Gospel Reading: Luke 7:11-17
For Sunday, June 9, 2013: Year C—Lectionary 10
I really, really want the Bible to be a good guide for how to do ministry, and how to really help change people's lives. So let's look at the story of Jesus healing the widow of Nain's son, and see how if it's a DIY guide to healing people.
Context is Essential
Before we get to the way we heal, let's understand the story place the story in Jesus' life. He's just called the disciples, and he's speaking on a plain (it's Luke's equivalent of the Sermon on the Mount). He's given the Beatitudes, told them to love their enemies, to worry about the log in their own eye before worrying about the speck in someone else's eye. Then he healed the centurion's servant, and now we have him approaching a funeral procession.
#1: Pay Attention
The first lesson? We have to be paying attention. Jesus is walking along, sees a funeral procession and notices the mother of the deceased boy or man. He notices her.
Do we, as the church, notice when people are in pain? Do we look on Sunday morning when we preach, into the faces of those we love, and register when we see tears? Do we notice the anger cross their face? Do we even notice if people are present or absent? We have to pay attention, if we're going to minister.
#2: Give a Crap
The second lesson? Give a crap. How easy it would have been for Jesus to just walk on by. No one expected him to heal every sick or dead person who crossed his path. Jesus gave a crap.
High praise, huh? Do we give a crap? Or are we so tied up in the "missions" of our church that we don't notice that people are hurting? Are we so tied into the politics, the denomination, the rules, and all that stuff, that we don't have time to really make a difference in people's lives?
#3: Be Willing to Feel
The third lesson? We have to be willing to feel. The NIV translates this passage as "his heart went out to her." We have to be willing to hurt. That's what compassion is. To share in someone's pain.
#4: Healing Can Happen
The fourth lesson? We just walk up to someone who is dead and we command that they get better. It works! It really works. No, it doesn't.
The fourth lesson is that healing can happen if the other things are in place. It may not be supernatural, immediate healing. But healing can happen, through long term walking alongside people, through being with them on a day-in and day-out basis, through listening, caring, holding, and loving. Healing can happen.
The Hardest Question
Otherwise, what's the point?