times not far removed form our own people would be put to death by heir own family. It seems incredible to us today, but on the edge of every large city in the ancient world huge pits were dug, and in those pits lived the lepers of the community.

And if, by some remote possibility, they did escape this hovel and venture out into the streets, they would be quickly greeted with shouts of "leper," accompanied by stones to make them keep their distance. In Jesus' day a leper by law could not get within fifty yards of a clean person. So this was the heart of the matter. Not only did these wretched poor people have to endure the trials of an incurable affliction, they also were isolated from society and kept from the community of faith. The horror of disease, a lifestyle of loneliness, isolation and hopelessness where could they find hope? The only friend a leper had was God himself. In this life they were doomed. It was walking death.

This, then, is the background of the leper we meet this morning. What can we learn from this man's tragic story?

1.  The Loneliness of Leprosy
2.  Our Suffering Moves God's Hand.
3.  Our Lord Is Willing to Heal.

Gracious God, how blessed we are to live and serve as a community of Your people. Gifted with the beauty of creation surrounding us, lead us into significant relationships that nurture and challenge us, as we experience the promise of life, and are grateful. 

Lead us now, O God, as we seek, in this season of Lent, to journey with our eyes fixed on Jesus. 

Lead us in righteousness, that our journey might be a journey in which we embrace Christ's ways of compassion and justice, grace and mercy, hope and right living. 

Lead us, God, in peace, as we seek to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. 

Fill us with a peace that passes all human understanding, a peace the world cannot give to us, neither can it take away. 

But, holy God, let us never be satisfied with personal peace alone. Lead us into paths of peacemaking and reconciliation. And God, we pray that You might soften the hearts of those world leaders who are far more inclined to wage war than to seek peace.

God, where there is brokenness, form us into instruments of forgiveness.
Where there is despair, make of us channels of Your hope.
Where there is division, may we be empowered to bring healing and wholeness.
Where darkness abounds, grant us courage to walk in the light, our eyes fixed on Jesus, the light of the world.

God of healing and compassion,

We hold before You now those in special need of Your healing touch …

God, make us mindful of those among us this day who silently hold hurts and brokenness within them. Teach us to look into one another's eyes and hearts.

We pray for those experiencing pain in their significant relationships, those who are yearning for new beginnings in life. We pray, O God, for young people facing untold pressures and challenges, and for older persons seeking to come to terms with limitations and losses. Whatever our life situations, O God, lead us in paths of right living, our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we pray. Amen.

This research is from the 80's but it's conclusions reach far into the 2020's: New Rules created quite a stir in the early '80s. In the book, professor Daniel Yankelovich of New York University documented a shift in social values in the '70s, a shift more massive and more rapid than any of the recent past.

The book was subtitled, "Searching for Self-Fulfillment in a World Turned Upside Down." The old rules, Yankelovich said, stressed duty to others, particularly to one's family. If someone was selfish and got caught, it was embarrassing and looked ugly. But no longer. In what Yankelovich calls "the duty to self ethic," our primary responsibility is for our own needs and interests. All other relationships and values must fit into that order of priority.

Yankelovich feels that the movement may be liberating, but he is an honest scientist. After tracking 3,000 people in personal, in-depth interviews, and analyzing hundreds of thousands of questionnaires, he admits that so far the search for self-fulfillment has been futile. It has resulted in insecurity and confusion. "What is self-fulfillment?" he asks. And "When you find yourself, what will you do with yourself?"

The frightening thing is that 83 percent of Americans buy into the "new rules," either in whole or in part. But those foolish people are not evangelical Christians, right? Wrong! James Davison Hunter, in his examination of students and faculty in 16 leading evangelical colleges and seminaries, used Yankelovich's earlier questionnaire and concluded that evangelicals are more committed to self-fulfillment than their secular counterparts.

"The percentage of evangelical students agreeing with these statements far exceeded the corresponding percentage of the general population," Hunter wrote. "Self-fulfillment is no longer a natural by-product of a life committed to higher ideals, but rather is a goal, pursued rationally and with calculation as an end in itself. The quest for emotional psychological and social maturity, therefore, becomes normative. Self-expression and self-realization compete for self-sacrifice as a guiding life ethic."

Every believer faces trouble. It is part of life itself. As long as we are in this world, we will face trouble, saint and sinner alike. J.C. Ryle (Expository Thoughts on John's Gospel) calls the words of Christ in our text, "A precious remedy against an old disease." The disease, of course, is trouble. He goes on to describe it:

That disease is trouble of heart. That remedy is faith. Heart trouble is the commonest thing in the world. No rank or class or condition is exempt from it. No bars or bolts or locks can keep it out. Partly from inward causes and partly from outward, partly from the body and partly from the mind, partly from what we love and partly from what we fear, the journey of life is full of trouble. Even the best of Christians have many bitter cups to drink between grace and glory. Even the holiest saints find the world a vale of tears.

