God's Plan Often Isn't Our Plan

“She’s a bit down with a fever lately, which is why she missed the synagogue service today,” Peter probably told Jesus. Jesus comes to the bedside of Peter’s mother-in-law. He takes her by the hand and raises her up. The fever immediately left her. Peter’s mother-in-law went into the kitchen to put on some tea and make those cute little triangle cucumber sandwiches.

She had known that Jesus and his disciples were in Capernaum. Jesus was coming to stay in Peter’s home. She had planned to serve the large group of Jesus and his twelve disciples. But then she became sick. So sick that it put her flat on her back. Ladies know they must be pretty sick to stay in bed all day. Her illness had disrupted her plan.

But God’s plans are often not our plans. God allowed her to get sick … so that his Son could stop by to heal her. It wasn’t her plan to stay in bed all day. But it was Jesus’ plan to raise her from the bed. We learn today that it’s good for us to have a plan. But it’s better when we don’t get upset when our plans change because God always has a better plan for us.

Jesus had demonstrated his authority that morning in the synagogue when he drove a demon out of a man. After the worship service, Jesus is in Peter’s Capernaum home demonstrating his compassion by healing Peter’s mother-in-law of her fever.

What a nice story that is! Wouldn’t it be nice to have Jesus come to you when you’re sick in bed, take you by the hand and raise you up? That’s so much better than dealing with insurance companies, waiting in doctor’s offices, and tracking down prescriptions. Jesus sits by your bed, holds your hand, and gently lifts you from your bed. Immediately, the fever goes away … the cancer is gone … the dementia is removed … the old hips and bad knees and arthritic joints are all better. Just like that. So, you can get up and go to the kitchen to fix everyone a nice lunch. Wouldn’t that be nice? It would be awesome! But that’s often not God’s plan.

Jesus had entered Capernaum as a stranger. This was the beginning of his public ministry. The townspeople only knew him as a traveling rabbi who had come to preach in their synagogue that Sabbath morning. But Jesus was quickly becoming famous. First the people heard about Jesus making a demon leave a man in the synagogue. Now they heard about Jesus making a fever leave Peter’s mother-in-law.

By sundown, after the Sabbath had ended, people started coming from all corners of Capernaum. The whole town took up residence at Peter’s little house. People were being carried on mats or draped over shoulders. Demonized people were spitting and cussing and foaming at the mouth. People with horrible, disfiguring diseases crawled their way to the house. Those with contagious diseases were given a wide berth as they found room in Peter’s yard. The front lawn looked like a trauma center. It looked like an episode of MASH (without the laugh track).

What Jesus did for Peter’s mother-in-law, he did with everyone who came to Peter’s house to be healed. He touched every one of them. Not a single one was turned away. Not a single one was sent home with their illness. Not a single one left the house void of Christ’s love. He healed their diseases. He cured their sicknesses. He stopped their runny noses. He cleansed their leprosies. He drove out their demons. He loved every one of them. Now they could all go home and be with their families. Isn’t that nice?

If Jesus had the power to drive out their demons, if he had the compassion to heal their diseases, if he loved them enough to cure them, then why did he get up early Sunday morning and leave Capernaum? Mark records for us: “Jesus got up early in the morning, while it was still dark, and went out. He withdrew to a solitary place and was praying there. Simon and his companions searched for him, and, when they found him, they said to him, ‘Everyone is looking for you’” (Mark 1:36-37)!

Jesus seemed so nice to those with fevers and broken bones and demon possessions. He healed them all. But then he left. There were still more to heal. Where did he go? Why didn’t he keep on healing?

We often think the same things, don’t we? Jesus doesn’t seem so nice when he allows our child to be sick enough to end up in the hospital. It can feel like it’s Sunday morning when Jesus is nowhere around as the doctor tells us, “Cancer.” Jesus can appear distant when he doesn’t touch us with a miraculous healing. He can seem so aloof when he doesn’t answer our constant prayers for better health. It seems like he has gone away for the day.

If Jesus has the power to drive out demons, if he has the compassion to heal diseases, why doesn’t he heal me? If he loved them enough to restore their health, then why doesn’t Jesus love me enough to stop my constant pain?

We expect healing to come from Jesus’ hands when we pray for healing. We want the same kind of miracles performed on us that Jesus performed in Capernaum. We anticipate that Jesus would just take us – or our sick loved ones – by the hand and make the fever go away. We assume that if the Great Physician worked the late shift on that Sabbath evening, he would put in overtime for us on Sunday morning, too.

