We hear powerful words from the writer of Isaiah…..
“Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.”
The creator cares for the powerless. The Lord lifts us up. I don’t know about you but those words bring light and life into my soul. It’s like a drink of water for the thirsty. Good, good news for those wondering about God’s work in this life. God lifts us up! Jesus lifts us up. The Spirit lifts us up.
The Gospel begins with that Good News for Peter’s mother in law. Jesus is making Peter a champion! “Hey mother-in-law, I brought my friend Jesus over, he’ll heal you!” And boom…..Jesus does. It says she immediately got up and began to serve. Wow, right?
And Mark goes on to say that these kinds of events go on all around Jesus because the word on the street is that Jesus is active in changing people’s lives. An encounter with Jesus….and you are changed. You are not the same as you were before meeting him. Not because you did something great or filed the correct request……I believe it is because Jesus simply desires to lift you up, to free others to be whole and well, to get them back to real living for the sake of the community and world. The God of Jesus desperately wants us to be whole and well.
And Jesus…so busy raising people up….does exactly what he needs to do in order to continue to bring about life….he prays…and he prays…and he prays. Over and over again…the disciples are wondering, “Hey, where’s Jesus?” “Oh look, he’s over there praying again!” Yes Jesus is predictable! He wants to raise us up and he prays a lot! He wants to raise us up and he prays a lot!
I believe he prays a lot because raising up people is hard hard, hard work! Getting a human being to the point of soaring in life…..is hard hard work. Getting an infant to the point where they can finally walk….hard hard work. Getting a soul that is so burdened and weary by the ways of the world to not feel faint….is hard hard work. Talk to our doctors and nurses at Mayo. Curing and healing is hard hard work. Talk to our teachers and cooks and janitors and administrators in our schools. Raising up kids is hard hard work. Talk with people beaten battered and abused in life…work on feeling safe and trusting again…..hard hard work!
Church….we are called to be about the hard hard work of raising each other up! Wherever that needs to happen….here…there…everywhere….raising people up! And we need to pray all along the way!
Peter’s mother-in-law is healed….not just for self…but healed into community. She is restored to the whole. It is a beautiful scene for sure.
And sometimes it doesn’t look like that! Sometimes it looks completely different – completely chaotic – completely and utterly despairing. Sometimes healing doesn’t happen how we want it to.
That was true with my mother back in 1997 and 1998. She suddenly collapsed in our yard. Dad drove quickly to the emergency room. Within hours mom was diagnosed with a stage 4 cancerous brain tumor. She endured an extensive surgery just hours later. The next morning, about 6 am, the doctor informed my mother that she only had months to live. I had to tell each of my family members this news when they arrived later that morning. We were devastated.
Where was God in the midst of this? We weren’t soaring…we were despairing. We weren’t walking…we were fainting. What do prayers mean when this kind of news is handed to you?
Surrounded by the love of community….we did what we were called to do. We fought lovingly. We went to physical and speech therapy. We went to radiation. We went to chemo. We did special cancer diet programs. We got 2nd 3rd and 4thopinions. We cried. We laughed. We prayed. We questioned. We trusted God to lead the way.
Susan and I got married ten months after the diagnosis. My mom was there. She had beaten the 6 month prediction. Two weeks later, however, my mom passed away. The longest walk of my life thus far was from that hospice room to our car…I still remember the sights, sounds, and feelings of that day.
One of the many changes we experienced during that time with my mom….our prayers changed. Our prayers changed from cure my mom to heal us all…..cure my mom to heal us all. This video illustrates what I mean by that……
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