The Comfort God Gives

Every time we come together for worship we pray to God and offer intercessions for those in need.  We pray for the Universal Church, its members and mission; for the nation and those in authority; for the welfare of the world; for the concerns we have in our community; for the sick and those who suffer or are in trouble; and for those who have died and are in God’s eternal care.

We also offer prayers of thanksgiving for the blessings we receive, for this good earth and our desire to care for it, for anniversaries of births and weddings, and for our families, friends and neighbors.  Worship is about hearing the Word of God, praying for ourselves and others, and giving thanks to God for all the gifts we receive.

I have found that one of the most important ministries I do is visiting people who are hospitalized or are in a nursing or rehabilitation setting.  Meeting with them, hearing their concerns, responding with prayer and Communion often brings solace and a real sense of God’s compassion and care.  When our Eucharistic visitors take the Sacrament to others I am sure they also experience the presence of God.

In today’s reading from the Book of Job, Job’s dialogue with God focused on his suffering, his prayer, and it finally comes to an end.  “Job answered the Lord: ‘I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted’…. The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning;… And Job died, old and full of days.“

My friend Rabbi Jim Rosenberg has written, “God is challenging Job to step outside of his limited, subjective point of view. He is offering Job a glimpse of the world not as people see it but as God sees it, a view informed by God’s indestructible power and indestructible joyfulness in the process of creation. Reviewing his life from this altered perspective, Job is able to make peace with his suffering and to thank God for the gift of this new and radically expanded vision of reality.”

                       

Rosenberg goes on to say, “The universe is mostly not about us.  From the perspective of the God of the whirlwind, all of human history hardly registers on the calendar of eternity.  Rather than being a source of terror, this perspective can be most liberating.  Once we acknowledge our mortal limits, we are free to delight in the here and the now, even though we must admit that we can never understand the suffering of the innocent or the prosperity of the wicked.   We are free to immerse ourselves completely in the river of life, the only life that has been given to us….  So we need to hold on and enjoy the ride.  Our mortality is in fact our greatest gift.”  Then, in spite of all the sufferings of this life Job was blessed by God and “died, old and full of days.”

Job’s struggle with God was his prayer that brought him to the realization of his mortality and the limits of life.  In a real sense Job was made whole.  The Gospel of Mark picks up this theme in another story of healing.  Stories about healing consume much of Mark’s account of Jesus’ ministry. When the disciples called the blind man and led him to Jesus, he threw off his cloak.  “Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.”

The Christian writer, Frederick Buechner reminds us that Jesus spent a lot of time healing people. Like Job before him, he specifically rejected the theory that sickness was God's way of getting even with sinners…."Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick;” he said. "I came not to call the righteous but sinners."

Buechner says, “Ever since the time of Jesus, healing has been part of the Christian tradition…. Jesus is reported to have made the blind see and the lame walk, and over the centuries countless miraculous healings have been claimed in his name.”

Miracles are welcomed events that defy rational explanation.  Miracles happen all the time.  When we pray for someone in need we are often asking God to restore that person to wholeness.  So, when the blind are able to see, when someone with cancer recoves, when a community is restored to life following a disaster, it is a miraculous event.

In our relationships with a person who is sick or in trouble we should know that God often responds to our supplications in ways we might not understand.  In services of healing, the clergy lay hands upon the sick person and pray, “I lay my hands upon you in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, beseeching him to uphold you and fill you with his grace, that you may know the healing power of his love.”  Our relationships are about being a source of comfort to others, helping them know that, regardless of what happens, they can trust that God is with them.  May they and all of us, like the blind who now see, and like Job who suffered, be blessed and live joyful lives filled with hope.  Amen.