Jesus Brings Healing to Creation

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Discomfort is a fact of life in this world. Sometimes the discomfort you feel may be worse than others, depending on the source and duration. There is the irritation and discomfort of attempting to choose carefully a nice, smooth, flat campsite, then lying down and finding that you are directly atop a large rock or intrusive tree root. There is the discomfort of enduring a summer day when it is ninety-five degrees and ninety-five percent humidity. There is the discomfort of too-tight pants caused by too much indulgence.

Similarly, you and I endure a range of psychological and emotional discomforts. Worry about what the future will bring is discomforting. Stress over trying to accomplish ten things at once and doing them all right is discomforting. Encountering someone with whom you have quarreled or fallen out is discomforting. Seeing graphic images or hearing tragic stories in the news is discomforting.

And yet, all these discomforts are relatively easily remedied. But often you face another set of circumstances that brings more lasting discomfort. Illness can plague for weeks, months, or years. Personal tragedy strikes a mark on the heart that will never quite heal. These discomforts are not so easily relieved by rolling over or thinking positive.

Today's Gospel lesson gives a picture of Jesus in the midst of turmoil. Mark presents to you a Jesus who is always in a hurry. One of Mark's favorite words is “immediately”. But why is Jesus in such a hurry all the time?

Our Lord is in a hurry because of the magnitude of what He must accomplish. He must teach the world of salvation in His name. He must declare the coming of the Kingdom of God to the ends of the earth. He must take on the sins of the world. He must make right what is wrong in the world.

Jesus' teaching draws crowds. As you heard in last week's lesson, the people marveled at His teaching because He taught with authority previously unheard. He healed the sick and drove out demons. He commanded the powers of life and death. And so, rightly, the people marveled at Him, and they brought to Him all who were sick and demon-possessed. As His teaching and preaching brought faith into the ears and hearts and minds of the people, they were drawn to Him to be healed of all their infirmities.

Jesus did not shy away from this, but from dawn to dusk He healed all who came to Him. He cured diseases, healed paralytics, opened deaf ears and lighted blind eyes. He drove out demons and reclaimed those in bondage to Satan. He took upon Himself the weight of the suffering of His people and freed them from their burdens in body and soul.

Consequently, Mark records that Jesus became greatly weary. This was an inescapable result of His fame. He taught with authority, and with that same authority He healed the sick. Therefore, the crowds pressed in on Him night and day, seeking a miracle from the herald of the Kingdom. As St. John records, they even tried to make Jesus king on account of His ability to fill their hungry bellies.

But this constant service to others ran Jesus dry. He was deprived of His own time for prayer and communion with His Father. He was bereft of the opportunity to rest His body and soul, that He might have the resources to give to His people. Jesus is true God, but also true man, and men get tired, weak, and worn out.

Furthermore, Jesus is wearied by the ever-increasing burden of sin being placed upon Him. He is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”, but that sin is heaped upon the shoulders of a man. And Jesus, like any other man, must be fueled by rest, prayer, and meditation upon the Word of God. As you see Jesus in today's Gospel lesson, it almost seems as though you ought not bother Him. After all, Jesus has so many things to do – govern heaven and earth, order creation, give life to His people, bear the sins of mankind. Your problems really are trivial compared to others who need Him much more urgently than you.

But that is absolutely false. Jesus came precisely for this turmoil. He came to heal sinners. He came to cure disease and drive out demons. He came to seek and save the lost in body and soul. He came to bind up the broken and comfort the oppressed. For this reason He came, that He might give life to all in need, that you might have life to the fullest.

And for this reason, Jesus remained focused on His goal and His mission. One feature of Mark's Gospel is the “secret” of Jesus' work. He repeatedly commands demons and men to keep silent about the miracles He does, although that never happens. Jesus heals and cures and binds up those in need. But that is only a sign of His true work. He deftly avoids the distraction of fame and the crowds, and manages to slip away to rest and pray. He moves from town to town, that all might hear His teaching and come to the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.

And through the crowds, through the turmoil and chaos and mobs, Jesus presses onward toward the Cross. Sinful men get distracted in the midst of the crowd, but Jesus keeps His eye on the prize – the salvation of mankind. He hurries from town to town, proclaiming along the way the salvation to be revealed when He reaches Calvary. Jesus hurries toward the cross, that He might accomplish salvation once and for all.

On the cross, Jesus dies to set the world right. There He rests, even forsaken by His Father, Jesus rests Himself in the Spirit of God. And He dies the death to sin once for all mankind, that you might not face death eternally. His death breaks the power of sin, death, and the devil. The healing Jesus accomplished in the bodies of those who were brought to Him is extended to all you who are brought into His body.

The coming kingdom of God is here. The cross displays it for all the world to see. God is with man, and man is with God. The flesh and blood of a man now is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. A man, born of woman, is ascended into heaven and sits on the throne of God, “whence He shall come to judge both the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.” His flesh and blood give you life and health and salvation. His death and resurrection free you from all your ills of body and soul.

Jesus proclaimed the coming of the Kingdom of God by healing all manner of disease and infirmity and driving out demons. He proclaims the coming of the Kingdom by healing all manner of disease and driving out your demons.

In Holy Baptism, the devil has been exorcised from you, and you have been marked with the Name of God. Satan and his minions have been driven far from you, and you have been added to the number of the saints whose life is hidden in Christ. The waters of healing and regeneration have been poured over you and the filth and stain of your sins and trespasses has been washed away.

On those waters, you have been brought into the hospital of the Great Physician – the holy catholic Church. Here, the Lord provides for you by giving you the medicine of immortality. Here He feeds you with the supernatural bread that sustains you for the coming day. Here He gives you all things needful for this and every day of your life. He fills your belly and your soul with Himself, with His life-giving Body and Blood, that His life might fill you up.

This body and life are full of discomforts and troubles, but your Lord and Savior knows your needs of body and soul, and He has come to bring healing to you and to all of creation. While He may not miraculously ease every ache, He has certainly set you right again, and He has created you anew by the forgiveness of your sins. And His work will continue in you. He will continue to remake and regenerate you each and every day. He will heal your infirmities and cast out demons from before you. He will fill you with the Bread of Life. He will make you to rejoice for as many days as you have been afflicted. “The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds... Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving!” (Psalm 147:2-3, 7a).

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.