Dr. David D. Young
March 25, 2007
Hebrews 4: 14-16
John 12: 1-8 & 14: 18-24
"The Intimate Connector"

These past weeks of Lent we have been looking at Jesus as a seed planter, judge, prophet and teacher. Today, we continue on in our Sermon Series: "Who Is Jesus, Really?" as we explore another facet of Jesus’ identity.

A college student once asked, "It says here in the student handbook that if we study hard, don’t drink, don’t do drugs, don’t smoke and don’t carouse with members of the opposite sex – we’ll live longer. Is that true?" The professor answered, "We won’t know for sure until someone tries it."

Health – what is it? And why does everyone seem to pursue it? There is a disturbing trend in America these days toward the search for secular immortality. You can see it in the fitness craze when carried to extreme. I know of many people who are much more devoted and disciplined in their exercise programs than they would ever be in their spiritual health. As one person observed,

"Thanks to jogging, more people are collapsing in perfect health than ever before."

That was certainly true for running guru Jim Fixx.

A certain university was holding a lecture titled, "The Ancient Art of Healing Through Cooking." The people who showed up found the door locked. A sign on it read: "Cancelled due to illness."

Some people go crazy pursuing special diets which promise greater health and longer life. I am not knocking physical exercise – I do it. And I am not knocking having a good diet and life-style – I strive for those too – in moderation. What I would like to pursue this morning goes beyond the physical. Unfortunately, there are some things we cannot cover today – we’ll have to save them for another time. Things like why do bad things happen to good people? Why does God permit us to get sick and die? Sin and disease, and do genuine miracles really happen anymore?

Some people get hung up on miracles – especially healing miracles. They want God to do supernatural "tricks" to prove himself by granting special healing to themselves or loved ones – that goes beyond the natural – and current advances in medicine.

When I think of Jesus as a healer – I don’t see a magician who relied on gimmicks and showmanship to convince us of who he is. The natural is infinitely more wonderful than the God of a quick slight of hand – if we will open our eyes to his working within it.

Jesus warned us about supernatural "tricks" in Mark 8: 12 and Matthew 12: 39. Maximizing our focus on physical health and healing can be in the end less than healthy. Please do not misconstrue what I’m saying – I’m not down playing or denying the physical – but I would like to maximize life healing.

Just when I am feeling confident about being healthy – I catch a cold or get the flu. Eventually, in these cases we get better. The point is, every physical healing is temporary. Every physical healing is temporary.

The word "health" goes back to an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning "whole." "Heal" and "Holy" have the same root. Health – as wholeness is a balanced and harmonious functioning of body, mind and spirit according to the Bible.

Jesus understood that life is so much more than physical health, though he did perform physical healings. Yet, whenever he did – he was pointing to a deeper reality – that had to do with who he was in relation to God and how that relationship affects us.

Jesus came into the world to connect us with a greater reality, rather than having the scope of his mission reduced by the limited context of our human desire. If that had been all he came to do – he would have spent all his time doing physical healings. I mean, who doesn’t want it when we’re sick. But even Lazarus who was raised from the dead – eventually died. As I said – all physical healings are temporary.

In John 12 verses 1 through 8, that Stu McCalley read for us, we have here a story that is so important that it is recorded in all four gospels. It’s the story of Jesus going to the home of Mary and Martha and where Lazarus was as well. Mary took expensive, very expensive nard, perfumed oil and anointed Jesus’ feet. It was an oil and nard actually used for embalming but it was very, very expensive and Jesus had taught that we should not waste our resources and that we should care for the poor. But here he seems to be teaching a new lesson. We all desire to do good and be helpful to others and some do more and some less. But everyone has a desire to do some good.

I suspect every person listening this morning seeks to do some good with your life. We all open our wallets, purses and checkbooks when it comes to helping others in need. We do that with our Lenten offering and that’s a good thing. But I suspect there are times when we hold back with some of our most precious gifts – gifts of ourselves – gifts that might be like oil was in the ancient world – when it was put on someone to bring soothing and healing and warmth.

