A minister was in the habit of sneaking off to the track to bet on the horses. One day he was losing badly when he saw a priest step onto the track and bless one of the horses on the forehead. The horse was a long shot, but the minister saw this as an omen, bet a small amount on the horse and it won! At the next race the priest entered the track and blessed another horse. It was also a long shot, but the minister bet a little more on that horse and IT won! The third race came along and, again, the priest blessed another long-shot horse on the forehead. The minister put even more money on this horse and it, too, won! The pattern continued throughout the day with the minister placing larger and larger bets and the horse always winning. At the last race of the day, the minister watched with great excitement as the priest walked up to one of the horses and blessed its forehead, eyes, ears, and hooves! The minister ran to the ticket counter and put all his money on that horse. It came in dead last! As he was leaving the track he saw the priest. He walked over and demanded, “What happened? All day you blessed horses and they won even though they were long shots! Then that last race you blessed a horse all over and it lost! “That’s the problem with you Protestants,” the priest said. “You can’t tell the difference between a simple blessing and the Last Rites.”
The Anointing of the Sick we celebrate today is neither a simple blessing nor, of course, the Last Rites! It brings the healing ministry of the Church to those within our community who are ill, impaired, elderly or facing surgery. We follow the example of Jesus as he enters the home of Simon and Andrew. They are worried about Simon’s mother-in-law who is sick with a fever, and it’s the first thing they tell Jesus when he comes in. Immediately he goes to see her. Gently he takes her hand and helps her up. In that moment the fever leaves. Restored to full and vibrant health she doesn’t hesitate. She returns to her work, joining in Jesus’ own ministry by doing her part to serve others.
As she does her work Jesus continues to do his by healing all who come or are brought to him throughout the evening. They are sick with many kinds of illnesses. And there are the ‘demon-possessed,’ those we would today call the mentally ill.
The next morning when Simon and his companions find him alone, praying in a deserted and quiet place, he tells them he must go to the next village and do the work he has come to do. He must spread the good news that God’s reign is at hand. He must show them the face of God by loving, touching, forgiving, and healing them. Through word and action he speaks with authority as one who KNOWS. He heals the sick of mind, body and spirit. The people know this is God’s work. God is the healer.
The early disciples are slow in coming to understand who Jesus is. This is especially true in the Gospel of Mark. They are even slower to realize that, as DISCIPLES, they are called not only to follow Jesus but to take up his work of teaching, loving, feeding, forgiving and healing those they meet along the road of life.
Simon’s mother-in-law is the first disciple to understand the true meaning of discipleship in Mark’s Gospel. There is no hesitation in her response to Jesus’ healing. She leaps to her work—the work that is hers to do.
We have an echo of this same response in our second reading. Paul says, “I have no choice but to preach the Gospel, and I’m ruined if I don’t. Whether I’m willing to do it or not, I’m still entrusted with this charge. It’s the work I’ve been given to do, and so I do it to the best of my ability.”
And Job, poor Job! What is his work to do? His work is to suffer through the painful losses of land, home, wealth, and family—all the signs of being a good and holy person in biblical times (and in some circles even today). And why? So God can teach the people, through him, that symbols of worldly success say nothing about a person’s relationship with God. Whether sick or whole, wealthy or poor, successful or unsuccessful in the ways of the world, a person’s love of God along with their faith and trust in God—is what matters in the end—as well as their loving service of others in simply doing what is theirs to do.
What matters is that each of us do our part, that we do whatever we are given to do with an eye toward serving the greater whole, the greater good, the wider community of God’s people. Whether as teachers or doctors, bankers or caregivers, programmers or mothers, industry executives or homeless veterans—whatever our life circumstances or our vocational calling—our work is the work of building the community of God one kind word, one loving gesture, one healing touch at a time.
And so, once a year or so, we celebrate the sacrament of the sick during one of our Masses. We pray for each other. We pray especially for those among us who are facing surgery, who are elderly, or are dealing with illnesses and disabilities of every kind that they may be made whole. That wholeness may take the form of physical healing. It may take the form of strength and courage in the face of overwhelming loss, depression or even despair as with Job. It may also come as acceptance, and as a peaceful alignment with Jesus in facing the mystery of suffering as part of God’s inscrutable design.
We pray and we anoint with oil, an ancient symbol of empowerment, that those being anointed will be immediately healed and able to rise to the work they are given. Sometimes that work is the work of endurance, as with Job. Sometimes it is the work of courage, to follow through with treatment that is painful or frightening. And often it is simply the work of ordinary life—responsibilities we have assumed out of love for one another. We allow Jesus, through the community’s prayer and anointing, to take our hand and lift us up so we can get back to our work—the work of doing our unique part in building God’s reign of love on earth.
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