June
12th, 2016 “Healing Prayers” Rev.
Heather Jepsen
1
Kings 17 and Luke 7:11-17
There is an obvious connection between
our two scripture readings this morning.
Each features a holy man restoring life to a widow’s only son. Each story describes a miracle of the
greatest proportion. And each miracle
serves to point us to the healing work of God in our world.
We begin with the story of
Elijah. God has called Elijah to preach
against King Ahab. God is planning to
bring a severe drought upon the land, to show that YHWH is a greater god than
Baal who was known as the god of rain. Elijah
is sent into the wilderness until even the very streams dry up. Then he is sent into the area of Zarephath,
for God will provide for him through a widow there.
Elijah arrives and seeing a widow he
calls to her for water and bread. Like
everyone in the area, her resources are scarce.
She gives to him what little water she has but she denies him food. She has only enough to make a last meal for
herself and her son. Elijah convinces
her that God will provide if she will only make her last cake up for him to eat
and finally she agrees. She makes the
meal for Elijah and then the miracle occurs as her grain and oil now last for
many days.
But, tragedy strikes as her son
becomes ill. The widow blames the man of
God for bringing calamity upon her home.
Elijah too, complains to God for such an awful turn of events. He then stretches himself out over the boy’s
body and prays for God to return this boy to life. God responds, renewing the child and the
woman rejoices that Elijah is a true man of God.
This story would have been told over
and over again by the Hebrew people, as it teaches so much about who God is and
what God wants for us. Throughout the
Old Testament, the Hebrew people are told to care for their widows, orphans,
and outsiders. Caring for the least
among you is written into their very systems of law. Widows are of special concern for they have
no man to care for them. When only men
can hold property, a woman without ties to a man has nothing. A widow with a son has a chance for a future as
that son can grow up to have property of his own. For a son to die, a widow who is already low
on the social ladder slips even further down.
Without her son this woman has no hope.
Elijah the man of God is sent to such
a desolate person. Through the powers of
God this widow is given means to eat for days, and her son is restored to
life. Elijah’s place with her demonstrates
God’s great care for those that have nothing.
Furthermore, this woman was a Canaanite, not even a worshipper of the
Jewish God. For the God of the Hebrews
to reach out to her shows God’s deep care for those on the margins. Elijah has come to illustrate God’s love for all
people.
This story is echoed in Luke. Jesus has just healed a Roman Centurion’s
daughter and as he is walking his group meets a funeral party. Once again we find a widow who has lost her
only son. Upon seeing her, Jesus is
filled with compassion and mercy. He
tells the woman not to weep, and comes forward to touch the bier. He calls to the young man, “Young man, I say
to you, rise!” and the dead man sits up and begins to speak. Luke tells us that Jesus then gave the man to
his mother.
Just as in the story of Elijah, a
widow is one who has nothing. To have
lost her son, she has lost her only hope.
When Jesus raises her son to life, he raises her as well. Jesus has given her back her life and her
hope, demonstrating God’s healing power and love for his people.
These are wonderful stories
demonstrating the power of God in our world.
But at the same time, we have to admit that they leave us wanting. When we read these stories we often think of
parents we know in our own world who have lost their children. What hope of healing do these stories bring
to us today?
Of course, in the time of Elijah and of
Jesus there were other widows whose prayers weren’t answered. In Elijah’s time there were faithful families
who died during the drought because of lack of food, and there were widow’s who
died because of lack of care, and there were sons who died as well. In Jesus’ day there was probably another funeral
the next week for a widow or a son and Jesus was not there that day to touch
the bier and bring the person back to life.
It is clear that for every person that Jesus touched and healed there
were hundreds more that he did not.
As we journey in faith, we come to
learn that God answers our prayers in different ways. Sometimes there are miraculous healings from
cancer, near miss auto accidents, and sudden financial windfalls. And for such things we give thanks. But for every miracle there are also those
that die young from cancer, those that die tragically in car wrecks, and those
that just can’t seem to stand on their own financial feet.
In the midst of our broken and aching world,
these stories of healing give us hope.
Elijah and Jesus came to demonstrate God’s grace and love for
people. These miracles were signs of the
kingdom to come, not the kingdom itself.
We live in an already and not yet time.
Jesus came bringing the kingdom
of God
For now, in these in-between days, our
hope rests in the only place it can, our hope rests in our Lord. Right after Jesus heals the widow’s son,
messengers come from John asking if Jesus was the one to come. Jesus tells them to “Go and tell John what
you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the
lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good
news brought to them. And blessed is
anyone who takes no offense at me.”
Jesus has come as a sign of our future.
The kingdom of God is within and around him, and he preaches the coming
kingdom to our world.
In our times of suffering and loss, we
need to remember that sometimes healing might not be what we imagine. Jesus brought the miracle of new life to the
widow’s son, but he brought the miracle of new meaning to the community that
surrounded them. Jesus still brings
meaning and new life into our own places of hurt, even if he doesn’t bring the
miracle that we desire.
One thing that is so wonderful about
these stories is how physical they are.
When Jesus sees the woman, the word used for his compassion is splanchnizomai which like it sounds, is
a deep physical feeling in the gut, splanchnizomai. Jesus literally felt for her. And in the story from 1 Kings, Elijah cries
out to the Lord and physically stretches himself out over the boy’s body three
times. Similarly, when we have deep
hurts that need healing we feel it in our bodies. Whether it is our own physical or emotional pain,
or pain we carry on behalf of others, our deep prayers live in our bodies in a
physical way.
So, I want to try something this
morning. I want to try an embodied
prayer. Elijah stretched himself out
over the child, and I want to ask you to stretch yourself out over an area of
hurt in your life. If you are able and
willing, I am going to ask you to stand and we will stretch our bodies three
times while we picture an area of our lives that we want Jesus to heal. If you don’t want to stand, I want you to
stretch your hands out three times, remembering Jesus stretching his hand out
to touch that bier, and think of an area you want Jesus to touch in your
heart. Let’s try it. . .
It’s interesting isn’t it how our
prayers take up physical space in our bodies.
This is a good exercise that you can do at home if you are
interested. As we continue our journey
of faith we would be wise to remember that our God is a God who heals, our God
is a God who answers prayers, our God is a God who is with us in our suffering,
our God is the God of the cross, and our God is the God of resurrection. It is to this God that we speak our healing
prayers. Thanks be to God for prayers
answered. Amen.
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