Years ago, I had surgery on my shoulder that required the immobilisation of my entire arm. To facilitate this, my arm was wrapped around my body such that it appeared as though I did not have an arm as evidence by the fact that a young child proclaimed this rather loudly one day while I was shopping. Not having the use of an entire arm does present its challenges. The absence is felt in all the things we tend to do with both arms and all those things done with that specific arm!
Ultimately, although my range of motion is far from perfect, the surgery and subsequent physiotherapy did ensure significant improvement in mobility. Truthfully, I no longer worry about dislocating my shoulder every time I raise my arm and I can do much of what I need – perhaps short of work that requires a lot of reaching above my head. You could say, in a way, that healing has happened.
What comes to mind when we think of healing? From what would we like to be healed? What would that look like for us? To what extent do we think of healing in medical terms? How then, do we envision the healing miracles in the Bible? If Jesus had healed my shoulder, would I have perfect range of motion? Is it possible for someone experience the grace of healing and still exist in an imperfect body?
Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told (Jesus) about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
A colleague and mentor once gave me a simple drawing of Simon’s mother-in-law making sandwiches following a bible study on this passage where the group discussed at length that last statement – the fever left her, and she began to serve them. As I recall, there was some gendered expectations associated with this passage. Still, it is worth noting that Simon’s mother-in-law’s response to healing was service, sharing her gifts with those in her home.
Did she need a perfect body to serve? Did the healing given by Jesus extend beyond the presenting symptom, her fever? Could she see better, hear better, dance better, following her encounter with Jesus? To what extent do we envisage Jesus transforming Simon’s mother-in-law so that she had some ideal level of health that enabled her to do anything? Is it necessary to envision a perfect body to appreciate the mother-in-law’s grateful response?
From my own experience, I can tell you that it is possible to make sandwiches with an imperfect body. I did it while an arm was immobilised! Service, and sharing of gifts, does not, in fact, require perfect bodies and perfect health. One of the things we remembered about Mary Lou this week was her tenacity in baking for church events even when she struggled with the imperfections of her body. There are many others in the life of this congregation who are similarly generous with their gifts despite the challenges the face.
So then, how can we understand healing? What does it mean to us that Jesus healed so many people? Can we imagine these moments as providing sufficient resources for people to share their gifts with others? Is it enough to say Simon’s mother-in-law no longer had a fever and could go back to making sandwiches for the guests in her home? How might an understanding of healing as the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual resources for sharing gifts transform our relationships with those whose imperfect bodies require help and support from others to share their gifts?
How might an understanding of healing as resources for sharing gifts transform our relationships with those whose imperfect bodies require help and support to share their gifts? Our experiences as a congregation have shown us that people don’t need perfect bodies to be a blessing. Every person, no matter how imperfect they may seem by society’s standards, is a perfect creation of God, with gifts to share. When we create spaces to include these individuals by adjusting expectations, changing the physical space, and ensuring that folks can participate in meaningful ways, this help ensures the gifts each person has can be shared thus blessing all of us.
We know this from experience: help, support, adjustments, and accommodations, can enable gift giving that leads to blessings. The ability to participate in meaningful ways, to share gifts, to make sandwiches, can be a form of healing, a gift from God. Knowing this, may we continually seek to be agents of healing, offering what is needed to enable participation in the building of the Kingdom and trusting that God can work in and through any and all imperfect bodies in ways that bless all of God’s perfect, beloved children. This we pray as we sing: (VT) 412 My Soul Cries Out