Restoration

Mark 1:40-45

What may seem shiny and polished on the surface may not reveal the whole truth of what lies beneath. We all have brokenness; we all have scars. Its how we react to difficulties and how we deal with hurts that matter in this life. How we bring each other into a loving embrace and carry each other matters even more. And even more than that, what matters the most, is how we love our God.

Back in the 80s the movie “The Karate Kid” was released. A kid (Daniel Larusso) is transplanted from the east coast finds him self living in Reseda California. He was feeling out of place and out of touch until he found Mr. Miyagi, the maintenance man for the building he and his mother live in who also happens to be a martial arts master. Mr. Miyagi becomes his mentor and trainer. At first and second glance Mr. Miyagi seems flawless, until one night Daniel discovers that there is a brokenness to his teacher. He finds him extremely drunk one night. After Daniel takes care of his teacher he discovers that this was the anniversary of the death of his wife. Now the movie was remade recently and in the new telling of the story, Mr.. Han the maintenance man who is a martial arts expert has a beautiful car that he rebuilds every year and then smashes it with a very large hammer on the anniversary of his families death in an auto accident.

We do that, don't we? Not necessarily smash a car and rebuild it every year, but we do things that are not productive. We do things that are even self-destructive. These things are done out of our brokenness. They are done despite our best judgment and good sense. We snap at those we love and those who love us. We eat things that we know are bad for us. We fail to heed the warnings of our doctors, often for no good reason. There is not one person in this room that does not carry with them some hurt, some broken part of them that has shaped and guided part of who they are. The death of Paul this week demonstrates that. The Death of Whitney Houston demonstrates that. Those that have so much going for them can still be overcome by their own destructive behaviors.

A simple delight: a turtle made out of
Towels.  What is shiny, strong and beautiful
often hides and protects what is soft and
vulnerable.  

I am so thankful that you as a church family have demonstrated great love and support for each other. But let me tell you there are people here today who are hurting and feel like they are on the outside looking in. There is woundedness; there is brokenness; there isolation where there seems to be community. You may not see it because we are all like Mr. Miyagi, we push it down deep and “stay strong” and maintain a polished exterior. We are rebuilding that damaged car that caused so much hurt in our lives ; that caused us to be build the walls of protection around our hearts, and it looks nice. Someone sitting next to you is suffering in secret this morning. They need help carrying the burden that is on their shoulders. They need help dealing with the pain they feel; they need help feeling like a part of this community again.

Look to the person on both sides of you and say “I want to help you.”

Brothers and sisters I want to help you.

In the Gospel Lesson today Leper came to Jesus and said, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” The leper wanted to be made clean because, for one: he had a disease that was probably uncomfortable but secondly, because he had this disease he was an outcast. He was ceremonially unclean so he could not participate in worship services. He could not have contact with other people. He had to announce that he was unclean by yelling it out loud so that people would stay away from him. If others did touch him they would be ceremonially unclean for a time as well. And so the Leper lived a very lonely existence. He suffered alone. Jesus Moved with pity , stretched out his hand and touched him. Jesus touched the untouchable and said, “I do choose.” Jesus not only saw the suffering of the man in his disease but he saw the suffering of the man in his isolation. Jesus told him say nothing to anyone; but go show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.

Jesus main concern here seems to be the restoration of this man's place in the community. Jesus doesn't want credit6 for the healing, Jesus wants the man to present him self to the priests so that he can be declared clean and re-enter society. But the man doesn't listen does he?

The one healed by Jesus goes out and tells every body about what happened. And what was the result? Scripture says that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

This is a negative result.

The man did not honor Jesus request to say nothing and the result was that people were coming to Jesus. Normally we would think that is a good thing. In our contemporary context we think people coming to church from all over is the actually the goal. But it really isn't. If we are really following Jesus lead we should be about restoring people. We should be about journeying with people in their brokenness while we are honest about our own. We should be about helping people join or rejoin the communities in which they live.

Jesus intent was to restore the man to his community. He told him not to tell anyone so that he could go about doing more of the same. Instead he was mobbed by people “wanting theirs.”

I'm not going to tell you to stop telling people what God has done for you. I wont suggest that you Stop inviting people to church. However if you have the notion that you need to “get something” out of church I would suggest a different perspective. Try to see yourself as an encourager, a servant, and a healer. Try to build community, try to build bridges; go out and restore people in what ever way they need it. Give God all the credit. Let me also suggest this: When you receive healing you go and present yourself before god. When you find new strength and new healing ask God how you are to use it to be more like Jesus.

Our purpose is not to increase church attendance our purpose to be obedient to the will of God. The beautiful thing about the church family is that we don't and shouldn't do it alone. Hopefully a couple of people said they want to help you a few minutes ago. You don't have to be perfect. You may be broken and flawed just like the rest of us, but we come into God's presence seeking restoration. And if I read scripture correctly God wants us to be restored.

But did you notice what started this whole scene with Jesus? The leper came to him begging him, and kneeling before Jesus. We have to come to Jesus with our Dis-ease. We have to be able to admit to our selves that we are not polished and perfect. We have to admit to God that we need to be restored. Otherwise we will be stuck in the unending cycle of restoring and destroying ourselves over and over again.

So...how is it with you today? Are you ready to come to Jesus on your knees, in humility asking for a restoration that will last?

Would you pray with me?