Our priorities are upside down. We expect all the wrong things. We want band-aids from God. Happy pills. A quick fix. Something to make us healthy, wealthy, and wise. We want answers to all our perplexing questions. We want solutions to all our stubborn problems. We want healing for all our diseases. We want our demons silenced.

But that’s not why Jesus came. Jesus did not enter our world to cure our diseases. He entered our world to be the cure for the sin that kills us. He didn’t reach out his hands to make our bodies feel better. He reached out his hands so our bodies might one day enter heaven. He didn’t come to restore our health. He came to restore our relationship with God.

When Peter finally found Jesus on Sunday morning, this is what Jesus said about his absence: “’Let’s go somewhere else, to the neighboring villages, so that I can preach there too. In fact, that is why I have come.’ Then he went throughout the whole region of Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons” (Mark 1:38-39).

It was always Jesus’ plan to come to earth to preach. Preaching heals the soul. The healing touch is only for the body. Jesus entered this life mainly for you to enter the next life. But we like Jesus coming mainly for this life. Jesus may use our illnesses, difficulties, and disabilities as part of his plan to prepare us for heaven. But we desire Jesus to set his plan aside because these illnesses, difficulties, and disabilities are disrupting our plans.

We pray for answers, miracles, and healings. But sometimes all Jesus offers is a sermon. That’s so contradictory to our way of thinking! We don’t pray for longer sermons. We don’t ask for more preaching. We don’t expect more worship services. But that’s what Jesus offers. He calls pastors into pulpits to preach. He puts teachers into our Lutheran grade schools and high schools to preach. He places Bibles into your hands so you might preach.

Jesus doesn’t demonstrate his love for you by healing you. Jesus doesn’t demonstrate a lack of love for you by not healing you. Rather, Jesus uses the diseases, ailments, and injuries to strengthen your faith in him. That’s what Paul means in Romans 8:28: “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

When we pray for healing from disease, it isn’t that we’re praying for a wrong thing. It’s that we could be praying for a better thing. In addition to the healing from the disease, we also ask Jesus to heal the disease of anger and doubt and depression that infects our heart. In addition to asking Jesus to convert our bodies back into the youthful form we once had, we also ask Jesus to convert our souls to the faith we once had as children. In addition to having Jesus touch our bodies and restore them to health, we want Jesus to touch our lives, so we are restored into a healthy relationship with our heavenly Father.

Every person that Jesus healed in Capernaum that Sabbath would eventually become sick again and die. Every person that Jesus did not heal in Capernaum on Sunday might get better or they might get worse, but eventually they would die. Jesus did not come to fight diseases. He came to fight death. … And win!

Jesus didn’t heal everyone in Capernaum … because it wasn’t necessary to heal everyone. That’s not what he came for. That’s not how he deals with diseases and demons. The way Jesus deals with demons and diseases is to die, and to drop all our diseases and demons down into the black hole of his death. The way he heals us is not to give us band-aids and painkillers, but with his painful death and glorious resurrection. The diseases we endure are merely symptoms of a much greater disease – sin.

Jesus did not come to deal with the symptoms by healing every disease or mending every broken bone or repairing every torn ACL. He came to deal with the disease itself – sin. He dealt with it by carrying humanity’s sins upon himself to the cross. He buried our sins in his grave. He rose from the grave leaving our sins in the tomb. The earthly effects of sin still remain. That’s why we still deal with measles and Ebola viruses. But the much more important eternal effects of sin have been removed.

Death and resurrection is the way Jesus works true and lasting healing. The miracles just point the way to Jesus. Then we can listen to his preaching.

Jesus may grant us healing now, but eventually we’ll still die. Our great comfort as Christians comes not in the fact that our bodies are healed, but that our souls are saved. Receiving healing for our bodies from Jesus is great. Receiving salvation for our bodies and souls from Jesus in answer is eternally better. Miracles are great. Preaching is always greater. Don’t plan on the miracles. Always plan for more preaching.

In this three-part sermon series on stewardship, we learn that there is a time for everything. Today we learn there is time for you to create a plan. Just like Jesus had a plan of where he needed to be and when. Peter’s mother-in-law had a plan before she got sick. The residents of Capernaum had a plan to see Jesus on Sunday, but then he was gone. Take the time to create a plan. A plan and a budget for your home. A plan and a calendar for your family. A plan and a schedule for your church. A plan to support the ministry of Lord of Lords with your offerings, prayers, and activity.

Create your plan … knowing there’s a good chance that God may change your plan to fit his better plan. We need to be OK with that. His plans are always better than our plans. Amen.