What helps you feel whole, well, alive?

The bible verse for this week’s sermon can be found at https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=511247528

Image by Ante Gudelj

I think I’ve talked before about how much I appreciate the Gospel of John.  It’s a bit dramatic, kinda weird, kinda moody but in this classically poetic way. It’s my whole vibe. No detail is accidental or irrelevant. It’s like a treasure hunt of a Gospel. I love it. So here, where the author wants to make really sure that we remember this scene is playing out where we saw Jesus’s first sign at the wedding in Cana, even the geography of the story is trying to tell us something.

Jesus and his new disciples started with a blessing of joy and abundance among ordinary celebrations and familiar faces. They’ve been traveling around - teaching, disrupting, and engaging their own religious institution and its leaders, some real meta-stuff. And now they’ve made their way back around to Cana again through the places and people considered outsiders. Jesus affirms the belovedness of the Samaritan woman at the well, cutting through racial, religious, gender and social divisions at the base level…and does so again here with the royal official - going beyond the established relational boundaries even to those of the highest standing among those who are his oppressors.

This cycle from Cana and back again, from Galilee back to Galilee creates mini-bookends, a story within a larger story. The very setting itself speaks of coming full circle. We are primed to be on the lookout for things that reflect some form of completion, resolution, or wholeness.

I wonder…what if we looked at healing this way? I don’t say this to downplay physical healing, but to amplify the real magnificent scope of healing that extends to the whole of who we are - body, mind, and spirit. There is wonder and relief and transformation in an ailing body being preserved from pain and death. Yes.  There is glory and grace in bones being mended, infections defeated, medications and treatments making a difference that restore us to ourselves. But my friends who work in hospice wards, who tend to the dying and to those without cures, can also tell me stories of profound healing that come from acceptance and belonging and care and love.

I just had wisdom tooth surgery this past week and my body needed this painful procedure to heal and function well. But I think I also needed the time to rest and just be, to be the recipient of grace, to be reminded that the world keeps turning when I take a break. Physical healing is one thing and it’s certainly an important and life-changing thing, but in my experience it’s never the only thing. There’s also healing that restores how we see ourselves….a there are a variety of ways to experience this thing that feels like wholeness, wellness, like feeling deeply alive.

I don’t think this is just anecdotal, but part of this biblical witness. As this official seeks to understand how and what has unfolded, he asks what was the exact hour the child began to recover. In our translation it says “one in the afternoon” but the Greek says “at the seventh hour.” In Jewish tradition the first hour of the day is marked at dawn, say around 6 AM. So this early afternoon hour becomes the 7th hour of the day. Just like location and roles and all the other details of this story, the number 7 itself holds meaning. Starting with the story of creation, the 7th day marks completion. This isn’t completion like crossing something off the to-do list, but completion which is better understood and being made whole, made complete, restored, an ultimate kind of wellness and balance. That’s the expansive kind of healing that John is trying to show us through Jesus. 

And this healing isn’t conditional. Jesus doesn’ say because you believed, you get this reward. Rather, just the opposite. God’s goodness is poured out first, and only later does that blossom into belief.

I wonder, what things, what experiences have left you feeling more whole, more fully alive, and well?

And secondly, what if we understood our own experiences of healing and wholeness as blessings not only for ourselves, but for our communities?

Jesus says “unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” That “you” is plural, he’s speaking not just to the one official, but to the wider community. This healing isn’t about one person, it’s about “y’all.” When the official is impacted by this miraculous healing, it doesn’t end with him. It extends to his whole household, to those around him, to the connections and communities he’s a part of. This personal experience is truly a shared experience and affects their shared life. Perhaps the healing is made truly complete as it serves to bless the whole in all-encompassing wellness. None of us are free until all of us are free. None of us can be fully well and whole until all of us are. 

As we are blessed to learn and grow and heal and mend and know the peace and passion that follows, the Gospel compels us to put such things in service to the larger community. I remember reading an article before the pandemic that claimed “self-care isn’t enough. We need community care to thrive.” That thought broke open the wall I didn’t realize was there. Healing and wellness on my own was good, I guess…sometimes…but never really felt complete or whole. It can be a pretty personal experience, but we were never meant to go it alone or keep it to ourselves. It’s the difference between a moment and a movement. And it seems this Jesus is on the move.