Have you ever had a time when you were faced with an incredible obstacle or a heart wrenching burden and thought, "If only I had more faith!"

There was a young couple who went to a new church shortly after burying their eight year old son. The boy had suffered from a degenerative neurological disease for which there was no treatment. Parents and physicians alike could only watch as the disease slowly stole the boy's life. The heartbroken couple had been committed members of a church where people were taught that God would heal any illness if only those who prayed for healing had enough faith. During the wake one of the members of that church approached the mother, took her hand and said with what can only be called chastisement thinly disguised as sympathy, "If only you had been able to pray with enough faith, your son wouldn't have died."

As you might well imagine ex-members of this destructive fringe live with a horrendous sense of guilt. Can you imagine what it would be like to believe that your child died because you didn't have enough faith to save her or him? It took months for the father of that little boy to begin to hope that his son didn't die because of his lack of faith. The mother never did get free from her guilt. Their former church was "based on the bible" and how the pastor quoted over and over again:

"If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you." [Lk 17:6]

There are times when we do face mountains -- or deeply rooted issues in our lives we would dearly love to see removed.

Have you ever been in such a place in your life? The life issues are different for all of us, but the result is similar. When our prayers seem to be of no avail, it makes us feel as though we fall into the category Jesus aimed at when he said, "O ye of little faith!" At times like this, I join the disciples in today's scripture pleading with Jesus, "Increase my faith!"

Only one miracle made it into all four gospels. It transpired on the grassy hills by the shores of the Sea of Galilee at a time when Jesus' popularity and also his vulnerability was cresting. Wherever he went, a throng that included many deranged and afflicted trailed behind.

The day before the big miracle, Jesus crossed the lake to elude the masses. Herod had just executed John the Baptist, Jesus' relative, his forerunner and friend, and Jesus needed time alone to grieve. Doubtless, John's death provoked somber thoughts of the fate awaiting him.

Alas, there would be no secluded retreat. A huge swarm of yesterday's multitude made the ten-mile journey around the lake and soon hundreds, even thousands of people clamored around Jesus. "He had compassion on them," says Mark, "because they were like sheep without a shepherd." Instead of spending the day renewing his spirit, Jesus spent it healing the sick, always an energy drain, and speaking to a crowd large enough to fill a modern basketball arena.

The issue of food came up. What to do? There are at least five thousand men, not to mention the women and children! Send them away, suggested one disciple. Buy them dinner, said Jesus. What? Is he kidding? We're talking eight months' wages!

Then Jesus took command in a way none of them had seen before. Have the people sit down in groups of fifty, he said. It was like a political rally--festive, orderly, hierarchical--exactly what one might expect from a Messiah figure.

Unavoidably, we moderns read Jesus' life backwards, knowing how it turns out. That day, no one but Jesus had a clue. Murmurs rustled through the group on the packed hillside. Is he the one? Could it be? In the wilderness, Satan had dangled before Jesus the prospects of a crowd-pleasing miracle. Now, not to please a crowd but merely to settle their stomachs, Jesus took two salted fish and five small loaves of bread and performed the miracle everyone was waiting for.

Three of the Gospels leave it at that. "They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish," reports Mark with masterful understatement. Only John tells what happened next. Jesus got his time alone, at last. As the disciples rowed back across the lake, fighting a storm all the way, Jesus spent the night on a mount, alone in prayer. Later that night he rejoined them by walking across the water.

Dr. Paul Tournier was a renowned Christian therapist and a spiritual writer. One day Bruce Larson, a pastor in California, asked Dr. Tournier how he counseled people. Dr. Tournier replied, "You know, I'm embarrassed, really, by all of the people who seek me out for counseling. I don't really know how to help people. I don't really do anything at all". He said simply, "What is important is that people are trying to find their way, and so I try to welcome them and I try to support them. And in that welcoming and in that supporting, the possibility for healing is opened."

When we extend hospitality, we open the door for healing to happen.

In "The Anatomy of an Illness," Norman Cousins tells of being hospitalized with a rare, crippling disease. When he was diagnosed as incurable, Cousins checked out of the hospital. Aware of the harmful effects that negative emotions can have on the body, Cousins reasoned the reverse was true. So he borrowed a movie projector and prescribed his own treatment, consisting of Marx Brothers films and old "Candid Camera" reruns. It didn't take long for him to discover that 10 minutes of laughter provided two hours of pain free sleep. Amazingly, his debilitating disease was eventually reversed. After the account of his victory appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, Cousins received more than 3000 letters from appreciative physicians throughout the world.

We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end war;
For we know that You have made the world in a way
That man must find his own path to peace
Within himself and with his neighbor.

We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end starvation;
For you have given us the resources
With which to feed the entire world
If we would only use them wisely.

We cannot merely pray to You, O God,
To root out prejudice,
For You have already given us eyes
With which to see the good in all men
If we would only use them rightly.

