The Healing of Soul and Body
- davidwperk
- Nov 21, 2023
- 7 min read
Daily Office Devotional, Tuesday, November 21, 2023
Proper 28, the week of the twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s gospel reading:
19Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ 20He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move.’
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 992)
AM Psalm 97, 99, [100]; PM Psalm 94, [95]
1 Macc. 3:25-41; Rev. 21:1-8; Matt. 17:14-21
Today we celebrate the Feast of Mechthilde of Hackeborn and Gertrude the Great. (See below.)
David's Reflections
In today’s Gospel, the son’s illness sounds like epilepsy. My second-grade schoolteacher, Nina Small, lost her son by drowning. He had an epileptic seizure on the banks of the Calcasieu River in Louisiana, fell in, and drowned. I witnessed a seizure in Urdineta in Philippine Islands at age 19 as a student summer missionary during an evangelistic service in a street-side open-air setting where my partner, Bill Whitaker, and I were preaching for a week. The scene was terrifying.
Mark and Luke also describe this healing. In Mark the father says the boy has a spirit of dumbness; in Luke the father describes his affliction as being seized by a spirit. Both Matthew and Luke shorten Mark's descriptive detail, but this child probably suffered from epilepsy.
The translators of the New Revised Standard Version use that word here, but Matthew literally has the word "moonstruck" where we read the word "epileptic" in verse 15. Insanity was explained as the work of demons in Jesus' world. In Jewish thought the two most prevalent explanations of illness were the work of demons or judgment from God as a result of sin.
It would be to modernize Jesus if we assumed he differed from his generation and had a modern understanding of epilepsy. The other extreme also would be a disservice to Scripture, namely to ignore the biblical witness to the reality of an unseen world of evil at war with God. We understand that epilepsy is not a demonic issue, but we also take the reality of evil very seriously.
What strikes me today is Jesus' expectation that his followers would share his ministry of healing. That healing could be salvation itself, with forgiveness and divine love doing their healing work. It could be physical healing, as in this case. It could be the healing of wounded memories, an inner emotional healing. It could be deliverance from evil or the healing of a place. It could be the healing of intergenerational wounds.
Jesus' response to his disciples' inability to pray for healing challenges us to stretch our vision of ministry. We are a "catholic and apostolic" church, according to the creed we recite each Sunday. To be apostolic involves carrying on the ministry of Jesus and the Apostles. How can our faith communities take seriously Jesus' expectation that we join in this ministry of healing?
Perhaps first, we must open our own lives up to the healing grace of Christ, welcoming his loving light to expose our wounds and pour healing love onto and into them like a balm. As we embrace our wounds, offer them up to Christ, and experience more wholeness of soul and body, our compassion for others will overflow into loving actions and prayers for the healing of their souls and bodies.
Some people have a gift for praying for the sick, a gift given by the Spirit. My ordaining bishop, The late Rev. Robert J. Hargrove, had such a gift. When he laid hands on me at my ordination to priesthood in 1998, I jerked from the electric shock his hands conveyed. He leaned over and whispered, “Did you feel that?” I nodded. After the service he shared how he discovered God had so gifted him. A dear friend and Episcopal layperson in Louisiana, who died this year in his 80’s, had a gift for healing prayer. He laid hands on me once after a Sunday night Episcopal eucharist, and warm energy ran from my head all the way down my back. Experiences like these have only heightened my sense of expectancy that the Spirit of Christ may spring forth at any moment to complement and go beyond the work of the healing arts.+
Rowan Williams, when Archbishop of Canterbury, put this so well in his Easter Message in 2005. “Only Christ can make us whole in every aspect of our lives. But we can show the world something of the nature of that comprehensive hope in Christ as we put our energies to work for healing. First we have to begin to learn what it is for each one of us to receive healing: quietly and thankfully, we must let our wounds be exposed to the physician and allow his life to 'sink into' our lives. And then we must act as if we believed we had truly received authority to heal in all sorts of different ways.” [https://www.anglicannews.org/news/2005/03/an-easter-message-to-the-anglican-communion-from-the-archbishop-of-canterbury.aspx]
Collect of the Day, Proper 28, the twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost
Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 236)
+Note: The 2003 edition of The Book of Occasional Services, acknowledges the gift of healing with this rubric in the healing service. “Lay persons with a gift of healing may join the celebrant in the laying on of hands.” (BOS: 2003, p. 170.) Unfortunately subsequent editions of this Episcopal resource omit that rubric, BOS:2018 and 2022. All three of these resources do include a section on exorcism, or prayers for deliverance, and in that way all acknowledge the gift of healing prayer. You can download most Episcopal liturgical resources free of charge at this link. https://www.episcopalcommonprayer.org/existing-liturgies1.html
Today we celebrate the Feast of Mechthilde of Hackeborn (19 Nov 1298 CE) and Gertrude the Great (died 17 Nov 1301 or 1302 CE), nuns and mystics.
Collect of the Feast of Mechthilde of Hackeborn and Gertrude the Great
Almighty God, who gave to your servants Mechthilde and Gertrude special gifts of grace to understand and teach the truth in Christ Jesus: Grant that by their teachings we may know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ your Son; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Prayer for Healing
Holy Spirit, Living Love of God, you are in the world healing the wounds of sin and death. Warm the hearts of those embittered by sorrow and pain, encourage those crushed by failure, enlighten the minds of those dulled by pleasure or fatigue. Awaken in us all the remembrance of the overwhelming love of God made known to us in the life and death of Jesus. Help us to continue with renewed trust. This we ask of you, Life-giving Spirit, in the name of our Christ, God among us. Amen.
[People’s Companion to the Breviary, Vol 1. Revised and Expanded Edition of the New Companion to the Breviary with Seasonal Supplement. The Liturgy of the Hours with Inclusive Language. (Indianapolis: Carmelites of Indianapolis, 1997), p. 90.]
A Collect for Peace
O God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 99)
For those who suffer for the sake of Conscience
O God our Father, whose Son forgave his enemies while he was suffering shame and death: Strengthen those who suffer for the sake of conscience; when they are accused, save them from speaking in hate; when they are rejected, save them from bitterness; when they are imprisoned, save them from despair; and to us your servants, give grace to respect their witness and to discern the truth, that our society may be cleansed and strengthened. This we ask for the sake of Jesus Christ, our merciful and righteous Judge. Amen. (BCP, 823)
A Prayer for Light
Grant us, Lord, the lamp of charity which never fails, that it may burn in us and shed its light on those around us, and that by its brightness we may have a vision of that holy City, where dwells the true and never-failing Light, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 110)
A Collect for Mission
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (BCP, 100)
Daily Office Gospel, Matthew 17:14-21
14 When they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, 15and said, ‘Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.’ 17Jesus answered, ‘You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.’ 18And Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. 19Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ 20He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move.” (Other ancient authorities add verse 21, But this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting.)
Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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