Sir, We Wish to See Jesus
Fifth Sunday in Lent - April 6, 2003
By Father James
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm 51 or 51:11-16
Hebrews 5:(1-4)5-10
John 12:20-33
In a bible study once, one of the men present told of a parish where some layman had made a brass plaque with the words inscribed, “Sir, we would see Jesus,” and had it mounted in the pulpit where only the preacher of the day could see it.
I read a little book written a few years back by a disgruntled priest of Roman persuasion. It is entitled “Joshua” and is the story of a carpenter and cabinetmaker in upstate New York. He is Jesus in the flesh come back among humankind. The author has Joseph complaining about the clergy and the terrible things they do to religion obscuring Jesus and keeping the love of God and the simple example of human loving hidden under rules and prohibitions. I am sure there is much truth in that.
It may then come as a shock that I long for you to see Jesus. Part of my longing is for this liturgy on Sunday to come alive for you in unexpected ways, perhaps. For the prayers to become real prayers, for the absolution to become alive for you in waves of grace and forgiveness, for what happens when you receive the body and blood of Christ to bring to you life expressible. I want to take you, like Philip with the Greeks, to Jesus this morning. And I want to do that through the laying on of hands for healing. In my homily and in the laying on of hands I want you to see and to experience Jesus directly for yourself.
I was with Susan Starr for a few minutes that week. Susan was a lifelong Episcopalian and had recently fallen on weak times. Her health was failing and she had gone into a nursing facility. It had been considerable time since I had seen Susan last and it was good to see her. She was that day as lucid and straightforward as I have ever known her. When it came time to pray, I asked her if she had a special prayer she wanted me to say, and she asked me to pray that she would walk again. I was in a dilemma, because Susan hadn’t tried to walk for months and to the best of my knowledge there was no reason why she should not have been walking. But dilemma or no, I had the strongest urge, a prayerful, humbling urge, to say to Susan, ”Get up and walk.”
What about healing? How do you understand the New Testament when you read of stories of wonderful healing? How do you understand the miracles of Jesus? How do you respond when you read the words of Jesus, “Heal the sick.” Or in John’s Gospel, 14:12 “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these….?”
There are basically only two responses possible if one believes that Jesus did indeed say such a thing, and they are that he did not know what he was saying or that he did know what he was saying. Assuming that he did know what he was saying, and I assume that, why are we as Christians not doing the works of Christ? I must further assume that it is simply that we do not believe. There are those in the Christian church, Jack Spong for one, who hold to 18th Century Enlightment ideas or 20th Century Positivism, both of which have been long abandoned by philosophers, historians and physicists, for there are many other worldviews available including that of the New Testament. Now, not everyone was healed in Jesus day and no one has ever suggested that one should always be healed or ultimately that one would not die—ever! So it is obvious that healing was never conceived of as the right of the individual. But if God healed in Jesus day, and in the days of the apostles, and he did, why not now? Why not, indeed. And God does want to heal in our day, why not this morning? Some of you are in great need. Some have cancer. Some have colds. Some have arthritis, heart problems, some are sick at heart, some are in despair, and many feel unlovable. We have much to be healed. What should you expect when you come to this altar?
You should expect to be healed. We shall not ask you this morning what you want to be prayed for or who you want prayed for. We will assume it is for you and that you know your own need. How then might you prepare to be healed? There are several preparations which you might make, which you should make. First, begin right now to pray that our Lord will give you the gift of faith for healing. At other times you might read the Scriptures concerning God’s promises for healing. Study the examples of those who had faith—the centurion for his daughter, the friends of the bedfast man, the woman with the issue of blood, the ten lepers, blind Bartimaeus and the many others. Pray for faith. Second, ask others to pray for you on a daily basis as you prepare to receive the laying on of hands, and ask those same folk to come with you and with the priest or deacons as hands are laid on and anointing with oil occurs. Three, make an appointment with me or with one of the other clergy to discuss your preparation, your prayer, your questions, and your doubts. Healing is not magic. Rather it is the work of God, and your preparation cannot be too thorough. You may say, I am not going to do all of that. If God wants to heal me, then he will. Remember the story of Naaman the commander of the army of Aram? He had leprosy and a little Jewish slave in his house told him that Elisha the prophet of her people could pray for his healing, so Naaman goes to Elisha. Elisha tells him to go wash in the Jordan River seven times. And Naaman leaves in a rage. Wash in that muddy filthy river? Not on your life. But his servant talks him into it and finally he does it and is healed. If your physician prescribes treatment you will do whatever she says. So if your priest suggests preparation, do not despise it. God can do great things, but even faith needs strengthening.
Illness comes over time. Seldom does it come in a moment. It is a process, and the body, though it always tries to heal itself, fails sometimes and we become ill. Likewise, healing is a process. It requires careful preparation of the soul. And then it is most likely to take place over time with regular prayers for healing. You can begin today. Every Sunday, and quite often on Wednesday, prayers for healing are offered. So there should never be a week when healing prayer is not available to you either at the prayer desk during communion or at the chapel altar on Wednesday. If it is not offered on Wednesday, ask for it.
Come this morning, immediately after confession and absolution, even without further preparation. However, even now there are things that you can do to prepare. You can pray for others as they are being anointed. If you know them, you can come and also lay your hands upon them and pray as the priest or deacon anoints them. If you are in your pew, you can be in sincere prayer for others. When you come to the rail I encourage you to hold the hands of those who are beside you at this altar. That is most easily done when kneeling by crossing your arms. Even after you are anointed, remain kneeling until the one beside you has been anointed. In other words, as at the Eucharist, you are coming not just for yourself but for others as well.
In the letter of James, there is an admonition. It goes like this. “Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.”
You’ll note in that passage that sin in one’s life will prevent healing, that the sin must be confessed and forgiven first. In Paul’s letters he suggests that sickness is sometimes created by unconfessed sin, caused when one comes to the Eucharist with unconfessed and unforgiven sin. Confession to another person, in our tradition to a priest, with the reception of absolution, is another part of one’s preparation for healing.
Jeremiah in our Old Testament reading speaks of the greatest healing of all. That is, he prophecies that God will give to his people after the days of exile, a new covenant that includes a new heart. That is, God will write his covenant on the heart, his people will be changed from the inside out. That is a promise that Christians have always claimed. God through Christ will make me a new creature healed and whole. All prayer for healing should include that prayer.
Remember Naaman. Remember the Greeks. “Sir, we would see Jesus. Do you wish to see Jesus? To see Jesus is to see the source of all healing. That is my wish for you this morning, that you have a healing vision of God. That is God’s wish for you this morning. That is your own wish, if you but recognize it. So be it.