We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end despair,
For You have already given us the power
To clear away slums and to give hope
If we would only use our power justly.

We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end disease,
For you have already given us great minds with which
To search out cures and healing,
If we would only use them constructively.

Therefore we pray to You instead, O God,
For strength, determination, and willpower,
To do, instead of just to pray,
To become, instead of merely to wish.

Luke 5:31 - "And Jesus answered them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick;’ "

Colossians 4:14 - "Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you."

In ancient Egypt, from which the Hebrews acquired many of their ideas, medicine was mainly magical in nature and doctors were so highly regarded that they were sometimes deified. These doctors had some knowledge of surgical skill; for example, brain surgery is known to have been accomplished by them. Among the drugs which these doctors used were cedar oil, alum, brains, salt, honey, sycamore bark, sulphate of copper, the liver, heart and blood of animals, and stag’s horn. These physicians also served as embalmers.

In the Bible, illness is usually regarded as punishment for sin or as being due to Satan; so, on occasion, prophets or holy men engaged in healing activities. The midwife was available for the woman in labor, who would consider it wrong to have a man attend her.

In the early stages of medical practice, attention was more frequently applied to surgical aid and external applications. Even down to a comparatively late period, outward maladies appear to have been the chief subjects of medical treatment among the Hebrews, although they were not entirely without remedies for internal and even mental disorders.

The Bible is generally not complimentary concerning the doctor’s ability to cure his patients. Mark 5:26 says, "he suffered much under many physicians." No post-mortem study of anatomy and the cause of disease, such as we practice today, was possible because of the Mosaic injunction against touching the dead. From the Bible we may infer that Hebrew doctors made use of oil lotions, anointings of balm, fig poultices, and wine.

The early Babylonians had a law against malpractice, and one that varied the fees according to the financial status of the patient. In New Testament times, doctors received a stated fee.

Attitudes toward doctors seem to have varied. Asa is denounced for consulting physicians; the Talmud declares "the best of physicians are hell bound." Yet, physician is a name given to Jesus signifying great respect, and Luke is called "the beloved physician."

In our days of medical care for everyone, of socialized medicine in some countries, and of the status carried by the physician, we are perhaps amused rather than anything else by a statement from the Talmud, "The physician who charges nothing is worth nothing." But our physicians of today, with the vast array of medical knowledge behind them, are truly at times miracle workers.

But we must not forget the other member of the team who is comparable to the ancient physician - the mortician. Just as one of the physician’s duties was the embalming of the dead, so too we have need of the undertaker who will give our loved ones a fitting and Christian farewell to this world.

A research psychologist at the National Institute of Mental Health was convinced he could prove his theory from a cage full of mice. His name? Dr. John Calhoun. His theory? Overcrowded conditions take a terrible toll on humanity. Dr. Calhoun built a nine-foot square cage for selected mice. He observed them closely as their population grew. He started with eight mice. The cage was designed to contain comfortably a population of 160. He allowed the mice to grow, however, to a population of 2200. They were not deprived of any of life's necessities except privacy no time or space to be all alone. Food, water, and other resources were always clean and in abundance. A pleasant temperature was maintained. No disease was present. All mortality factors (except aging) were eliminated. The cage, except for its overcrowded condition, was ideal for the mice. The population reached its peak at 2200 after about two-and-a-half years.

Since there was no way for the mice to physically escape from their closed environment, Dr. Calhoun was especially interested in how they would handle themselves in that overcrowded cage. Interestingly, as the population reached its peak, the colony of mice began to disintegrate. Strange stuff started happening. Dr. Calhoun made these observations: 1)Adults formed natural groups of about a dozen individual mice. 2) In each group each adult mouse performed a particular social role...but there were no roles in which to place the healthy young mice, which totally disrupted the whole society. 3) The males who had protected their territory withdrew from leadership. 4) The females became aggressive and forced out the young...even their own offspring. 5) The young grew to be only self-indulgent. They ate, drank, slept, groomed themselves, but showed no normal aggression and, most noteworthy, failed to reproduce. After five years, every mouse had died. This occurred despite the fact that right up to the end there was plenty of food, water, and an absence of disease. After the research psychologist reported on his experiment, a couple of significant questions arose.

Q: "What were the first activities to cease?"
A: "The most complex activities for mice: courtship and mating."

Q: What results would such overcrowding have on humanity?"
A: We would first of all cease to reproduce our ideas, and along with ideas, our goals and ideals. In other words, our values would be lost."

This is a parable of modern life. For many people, a simple task like getting to work is extremely draining. There are too many cars on the highway. Roads are too often under construction. Commuting time is getting longer and longer. We have even invented a new term for the stress we feel when travel time frustrates us: road rage. Driving a car, sitting in front of a computer screen, working all day long with clients. A person can only perform these emotionally and spiritually draining tasks for so long until it's time to say enough! Jesus says, Get away from the crowd for a while, find a quiet spot and rest. 

