Preaching, teaching, healing-- that's how Matthew describes the ministry of
Jesus. The meaning of the first two words is pretty clear to us. The
meaning of the third word is not quite so clear, and Matthew defines the
meaning of Jesus' healing activity in our Gospel today. In chapter 8,
Matthew makes it quite clear that the ministry of Jesus is the work of a
physician. After his first series of miracles, Matthew says of him,
"he took our infirmities and bore our diseases." (8:17) Then, in chapter
9 Jesus calls himself a physician to the sick. So, we can call Jesus
preacher and teacher, but we also have to call him physician.
Having said that, we also need to say that Jesus is a physician in a more expansive sense than we usually have in mind when we use that word. When we think of physician we think of one who heals our physical ailments. Jesus was a physician in that sense but his healing ministry encompassed far more than the healing of the body. In our Gospel Jesus defines just what kind of physician he is. He gives us his mission statement as a physician or his job description if you prefer. We find his mission statement in 9:13, and it is about as concise as one could be. Here is the purpose God has given him and this is his purpose statement as a physician: "I desire mercy." What does mercy mean? It means empathizing with the situation of another and going to work to help them. In our reading today, we see Jesus living out his vocation as a physician: he sees three instances of suffering around him and he goes to work to help.
First, we have the story of Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors. It doesn't seem like a situation we would associate with a physician does it? But remember the definition: one who empathizes with the suffering of others and desires to help. The sinners and tax collectors were sick. What was the nature of their illness? They suffered from alienation. They were a despised minority and they suffered from the consequences of that. What was the source of their alienation? They handled pagan money, i.e. money with pagan images on it. This meant that they were unclean. This meant that they could not participate in the religious life of Israel. This meant that they lived in isolation from others. Anyone who touched them was regarded as unclean and rejected. In other words, they were people who lived in social isolation. Can you imagine what that would feel like? No one would touch you. No one would associate with you. Everyone regarded you as condemned and rejected by God.
What does Jesus the physician do for them? What is the treatment? He announces God's mercy. He calls one of them as his disciple. He accepts his invitation to dinner. He literally rubs elbows with these rejected ones as he sits in Matthew's home. In other words, he acts out God's mercy in the form of table fellowship. And this means that he is regarded as rejected and unclean. And ultimately this social rejection becomes total: they nail him to a cross.
Jesus was physician, and we are called to that same kind of healing ministry. His mission is our mission: we are called to empathize with the situation of others and reach out and help. Any time we do this we are being a physician. Any time we do this, healing begins to occur. There are a multitude of examples of this in the life of the church, a multitude of situations in which we share God's word of mercy and reach out and help. And I suppose one of the biggest examples of this is our Bridge Ministry. Every week, sometimes twice a week, we gather up clothing, coffee and donuts, lunches, and hygiene products and we go into the city to distribute these to the homeless. I suppose there are some who would call this a waste of time. They regard these people as deserving the situation they are in. We should just allow them to suffer. Then, they will change. But Jesus asks us to empathize and enter into their plight.
Next, Matthew tells us that Jesus, the physician, extends his mission of mercy to a woman who has been suffering from hemorrhages for 12 years. In other words, she has had this flow of blood for 12 years. The source of her sickness is physical, but it is compounded by her isolation. What is the source of her isolation? It is the law of her own people. Here is the law of Israel regarding such a person (Lev. 15): any woman with a constant flow of blood could not be touched and she could touch no one. She was cut off from God and she was cut off from others. Can you imagine being in that situation? Isolated from others for 12 years.
What does the woman do? She believes in this word of mercy. She believes that God doesn't want this kind of isolation and rejection for anyone. She reaches out and touches the one that she believes is the bearer of this mercy and she is healed.
An important part of the mission of mercy we participate in is touch. Certainly this occurs in the life of a congregation in a variety of ways. A new way this ministry of touch is taking place in our congregation is through the Prayer Shawl Ministry. The Prayer Shawl Ministry was begun a number of years ago by a woman named Bette Shellhorn, a member of the ELCA. The ministry works like this: a person knits a prayer shawl and as they knit they pray for the person who might receive it. When a specific person is identified, a small group will pray over the shawl. The sick or distressed person who receives the shawl is also prayed for by the person who delivers it. The shawl is meant to be a constant and tangible reminder that God is a God of mercy and is at work to make that person whole.
And the final act of God's healing mercy is seen as Jesus raises the daughter of a synagogue official from the dead. The sickness is death which is a consequence of the Fall. And the treatment in this instance is touch. His action is meant to be a reminder that not only does Jesus work for our wholeness and healing in this life, he seeks to give us a fullness of life that will last forever. That's how great is his mercy. And death is the scariest reality of all, isn't it? We are constantly working against it. All our efforts at establishing our security are really efforts to ward off death. We think that the more we can establish our security, the less we feel threatened by death. But no matter what we do, life delivers one crisis after another that reminds us that our time on this earth is limited and we shall surely die. Just as this father's world fell apart, so shall our world fall apart. And the only one who can hold things together is Jesus. And in the resurrection of this little girl Jesus announces: do not be afraid. I am more powerful than death.
Jesus, the physician, extends his mercy to us today. We receive it as we hear his words of love and forgiveness. We receive it when we remember that the Lord Jesus has touched us and made us his own through Baptism. We receive it whenever the bread and wine of Holy Communion is placed in our hands which is the touch of Jesus himself. We receive it as our neighbor says, "peace be with you." We receive it as we make room for each other in this place.