Have Salt in Yourselves

+ In the Love of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let’s begin with this morning’s Gospel [Mark 9:38-50]:

 

“John said to him, ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.’”

 

My guess is that the reason John and the other disciples were so upset is because just 10 verses earlier the disciples had failed to cast out a demon while this man had succeeded in casting out a demon. In any event, Jesus’ response was quick:

 

“Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.”

 

In other words, if someone shows a Christian even the smallest earthly kindness ― even just a cup of cold water― he or she will get a heavenly reward. And this interrelationship between the earthly and heavenly, the spiritual and physical, is something we’ll see again and again as we continue to look at our readings.

 

Now let’s go to the last two sentences in this morning’s Gospel:

 

“Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

 

Salt is used for two things: as a preservative, and as a seasoner. Jesus is challenging his disciples, and challenging us, to be the salt of the earth, to preserve and add zest to life.

 

The connection between “salt” and “being at peace with one another” may sound odd to us, but in Jesus’ day the expression for sharing a meal together was “sharing salt together.” Eating together is one of the ways that we learn how to be at peace with one another. And that explains why potlucks are so important to the life of the church!

 

One of the ways that we can “have salt in ourselves and be at peace with one another” is through the healing ministry, and if you think that’s a stretch, let’s look at the Letter of James [5:13-20]:

 

“Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. 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 word translated “elders” is the Greek word presbyteroi [presbuteroi], from which we get the word “Presbyterian” and also the word “Priest.” And this is one of several verses in the New Testament that forms the Biblical basis for the Sacrament of Healing. But the reason the elders are called is because they are the elders of the church. And that’s the first thing I want to say about the Healing Ministry. The Healing Ministry is the ministry of the whole church, and the reason that’s important is because if you are too weak to pray, the Church will pray for you; and if your faith is too weak to pray, the faith of the Church is strong and it will carry you.

 

“The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.”

 

Let’s take that verse one phrase at a time.

 

“The prayer of faith will save the sick. . . .”

 

It would be just as correct to say, “The prayer of faith will heal the sick,” because the word translated “save” means both physical healing and spiritual salvation. In the twenty-first century we might like to distinguish between what’s physical and what’s spiritual, but first century Christians knew that in God’s eyes they are one and the same.

 

“. . . and the Lord will raise them up. . .” Like the verb that means both “heal” and “save,” the verb raise is used in the Gospels to mean both “raise from the sick bed” and “raise from the dead.” So even when sickness ends in death, we have the assurance that resurrection will triumph over death.

 

“. . . and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.”

 

Here again we see the interrelationship between the physical and the spiritual: pray for physical healing and you get spiritual healing as well.

 

“Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you [plural, meaning the whole Church and not just the sick person) may be healed.”

 

Here we see the link with our Gospel: another important way to be at peace with one another is to confess our sins to one another. Even when our focus is on a particular person who is sick, we need to remember that the church itself is always in need of healing as well.

 

(And that’s why in this morning’s healing service we will confess our sins before we pray for healing.)

 

Of course it’s more important to pray for healing than to talk about praying for healing, but I do want to say a few more things about the Healing Ministry.

 

First, let me say what the Healing Ministry is Not:

 

1. The Healing Ministry is not faith healing. There’s an ambiguous relationship between faith and healing in the Gospels. Faith can create a helpful atmosphere, but it’s not necessary because faith doesn’t heal, Jesus heals. Instead, I like to call it obedience healing, because Jesus has told us to pray for healing.

 

2. The Healing Ministry is not magic. Martin Buber, the great Jewish philosopher of the twentieth century, said that the difference between prayer and all magic is that magic wants to be effective without a relationship. That’s why our relationship with God and with each other is so important, and why forgiveness is so central to our prayers for healing.

 

3. The Healing Ministry is not about changing God’s mind. God loves us and wants us to be whole. Jesus never refused to heal anyone because sickness is a manifestation of the fallen creation which Jesus came to restore. Every Sunday we remind ourselves when we pray the Lord’s Prayer that God’s will is not always done on earth as in heaven; but when we pray we should pray with confidence that God’s will for us is health and salvation.

 

This morning, after you receive Communion, if you would like to be anointed for healing for yourself or someone else, when you go to the Chapel please remember 4 things and do 3 things.

 

The 4 things to remember are these: God is good; God is present; God cares; and God is at work, right now, here, in the Church.

 

And the 3 things to do are: Ask; be specific; and give thanks, because healing always takes place at some level.

 

Thanks be to God.