In a Peanuts comic strip Charlie Brown and Linus come across Snoopy who is shivering in the snow. Charlie says, "Snoopy looks kind of cold, doesn't he?"

"I'll say," replies Linus, "maybe we'd better go over and comfort him."

They walk over to the dog, pat his head and say, "Be of good cheer, Snoopy."

"Yes, be of good cheer."

In the final frame, the boys are walking away, still bundled up in the winter coats. Snoopy is still shivering, and over his head is a big "?".

The message of the cartoon was powerful. The most noxious lifestyle of all is when compassionate words come from a care-less heart. Snoopy would no doubt prefer a blanket over a greeting. A compassionate heart is a reflection of the heart of God.

ALTERNATE CONCLUSION WITH THE MARK 7 PASSAGE

The Good News is that the Kingdom of God is not a pat on the head. EPHPHATHA...Be opened! Jesus exclaims and healing happens.  Can the good news be limited? Is it merely a jesture? The story of a certain Gentile who sought healing for her daughter says no. "EPHPHATHA...Be opened!" It is not limited by geography. Not in Jesus' day, and certainly not in ours. "EPHPHATHA...Be opened!" It is not limited by race, or creed, or political persuasion. The Good News is not a mere jesture or word of well wishing. "EPHPHATHA...Be opened!" It is God in action in our world through you.

Back in the thirteenth century, the German king, Frederick II, conducted a diabolical experiment intended to discover what language children would naturally grow up to speak if never spoken to.

He thought it would be German. Some things are just obvious, right? So King Frederick took babies from their mothers at birth and placed them in the care of nurses who were forbidden to speak in their hearing. But a second rule was imposed, as well: the nurses were not allowed to touch the infants. To his great dismay, Frederick’s experiment was cut short, but not before something tragically significant regarding human nature was revealed. As you may have guessed, the babies grew up to speak no language at all because they died.

In the year 1248, an Italian historian named Salimbene di Adam recorded, with an air of scientific observation, “They could not live without petting.” The babies literally died for want of touch.

Astounding!

Modern medicine calls this phenomenon, “failure to thrive.” What you and I know is that the first language of our humanity is not a language; it's not even touch. Our first langauge is love. For some reason, we humans flourish under the influence of love and we gradually die without it. The implications of this fact are huge.

Consider the research of Dr. Dean Ornish, the founder of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in California. In his national best seller, Love and Survival, Ornish presents study after study demonstrating that love is a chief influence for mental, emotional, and even physical health. He summarizes the unexpected message of the rapidly accumulating body of data: “Anything that promotes feelings of love and intimacy is healing; anything that promotes isolation, separation, loneliness, loss, hostility, anger, cynicism, depression, alienation, and related feelings often leads to suffering, disease, and premature death from all causes” (Dean Ornish, Love and Survival, p. 29).

We are literally engineered for love. We are made for love, as if our DNA contains the message, “You must love and be loved in order to survive.” But why? Why love. Science says that's a mystery. For them the “mystery remains. No one can fully explain, why love and intimacy matter so much." 

Let me let you in on a little secret. We know why. We know that we are made in the image of God. And if God is love, so are we. 

Note: The above version of this story taken from http://www.digma.com/digma-images/video-scripts/fredericks_experiment.pdf

The video can be found here: https://digma.com/fredericks-experiment/?video=play

Many in our day seem to be afflicted with that terrible disease known as Cirrhosis of the Giver. This terrible malady renders the afflicted person’s hand incapable of moving from the wallet to the offering plate. The only known cure is to remove the sufferer from the Lord’s house, where the condition seems able to cure itself. This is seen in the fact that the sufferer is more than willing and able to spend money at restaurants and in activities which he/she enjoys.

A business executive became depressed. Things were not going well at work, and he was bringing his problems home with him every night. Every evening he would eat his dinner in silence, shutting out his wife and five-year-old daughter. Then he would go into the den and read the paper using the newspaper to wall his family out of his life.

After several nights of this, one evening his daughter took her little hand and pushed the newspaper down. She then jumped into her father's lap, wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him strongly. The father said abruptly, "Honey, you are hugging me to death!" "No, Daddy," the little girl said, "I'm hugging you to life!"

This was the greatness of Jesus. He took people where they were and hugged them to life. That is precisely what we see Jesus doing here in this dramatic passage in Mark 5. He is loving needy and hurting people, hugging them to life. This passage is a fascinating one because here we have a story within a story, or two healing stories rolled into one and the people involved could not be more different.

On the one hand, the family of Jairus represented the "upper crust" of society. Jairus was the ruler of the synagogue. He was a man of substance, rich and powerful and religiously prominent. In the synagogue, he called the shots. He decided who would preach, what scripture would be read, and what hymns would be sung. He represented the Elite of Society, especially the religious world, but this day Jairus was troubled. His 12-year-old daughter was dying.

