Why He Came

Isaiah 40:21-31
Mark 1: 29-39

Is it any wonder that we have doubts and disbeliefs? Is it any wonder the population of atheists continues to grow? Jesus is so confusing! God refuses to do what we expect God to do and it confuses us to no end. This passage in Mark is another great example of Jesus refusing to do what his disciples expect, what we expect of him.

Last week we talked about fears and how change exacerbates our fears of the unknown. Jesus is completely unknown to these people that he is meeting, and the disciples have only just met him as well. But even as the disciples begin to know more about Jesus’ character, he still continually surprises them. Jesus continues to surprise us to this day.

In the beginning of this passage we see them leaving the temple where Jesus just taught with authority and performed an exorcism. Now they head to Simon’s home where they find his mother in law ill and in bed. Already knowing how compassionate and powerful Jesus is the disciples turn to him and he immediately goes to the woman. What is interesting in this passage is that Jesus does not pray or perform some ritual to heal Simon’s mother in law. He touches her.

Jesus takes her hand and helps her get up out of bed. The passage does not say so, but we can tell that by Jesus’ touch alone, the fever is taken from the woman and she immediately begins to go about her daily work.

No one in that house expected Jesus to be that powerful. They really didn’t know much about him at all yet, but when Simon saw his mother in law was ill he hoped that Jesus could do something to ease her burden.

I doubt they expected such an instantaneous healing. Although they lived in a time where magic and miracles were much more easily accepted, they didn’t see that many miracles. When someone proclaimed to be a healer they usually had gods they prayed to, tonics that had to be given, and sacrifices were made. It took time and effort, and more often than not the person was not healed.

Then along comes Jesus whose mere touch can bring relief from pain, illness and disease. The word spread quickly and everyone with any kind of affliction came to him. He healed their sicknesses and he drove out the demons that plagued their lives. Then the next morning he went to pray and when his four disciples found him they said, “Everyone is looking for you!” and instead of immediately going to the people searching for him, Jesus tells them it is time to move on.

Every week I stand up here and tell you that Jesus has the power to change your life for the better. Some of you believe that and others of you don’t.

You’re not alone. Anyone who tries to say they have never doubted the existence of God or doubted that God cares about THEM – is probably lying. God does things in such a unique way that we can never figure out what is coming next. Sometimes God’s plan does not make any sense to us at all.

There was a professor on the philosophy of religion who used to ask us if God was all powerful and all benevolent, why did he let 40,000 children die every day from hunger and mal-nutrition. At the time I did not know how to answer. I do now. Why is it that America throws out 40,000 people’s worth of food every single day and yet we feel no guilt that children go hungry? We have two hands and two feet – we need to learn to use them and not blame God.

Yesterday I learned that a good friend of mine’s brother died. It wasn’t really unexpected since he had been desperately sick with cancer. The saddest part of it is that his mother died two years ago when his father accidentally ran her over and then a year ago, his other brother died unexpectedly. Now all that is left of the family from two years ago is a father and a son filled with grief. It is so much loss to endure in such a short period of time. What is God thinking? Why would God allow this family to suffer so much? What GOOD can come of such a terrible situation?

Isaiah tries to give us some answers to these questions. He reminds us that God is so powerful that we are merely grasshoppers in comparison. Tiny brains with tiny bodies and not a lot of power to affect change in the world. No sooner have we made something of ourselves than we die off from old age. But God has existed much longer and will continue to exist long past our short lives. Isaiah tells us that although we will never understand God’s plans, God never leaves us alone. He will strengthen the weary and bring surety to those who stumble because God never gets tired or stumbles in his purpose.

When we try to make sense of God we will only end up more confused. It doesn’t mean we have to have blind faith because those who are blindly faithful often fall farthest from God’s truth. It means that questions are a good thing. Questions help us reason things out and make sense of a senseless world. I’ll probably never know why my friend’s family suffered so much in such a short period of time, but I know God knows why. I know that whether I understand or not, isn’t what is important. We put too much importance on knowledge and reason and understanding and not enough on acceptance.

When my professor told us that statistic, I really struggled with it. I couldn’t understand why God would allow it to happen. It took me a long time to accept I didn’t understand and once I did – that is when other things became more clear. For example, the world produces enough food to feed every person on the planet, except some nations have hogged the food supply. America is one of those nations. Why do 40,000 children die EVERY DAY from hunger? Partly, because of us.

I accept there will be some things I will never know about God and the world and life. We all need to accept that the past can never be changed, but the future holds infinite possibilities if we’re willing to be open to them. Jesus took twelve men from small fishing villages and opened up a whole new life for them. They saw and did things none of them would ever have imagined before Jesus came into their life. Jesus was the unexpected surprise that changed the whole world.

God gives each of us the ability to have the same miraculous change. It starts with accepting what sane people doubt. It starts with understanding that you will never understand completely. It starts with throwing reason and caution and logic out the window because logic will never get us into God’s head. The only way to know God is to know Jesus, and I promise Jesus will keep on surprising you for the rest of your life if you never stop searching for him. Where Jesus is at, what Jesus is doing, is not what we would expect.

Jesus is on death row with the triple homicide prisoner. Jesus is on the corner with the prostitute who has an STD. Jesus is with the teenager who just had an abortion. Jesus is with the one person you dislike most in your life. It doesn’t make sense. It has no reason or logic to it, but then God never said we grasshoppers needed to understand. We just need to believe and accept.

 Amen.