Mark 1:29-39
What’s the longest line you’ve ever stood in? Ever had to wait in line for an hour for the roller coaster at Darien Lake? That’s nothing. When I was a seminary student in New York City in 1978 the King Tut exhibit came to the Museum of Natural History. Public interest in seeing the golden treasures of the Pyramids was huge, and tickets were strictly rationed. Even then you had to stand in a line to get them. So I went down there one morning to get four tickets, one for me, two for my Mom and Dad, and one for a seminary friend. I think I was in that line all day long, at least six hours, maybe as long as eight hours. They didn’t give out numbers, but if they had I guess I would have been number 12,576, and I had arrived early in the morning! Fortunately, I was prepared, and I brought a stack of books to study for my seminary classes while I waited. It was even a bit of adventure for the group around me in line, we became a little community that day, sharing snacks and holding places when someone had to go find a rest room. Finally, near the end of the day, we reached the head of the line and I had my tickets.
Waiting is never easy. One time during seminary I was assigned to observe a waiting room at Roosevelt Hospital on the west side of Manhattan. This is a big hospital, and hugely busy all through the night. My plan was to sit in the corner and take notes unobtrusively, but one of the hospital staff put me behind a desk. Before long, everyone who came to the Emergency Room, when told by the triage nurse to wait found their way over to my desk, thinking that I was an official of some kind that they could beg and plead with. Every one of them, with a broken bone, a sick child, or a high fever told me it was taking too long, and couldn’t I do something about it? What I learned there was than when you are worried or in pain, even a short wait is way too long.
Once again, our story from Mark’s Gospel is all about people looking for healing, and about Jesus offering it to them. Only the very rich could afford medical care in those times, so when Jesus came to town, people noticed that right away that he would help anyone, and they crowded in, even if they had to wait. It tells us that the first people who found Jesus were motivated not by theology and doctrine, but intense, personal need.
The story begins with a very personal encounter. Peter’s mother-in-law is sick and Jesus visits to make her well. You can see in the bulletin insert that the same story is found in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Mark and Matthew report that Jesus held her hand and she got well, while Luke mentions that the cure was effected by rebuking the demon in her. Last week, we talked about how diseases and illnesses, physical and mental, were often attributed to demons inhabiting the sick person, demons that had to be chased away by someone like Jesus. But from this story the situation becomes generalized, with people streaming toward Jesus to get the help they desperately needed. What seems do-able – Peter’s mother-in-law – goes off the scale.
When we begin to calculate that Israel at that time was populated by around 3 million people, we can quickly determine that it will take a long time for Jesus to reach everyone with healing. 3 million people, 1 million per year, works out to about three thousand per day, with no time for days off or vacation. That’s a lot of people! It seems overwhelming to me. It’s just like what we said in our Prayer of Confession a few minutes ago: “the enormity of the world’s need really gets to us at times. So much hunger, so much sickness, so much injustice and so much war, and we can never seem to catch up. It feels like our very best efforts are little more than a drop in the bucket. We try to be positive and hopeful, but for every person we help, ten more are waiting. We try to be generous with our resources, but if we were any more generous we might be the ones needing the help.” Yes, Jesus recruited disciples to help this endless work. Yet even with twelve disciples to help it seems far beyond what is possible. Though those disciples seem more overwhelmed than helpful. Even in the present day, we recruit people in our church to join with Jesus in reaching out, not just healing, but all the needs that people have for food, clothing, shelter, friendship, counseling, problem-solving. It seems overwhelming, but we hope and trust and pray, that what we lack can be filled to overflowing by the generous and powerful Spirit of God. We know it’s not much to go on when we’re feeling powerless, but the Spirit has a way of filling our hearts with hope and possibility.
Years ago, my parents drove my sisters and me from Connecticut to New Mexico for a week at Ghost Ranch. It was an educational program for Presbyterian elders, and my Dad got a scholarship to go. Kids had their own activities during the day. One day, we drove up to a rest area along the side of a steep mountain road. Our youth leaders invited us to look over the railing. As far as the eye could see, stretching all the way down to the river below were old beer and soda cans beyond count. For decades, people stopped at the rest stop and pitched cans over the side. Then our youth leaders told us why we had stopped there: “we’re here to clean it up!” It seemed impossible, but by the end of the day, scrabbling up and down that mountainside, we got them all, every last one of them, filling hundred of trash bags.
I try to remember that story whenever I feel overwhelmed, whenever I see those long lines of people desperately waiting for help, at the emergency room waiting for a doctor, at Cameron Community Ministries waiting for food, and so many other places. It reminds me of what we do when we come together in the hope of Jesus Christ. And, of course, I firmly believe that whatever we might lack, God completes!
Please, God, touch each heart in this room with your Spirit this day, a Spirit that heals, empowers, enlivens, and more. We’re praying in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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