On the other hand, the hemorrhaging woman in the crowd was a social outcast. She was considered unclean as one who was under the judgment of God and therefore not allowed to set foot in the synagogue. In this magnificent passage, these two vastly different people, the down and out hemorrhaging woman and the upper-crust daughter of Jairus, are loved into life by our Lord.

Now, of course, there are many beautiful lessons here in Mark 5 in these two dramatic stories of healing, and we could go off now in any number of directions. But for the moment, let's look closely together at the power of love and the amazing, incredible things love can accomplish when it is given and when it is received.

1. Love Has the Power to Heal.
2. Love Has the Power to Reconcile.
3. Love Has the Power to Redeem.

Though there are later stories of rabbis taking the hand of another man and healing him, there are no such stories of rabbis doing so for a woman, and especially not for a woman who was not a member of the healer's family (b.Ber. 5b). In addition, there is the fact that Jesus performed this act on the Sabbath. Thus, while touching a non-related woman was in itself an offense, and touching one that was sick and therefore unclean was doubly so, performing this act on the Sabbath only compounds the social offense. But this is not all. The service of Peter's mother-in-law to Jesus (and the others) itself could have constituted work on the Sabbath, depending on what was done (e.g., preparing food). In any case, later Jewish traditions suggest that women should not serve meals to male strangers. The important point about Jesus, however, is that he does not see the touch of a woman, even a sick woman, as any more defiling than the touch of the man with the skin disease. Jesus' attitudes about ritual purity differed from those of many of his fellow Jews. [p. 98]

In the old musical Jesus Christ Superstar, there's a scene when the crowd grovels around Jesus, pulling on his hands and on his garments, crying,

See my eyes, I can hardly see.
See me stand, I can hardly walk.
I believe you can make me whole.
See my tongue I can hardly talk.
See my skin, I'm a mass of blood.
See my legs, I can hardly stand.
I believe you can make me well.

We all need physical healing. But we need spiritual healing even more.

For those conducting Communion this Sunday this illustration offers some strong tie-ins for a conclusion:

Have you heard the legend of the Fisher King? When the Fisher King was a boy, he was sent out to spend the night alone in the forest, as a test of his courage to be king. During the night, he had a vision of the Holy Grail—the cup used by our Lord at the last supper. He saw it surrounded by great flames of fire, and he immediately became excited by the prospect of the wealth and glory that would be his by possessing such a great prize.

Greedily, he reached into the flames to grab it, but the flames were too hot, and he was severely wounded. As the years went by, the Fisher King became more despondent and alone, and his wound grew deeper. One day, feeling sad and depressed and in pain, he went for a walk in the forest and came upon a court jester.

"Are you all right?" the jester asked. "Is there anything I can do for you?

Anything at all?"

"Well, I am very thirsty," the Fisher King replied. The jester took an old dilapidated cup from his bag, filled it with water from a nearby stream, and gave it to the Fisher King. As he drank, he suddenly felt his wound healing for the first time. And incredibly, the old cup he was drinking from had turned into the Holy Grail.

"What wonderful magic do you possess?" the Fisher King asked the jester. The jester just shrugged and said, "I know no magic. I only gave a drink of water to a thirsty soul."

This old legend underscores a great truth that is written large in the scriptures, namely this… Greed and selfishness bring pain and suffering, but love brings healing and life. We see it here in Mark 5 as Jesus reaches out to the hemorrhaging woman and the daughter of Jairus…love has the power to heal.

Blue Monday, that post-weekend, down-in-the-dumps day, may indeed be dangerous to your health. More men die suddenly of heart disease on Monday than on any other day of the week, reports a group of University of Manitoba researchers in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Your heart also knows about TGIF (Thank God It's Friday), because that's the workday when the fewest men die of heart attacks. A long-term follow-up study of nearly 4,000 men found that 38 had died of sudden heart attacks on Monday while only 15 died on Friday. For men with no history of heart disease, Monday was particularly dangerous. Among that group, an average of 8.2 heart attack deaths occurred on each of the other six days of the week, while nearly three times as many occurred on Monday.

"Psychological stress has been related to sudden cardiac death, and it may be that return to work serves as a stressor," says Dr. Simon W. Rabkin, one of the researchers. But being at home on Blue Monday didn't help much either, since 46.7 percent of the fatal heart attacks occurring in the home also happened on Monday. "The warning 'Beware of Mondays' should be stimulus for further research to determine why," Rabkin adds.

When we think about the people who have given us hope and have increased the strength of our souls, we might discover that they were not the wardens or moralists, but the few who were able to articulate in words and actions the human condition in which we participate and who encouraged us to face the realities of life. Those who do not run from our pains but touch them with compassion bring healing and new strength. The paradox is that the beginning of healing is in the solidarity with the pain. In our solution oriented society it is more important than ever to realize that wanting to alleviate pain without sharing it is like wanting to save a child from a burning house without the risk of being hurt.