And so when we think about our own gifts – compassion and kindness and caring for others - do we hold those back or do we bring them forth? When someone dies – it’s amazing how we spare no expense. We lay on lots of praise but sometimes we hold back from really telling someone how important they are when they are alive.

Mary took a risk with Jesus when he was still alive and took this nard, this perfumed oil to anoint him before he died. It was telling of something very, very important that now is the time to bring forth our gifts - to care for other people in a more intimate way. We too can do that. When we know of someone who is going through a great difficulty – instead of holding back and waiting to be asked – we can reach out with our hands and our heart to share our compassion and caring. When someone is struggling with something - just to let them know that we care and that we stand beside them – simply to share that struggle with them. And when someone stumbles – as people do – rather then picking up the phone and saying "did you hear about so and so" or gossiping down at the grocery store. Finding a way to touch that person in a way that puts all that stuff of judgment aside and simply care. When people are going through a grief or a loss to let them know we share that with them. These are the ways we can open our oil, if you will, and take a risk of doing something now before someone dies. You know it’s interesting, the text says that the house was filled with a fragrance. Whenever you reach out in compassion to help another person – to truly help somebody, I suspect it releases something that is caught by others around and others too are touched in that moment.

Think to the next morning what the house must have been like – tablecloth crumpled, food crumbs all around, and time to clean up but the fragrance still lingered and perhaps Mary and Martha said to one another. "Gee that was some meal we shared last night, we probably won’t ever get a chance to do something like that again, but it was wonderful."

You see, when intimate compassion and true love are shared, we are touching the eternal. So that is why she is doing this before Jesus’ burial. The symbolism and power is that the eternal is touched in moments like that.

Let’s turn now to our passage from Hebrews which Stu read for us,

"Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

The writer had an image of Jesus as a high priest - who helped make the connection between God’s goodness and us in our times of need. Jesus knew that health goes beyond the physical. Hear words of Robin Van Cleef in a piece entitled, The Healer Speaks,

Come unto me
In your darkness, I am light
In you pain, I am healing
In your sorrow, I am comfort
In your anger, I am love
In your fear, I am calm
In your hunger, I am bread
In your thirst, I am water
In your need, I am fullness


Come unto me
When you are heavy laden
I am your rest.

And now hear the words of Jesus himself as recorded in our passage from John,

"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them. Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me."

Friends, love cures people – both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it. I know people who are struggling with cancer and other diseases – who are healthier than those who have great physical health – but are not fully alive with Godly love.

Jesus used love as the connector in all things – and he never forgot that he and the sacred source were one. Oh, Jesus was not God – but in love they were one. Anyone who has a partner or spouse knows that you are not the same person, you are not one person. But in love you can be one. Listen to the power of Jesus’ words,

"I will not leave you orphaned."

In the great scheme of eternity – isn’t that our greatest fear. So he goes on to say,

"Because I live, you will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you."

You see, Jesus is "The Intimate Connector." He is The Intimate Connector and if you want a very simple and profound definition for the spiritual life, it is this,

Connect…Connect…Connect…Connect

Making connections, making true intimate connections is what the spiritual life is all about. It’s true in our relationship with God – it’s true in our journey with Christ and it’s true as we walk in Christian community and stand and live together with one another.

Today, as we consider Jesus as healer – let’s remember that he was concerned with the physical realities of life – Yes – his concern did not deny the needs of these bodies of ours – but it did transcend exclusive focus on the flesh to the unseen realities of life as well.

As Stanley Jones once said, "it is the will of God that all of us shall be well and whole, but God has many ways of healing. Some conditions are healed through medicine, through surgery, diet, change of climate; sometimes through a change of mind, because so many things are psychosomatic. Sometimes God heals in direct answer to prayer. And there are some conditions that he heals only through the resurrection."

Jesus as healer is the intimate connector. Through love – Christ connects us with God and one another – in a way only he can do. We embrace that truth when we participate in communion. Christ is our connector in communion and beyond.

There is an old Russian proverb that says,

"The one who has this disease called Jesus will never be cured."

In that sense, may we never by cured – such that we are closely connected to God in love each day of our life and in all life beyond – thanks to…"The Intimate Connector!"

Amen.