Second Sunday after Epiphany: That great faith, I wish for you

Opening Sentence

I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Isaiah 49:6b

Collect of the Day

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Psalter: Psalm 148, 149, 150

Lessons: Genesis 7:1-10, 17-23; Ephesians 4:1-16; Mark 3:7-19

Our Christian faith holds that this universe can best be explained as the creation of an Almighty God whose fatherly nature is revealed i the life and love of Jesus Christ. Resting in this undergirding faith, we confront all problems, including that of sickness. In whatever happens, we have faith that God is working for our best interests. This kind of trust helps to change the mental outlook in ways that aid the healing process. Mental depression gives way to optimism; the defeatist spirit is lifted to new hope; the weary mind finds new strength; the burden of guilt is removed by the assurance of forgiveness -- all this is of immeasurable aid in opening the way for God's healing work in our bodies. And even if our illness is not cured, we discover with St. Paul, when his thorn remained, that grace is given sufficient to bear it.

And our Christian faith does a third thing for us. It keeps us ever mindful that God's will for us is to make us Christlike in character. We are to grow up into Christ who is the head of the body (the church); that we may "attain to . . . the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13).

Health of body is, therefore, subordinate to health of spirit. Our primary purpose is not to use God to keep ourselves physically fit, but to use our bodies in order to be spiritually fit. Sometimes our bodily pains help to produce spiritual health. After Paul repeatedly prayed for the cure of his thorn in the flesh, he heard the Lord say to him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (II Cor. 12:9).

About five years ago, just before Christmas, a noble Presbyterian minister, Dr. Edmund Wylie, passed away. His Christmas card was received by his friends after his fatal cerebral hemorrhage. Its message read: "There is a faith greater than that of answered prayer; that is the faith of the man on the cross who was born at Christmas . . . that great faith, I wish for you."

Ralph W. Sockman

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Lord, I Want to Be a Christian