There is a road in southern Italy that begins in the city of Eboli and ends in the mountain village of Gagliano. To anyone who makes that journey, it is an ascent to hell. Gagliano is no more than a scattered cluster of fallen down whitewashed old buildings, hanging desperately to barren slopes near a rocky cliff. The village has been there for centuries and for as far back as the oldest person can remember it has always been a place of severe poverty, unrelenting disease, frightening superstition, monotonous despair, and death. Oppressed and defeated by those conditions, it is said that the peasants of Gagliano do not sing and there is a saying among them that "Christ stopped in Eboli," that somehow God had forgotten them and Christ stopped at the other end of the road. Because hope and joy, the fullness of human life that God means for us to have, are not found there, the road to Gagliano is a road that leads to hell.

Likewise, there are some stairs in a New York City tenement that go up six flights to an apartment that houses a family of ten -- a grandmother, her two daughters and their seven children. Anyone who has climbed those stairs and shared in the experiences of that family this past year has made an ascent to hell. Unemployed, with few or no job skills, the family subsists on welfare payments and the meager wages one daughter brings home from work at a fast-food restaurant. Often the heat does not work and there is no hot water. Many days there is no food, for alcohol and drugs often eat up their money. Five days before Christmas, while the grandmother was down on the first floor to fetch the mail, one of the little boys climbed up on the gas stove, turned it on and set himself ablaze. While the rest of the world was singing "Joy to the World," that family, already dead to the world around them, mourned the painful death of one of their children.

In another part of the world, there is a trail in eastern Turkey that winds its way through the rocky barrens to the squalor of a refugee camp. Here thousands of people are housed in makeshift tents -- tattered blanket homes. If you were to take that road and visit those camps, you would hike yourself into hell. Sickness and disease are rampant there. Death is a frequent visitor where fresh water and food are scarce and sanitary conditions are unheard of. The people who live in those camps are trapped -- unable to move forward into Turkey and, because of war and fighting behind, unable to go back to their homes.

In this so-called modern world, which is supposed to be undergoing a revolution of change in the direction of a "new world order," so many of its roads lead not up, or forward, into the future, but back and down into hell. Sickness stalks the streets of Zaire under the name of the Ebola virus. In fact, all over our world, and even here in the United States, there are streets and stairways, elevators and superhighways that lead to hell, places of evil where people are trapped in boredom, bigotry, loneliness, leukemia, poverty, psychosis, despair, and death.

Trouble is all about us and the words of Saint Paul ring true when he wrote, "Outwardly we are wasting away. Daily we are being given over to death." To us Jesus speaks this morning, saying, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled. Neither let them be afraid."

I can't think of a greater condemnation to be levied against a people than this: They loved darkness instead of light. I would never want that to be said of me. But that is the way God sees the world. You and I see the world as it is right now. Most of the people around us try and do the right thing and when we are wrong hopefully we apologize. So we tend to think well of most people. But look out on the passage of time….

The Ancient World of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Hellenism, Rome, Persia, India, and East Asia was filled with the ignorance of hundreds of thousands of gods, magic, rituals, superstitions, human sacrifice, conquests, sewage(refuse was mostly thrown into the streets for the rats and dogs), disease (priests attempted to foretell the course of a disease by examining the livers of sacrificed animals). And the list doesn't end there: ethnic bigotry, civil wars, persecutions, despots, tyrants, class rule, and the systematic murders of tens of thousands.

The Middle Ages of Persia, Constantinople, Islam, Britain, China, India, Genghis Khan and the Mongols, Timur and the Turks, Europe, African Empires and the Americas. All of them covered in the darkness of man's inhumanity to man: Revolutions, expansionism, Mohammad's Conquest and Christianity's Crusades, warlords, heretics, witchcraft, increased trade bringing death and plagues to millions, and the crowding in the cities spreading the misery all the more. And on top of this misery wars fought for every ridiculous reason known to man.

The Enlightenment and the Modern world also have faired no better. We too have loved the darkness instead of the light. Europe, Africa, Mid-East, India, and the Americas have all dipped their finger into the cesspool of sin: Guns, germs, slavery, the need for women's suffrage, massacres, socialism, resistance to democracy, religious fundamentalism's resistance to progress, Fascism, Communism, The Holocaust, the Ku Klux Klan, greed, the market crash, The Depression, world wars, The Bomb, and lest we forget 9/11.

I can't tell you what a short list this is. And this says nothing of the millions of women and children who have suffered throughout the ages at the hands of ruthless men. There is no way to write that history because it is hidden from the pages of history.

Yes! Men have loved darkness rather than light. There is a morbid destructive tendency in all of us. We dabble in the diabolical. We revel in revenge. And we hate in our hearts. My, how we love to live in the shadows! What must God think of us?

Here is his verdict, as true today as it was when it was pronounced 2000 years ago: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light, because their deeds were evil. This is Jesus' description of mankind.  And can any of us argue with him?

