Loading...When Jesus calls forth healing power for blind Bartimaeus in today’s Gospel, Jesus acts as a priest for the blind man. Let me explain by talking more broadly about the ministry of a priest.
When Mary and I watch British television, the priests we see, except for the Vicar of Dibley and the priest in Grantchester, usually come off as tired functionaries who bury the dead and bore people with droning words from on high. That sort of depiction doesn’t come close to the real ministry of a priest.
Remember, though, that the priest who serves you now, the one preaching to you today, and every other priest in the church is just like each of you, a flawed sinner seeking a better way forward in this life we share. We priests do not reside in a higher realm, nor do we have a superior life with God distinct from yours.
The priest you see at work among you may also act as Rector or preacher or leader. I don’t want to focus on those or any other role save that of priest. Every priest has tools of the trade, so to speak. These are supremely portable and require no other props. Two tools, to be exact, does the priest use: words and hands. Both of these may have use for other projects but in priestly work they join for one primary ministry, that of healing.
You may be surprised that I do not mention administration of the sacraments as the primary ministry of priests. I believe that the sacraments form a vital part of the larger ministry of healing and not the other way around. Whether in Baptism or in Holy Communion, Marriage or Ministry to the Sick and Dying, the action that occurs brings salvation, or healing, into the present lives of people. The priest speaks words and with hands outstretched towards those nearby delivers the gifts of God to bring healing and salvation to all. I link salvation and healing in these sentences because they mean the same thing. Let me illustrate.
1. A searching or troubled or confused person approaches the priest, or the priest encounters such a person in the normal round of visits. Through words of counsel and understanding, as well as hands extended in blessing, the priest offers to the living center of the individual, the soul of that person, acknowledgment of value and worth, appreciation for the struggles undertaken, and support for the efforts given to make sense of it all. The priest functions as pastor, a shepherd, to guide and encourage, to care and to inspire. The cure of souls lies at the center of a priest’s daily round. And as a priest becomes more and more aware of the frailties in the priest’s own life, that cure of souls becomes ever wiser.
2. An individual comes to the priest, or vice-versa, under the cloud of sin and guilt. That may not be the language used to describe the disturbance, but the priest looks behind the presenting issue to discern brokenness within. Conversation about the “other” who causes distress gradually shifts to exploration of feelings not easily brought to light. Under careful guidance the one in shatters begins to repent and repair. With words of understanding, compassion, judgment, and mercy the priest offers the forgiving and rebuilding grace of God. And with hands of mercy the priest blesses and anoints the penitent one. Thus in the priest’s presence do we learn how to begin again, over and over.
3. Members of a congregation live at cross purposes. Issues have arisen, and the house has divided. The bonds of love within the family of God have fractured. The priest works among the people patiently and carefully, honoring each one but also leading each to understand and appreciate the position of others. Day after day, year after year, through counsel, prayer, and persistent exchanges of the Peace of God in daily handshakes, the priest labors to restore and make stronger the bonds that make a congregation into the veritable Body of Christ. You probably know how hard that work is, and how often we fail to bring it to completion.
Every congregation is a work in progress. The minute you think all your problems with one another have found resolution, that will be the moment you discover new problems. It’s the way this world works. Your priest does not stand apart from these but enters into relationship with all of you with one motive, to heal and restore.
Elizabeth, your priest, and all others like her including me, have knelt before a bishop to receive ordination to the priesthood. We stand before you as icons, images, of the sorts of ministry God has called each baptized person in the church to perform.
Each member of the church has gifts and graces bestowed by God that can bring healing to themselves and others. Each can counsel and advise. Each can forgive and bless. Each can seek reconciliation and peace with others in the family of God. And each can use those gifts in relationship with anyone and everyone in the world. We stand before you as priests to remind you of those commonly held gifts and to exercise them daily among you to inspire you to go and do likewise.
One more thing, though. We do not engage in priestly ministry alone. Not only do we have the blessing of others like us similarly engaged. Of greater importance, we have in the Son of God one who serves as our priest and healer forever. Listen again to words from Hebrews read earlier today: “Consequently he is able for all time to save [heal] those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”
Just think, right at the heart of our Triune God lives one who intercedes on our behalf now and always. Never ceasing to pull for us, the Son, without hands or words, works to bring us to completion as God’s children. Every sinful, flawed priest here on earth, then, is with hands and words a helper to the one shepherd and priest of our souls who will never abandon any one of us or let us slide away without a fight.
I hope these words bring comfort to the hurting, joy and gladness to believers, and hope to every concerned person who wonders how this fractured world can survive. God holds, heals, and hallows all. Amen.