For a few moments let's look at the world through the eyes of God. What does he see? He sees that....

1. There are those whose deeds are evil.
2. There are those who live by the truth.
3. There are those who acknowledge their need for forgiveness.

The wind of the Spirit blew through St. Mary's Parish but it did not seem to touch the life of Maria Sanchez. Maria had been a faithful member of St. Mary's Parish all of her life. She was baptized there, confirmed there, married there. And yet, when the Spirit blew new life into the lives of so many in the parish, Maria felt excluded.

Some called this blowing of God the "charismatic movement." Whatever it was called it certainly touched the lives of some of the members of St. Mary's in very special ways. Some spoke in tongues for the first time in their lives. Others spoke words of prophecy while others interpreted prophetic words and still others experienced the power of healing.

Maria Sanchez knew these people whose lives had been touched by God in new ways. She was excited for them. She joined them in some of their special prayer meetings. Maria's friends knew of the depth of her faith. This was not in question, at least not in the beginning. Maria was welcomed into their fellowship. She was excited to be there. She experienced the gifts of the Spirit as others exercised them. None of these new gifts were manifested in her life, however. That's where the problem arose.

Maria's newly "spirit-filled" friends wanted to pray for her with the laying on of hands so that she might also be filled with the Spirit and experience the work of God's Spirit in her life in new ways. Maria was more than willing to be prayed for. So the prayer fellowship prayed for Maria.

They prayed -- but nothing happened. No new gifts of the Spirit, that is, became manifest in Maria's life. They prayed for Maria at the next meeting as well. And the next and the next and the next! But -- nothing! It seemed 29to Maria that the matter got focused on the gift of speaking in tongues. "Everyone ought to have this gift," the others told her as they prayed and prayed for her. "Speaking in tongues is a sign of increased holiness," they told Maria.

The prayers did not seem to work, however. Maria Sanchez did not speak in tongues. She did not prophesy nor interpret prophetic utterances nor acquire new and greater faith nor experience new healing power. All the prayers seemed to be in vain. Maria Sanchez experienced all of this as a source of great guilt. What was the matter with her? What was wrong with her faith life? Why couldn't she speak in tongues? In the company of her "spirit-filled" friends she could only see herself as a spiritual failure.

One day Maria's aunt came to visit her. Maria knew her Aunt Carmen to be a woman of great faith. Maria told her aunt of her experiences with her spiritual friends and of her own despair over God's lack of presence in her life. Aunt Carmen heard Maria's story of pain and replied in great wisdom. "The Holy Spirit has been at work in your life ever since you were baptized," Aunt Carmen began. "It is the Spirit that has taught you to have faith in Jesus. It is the Spirit that has given you your many gifts for the common good of God's people. The Holy Spirit doesn't have a copy machine. Only you have been given the gifts that you have. The Spirit doesn't want you to be like anyone else. The Spirit gives each one of us a different assortment of gifts. Our spiritual task is to use the gifts the Spirit gives us for the common good.""

The fall of Haile Selassie in 1974 did not bring the kind of peace that the Ethiopians had hoped might follow their somewhat "benevolent" dictator. They had hoped for democracy. They had hoped for freedom. What they got, instead, was a Marxist state that ruled with an iron hand. Repression was everywhere. Persecution was everywhere. The Christian church became a target of this repression and persecution. The almost 20 years of Marxist rule was a very difficult time for the Christians of Ethiopia. During the waning years of this Marxist rule an Ethiopian pastor named Yadessa addressed an American audience concerning this persecution. He told of churches being closed and of many Christians and Christian leaders being put in prison. He said that there were hardly any churches left open in the western region of Ethiopia where evangelical Christianity had been very strong.

But closed church buildings did not close down the church. "Houses became churches," Pastor Yadessa told his audience. Christianity not only survived but thrived and grew under state repression. Pastor Yadessa reminded his audience that the most significant person to be imprisoned in those years was the president of the church himself, Pastor Gudina. Pastor Gudina was jailed and released several times but he eventually died in prison, Pastor Yadessa reported. He further reported that Pastor Gudina's wife was also imprisoned. "She has adjusted to prison life very well," Pastor Yadessa said. "She sews sweaters for people and distributes Bibles that are sent to her. She and many of the other imprisoned Christians have become great evangelists in the prisons. God has God's own evangelism plans," Pastor Yadessa proclaimed with a smile. 

He told another story of God's evangelism planning. At the time of his address to his American audience Pastor Yadessa was the director of evangelism for the Ethiopian Evangelical Church -- Mekane Yesus. (Mekane Yesus means "the place of Jesus.") He planned that evangelism leaders from the Addis Ababa area and evangelism leaders from the land to the West that had been so heavily persecuted should meet in a city on the border of the two areas. "Just the logistics of planning the meeting," Pastor Yadessa said, "were extremely difficult. Communication between parties was almost impossible. But," he continued, "when the day for the meeting arrived, somehow, under God's providence, all of us arrived safely." The meeting, of course, was a bit subversive in light of the state's persecution of the church. The evangelism leaders gathered, therefore, in a simple home in the city. "We were just about to start our meeting," said Pastor Yadessa, "when seven uniformed policemen barged through the door of the house. 'This is an illegal meeting,' the head of the policemen shouted at us. 'You are all under arrest. Come with us at once.' It wasn't long until all of us were locked together in prison." As Pastor Yadessa told the story he indicated that the first hour or two that the leaders were in the jail were moments of great despair. "But then," he said brightening, "we realized that God had given us a great opportunity. Here we were all together in one place with nothing to do but pray together and talk together and think about evangelism together. We found ourselves on a wonderfully unplanned evangelism retreat. God, indeed, has God's own evangelism plans that surprise and surpass our own!""

Most people think of AIDS as being transmitted sexually or through intravenous drug use. There are few actual cases of anyone contracting the virus in other ways. However, there is the case of two brothers. One of the brothers had advanced symptoms of AIDS. The other brother was not infected at all with the deadly disease. Then one day the two brothers got into a very violent fight. The infected brother continuously smashed his head against his brother's head. Both men bled a great deal into each other's exposed wounds. Soon after this episode the non-infected brother tested positive for the virus.

It is stories like these that have caused the medical community to revisit how they view sports. The Center for Disease Control did conduct one study a few years ago, reviewing eleven NFL teams playing 155 games. The scientists recorded 575 bleeding injuries. From this they calculated that the risk of getting AIDS on the field was 1 in 85 million. According to official records there has not been a case of transmission on the field to date.

However, minds were challenged again in the sport of boxing. In February of 1996, a boxer by the name of Tommy Morrison announced to the world that he is HIV-positive. It turns out that Tommy had been very active in areas beyond boxing. Because of his fame, which had also extended into some television appearances, Tommy was very attractive to a lot of women. Tommy soon discovered that he could have almost any woman he wanted at any time. Because of this philandering activity, Tommy became HIV-positive.

Tommy Morrison described himself and many others when he tried to explain how this could happen. Yes, he gave the normal reflection that he never thought that this could ever happen to him. No, he was not careful but instead very reckless. Perhaps he stated the situation best when he said, "I thought that I was bulletproof."

Wasn't that the problem that Jesus saw in the many arrogant religious leaders of his day? Isn't that our problem when we try to live lives that are distant from God? Couldn't we say along with Tommy Morrison, "I thought I was bulletproof"?

Adapted by Time (New York City: Time-Life Syndication), February 26, 1996, p. 59.

In his book Written in Blood, Robert Coleman tells the story of a little boy whose sister needed a blood transfusion. The doctor explained that she had the same disease the boy had recovered from two years earlier. Her only chance for recovery was a transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the disease. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor.

"Would you give your blood to Mary?" the doctor asked. Johnny hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled and said, "Sure, for my sister." Soon the two children were wheeled into the hospital room Mary, pale and thin; Johnny, robust and healthy. Neither spoke, but when their eyes met, Johnny grinned. As the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, Johnny's smile faded. He watched the blood flow through the tube.

With the ordeal almost over, his voice, slightly shaky, broke the silence. "Doctor, when do I die?'

Only then did the doctor realize why Johnny had hesitated, why his lip had trembled when he'd agreed to donate his blood. He's thought giving his blood to his sister meant giving up his life. In that brief moment, he'd made his great decision. Johnny, fortunately, didn't have to die to save his sister. Each of us, however, has a condition more serious than Mary's, and it required Jesus to give not just His blood but His life.

Retirement may increase a man's risk of dying of heart attack. "We found an 80 percent higher rate of death from coronary disease among those in a study who had retired compared with those who had not," said Dr. Charles H. Hennekens of Harvard Medical School. It may be that some people who retire get all nervous about it and kind of tense," said Hennekens. "That may be a way of explaining this, but I just don't know."

Hennekens said he and his colleagues were trying to set up a long-term study of up to 10,000 elderly persons to determine their physical and mental responses to retirement. Among the variables not included in the current data, he said, were length of retirement, changes in lifestyle and attitudes toward retirement. The last may be very important, he said, since "for some people, retirement is a reward for a lifetime's work and they look forward to it. But for other people, it is a punishment for growing old. Those who feel that way perhaps might be the ones who get nervous, but we don't have that breakdown."

Each victim was matched with another man of similar age living in the same neighborhood. Of the 568 pairs of victims and controls, 102 included one retiree and one person still at work. Of those, Hennekens said, 76 of the dead men were retirees, while only 26 of the living men had retired. After adjusting the information for age differences and other variables, he said, "there was still this 80 percent association." He said the tentative findings applied only to men in whom coronary disease is much more common than in women. By age 60, one in five American men will have had a coronary problem, while the figure for women is about one in 17.