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Body and Soul - Mark 1
A sermon preached by David Holloway

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The title for this morning's Medical Service is Body and Soul and the passage I want us to look at is Mark chapter 1 and verses 29-39. My headings for this morning are: first, JESUS' CONCERN FOR THE BODY, and, secondly, JESUS' CONCERN FOR THE SOUL.

A former Chaplain General to the Army was asked to speak on the subject, "Has man a Soul?" He began by repeating the question, "Has man a Soul?" and then promptly answered it by saying, "No!" He explained: "Man has a body, but he is a soul." That is the teaching of the Bible. According to both the Old and New Testaments the words translated as "soul" do not stand for some "ghost" in a "bodily machine". No! The soul is the essential "you" or "me". The soul stands for that "you" who in this life now has a mortal body but who one day, after death, when Christ returns, will be raised with a totally transformed body. Listen to how Jesus uses the word "soul" a little later on in Mark's Gospel - Mark 8.36-37:

"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?"

Jesus knew this life is not all there is. He knew that death is just an interlude. "John Brown's body," indeed, "lies a-mouldering in the grave, but his soul goes marching on" to be reunited with that body in a totally new form at the general resurrection. So much by way of introduction. Let's now look at our passage Mark 1.29-39.


First JESUS' CONCERN FOR THE BODY

Let me put Mark 1. 29-39 and this report of the beginning of the ministry of Jesus into its context. First, the general context. And the brutal fact is that Jesus was beginning his ministry when times were very bad. To be alive in AD 30 in a remote part of the Roman empire would have felt very different to being alive exactly 200 years ago in late October AD 1805 just after the battle of Trafalgar. Then Britain was ecstatic with joy. I saw a copy yesterday of a contemporary Press report that called the battle of Trafalgar, I quote, "the greatest naval battle since the creation of the world." No! These were bad times in Palestine. Verse 14 says it was now..."... after John was put in prison." John the Baptist who had been preaching, baptising and preparing for Jesus' ministry was a fearless man of God. He called a spade a spade. He denounced King Herod and his "wife" Herodias for their sexual immorality. So Herod had him arrested and before long Herodias had him executed. This was not a good time. It was a bad time.

Who thinks that today is a bad time? Perhaps you are a doctor or nurse who saw the Panorama programme last Sunday evening entitled Love Hurts. It was on the crisis (and panic) regarding sexual health - or the lack of it. Perhaps you are depressed at the way more and more people are behaving simply like animals. They are treating sexual intercourse merely as an instinctive activity like going to the toilet and an activity that you, as a doctor or nurse, are expected to facilitate.

Perhaps you are even more depressed at the way some medical ethicists are promoting a philosophy of animalism that encourages this behaviour. These ethicists attack what they call speciesism. That is what they call the privileging of human beings over other animals. So one famous Professor of Ethics claims that "the species boundary cannot be used as the basis for important moral distinctions." And that thinking is now finding its way onto the wards. One consultant doctor says, for example, "I don't believe in God so I don't see any divine imprint [in human beings]." Not unnaturally he then reckons that higher primates like dolphins are as significant as humans.

But if you are depressed, try not to be; for bad times can become good times through Jesus Christ. Look at verses 14-15:

"After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 'The time has come,' he said. 'The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!'"

From God's perspective this was a good time and the right time for Christ to begin his ministry on earth. It was the right time for God the Son, incarnate, to live, teach, die and rise again. And the nub of what Jesus was saying at this time was that God - the God of the Bible - is the ultimate King. The ultimate authority is certainly not Herod nor is it Tiberius Caesar. The ultimate King over all is almighty God and in Jesus Christ his kingly rule has directly entered time and space. That was the good news. So people needed to repent and admit they had been ignoring or defying God's kingship over their own lives. They needed to ask for God's forgiveness. And they needed to believe the good news. For there is a way out of the mess - through the Cross where sin can be forgiven and then through the power of the Holy Spirit that can be received for a new life. Who needs to hear that message this morning and then repent and believe? Well, that is the general context for our passage.

Secondly, the specific context - that is given us in verse 21. We are told that Jesus and his disciples ...

" ... went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach."

And there Jesus exorcised a man with an evil spirit - verse 26:

"the evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek."

You say, you can't believe that sort of thing in the 21st century. You say, no one can believe in a "devil" today. But people do. This past week the Home Office has made provision for the rituals of Paganism to be conducted in Her Majesty's prisons and already the Ministry of Defence are allowing Satanist rituals in Her Majesty's ships. Even Nelson would be horrified. Time doesn't allow me to say much about the Bible's teaching on Satan (or the Devil). But let me just say two things, one, about what the Bible does not teach and then, two, about what it does teach.

One, the Bible does not teach a dualism of two equal forces or beings - a good God and an evil Devil. No! The Bible makes it clear that through Christ the devil is a defeated being, though still active (like Napoleon after Trafalgar).

But, two, the Bible does teach that the evil in this world is not fully accounted for by adding together the sum total of individual human misdeeds. There is, so to speak, a super-plus. And the Bible teaches that you are to think of that super-plus not as an "it" but a "he" - not as an impersonal force but as an intelligent power.

So - the specific context for our passage is that Jesus has just restored the man in the synagogue who had these demonic symptoms. Let's now then look at verses 29-31:

"As soon as they left the synagogue, [Jesus and the other disciples] went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them."

Again, perhaps you are saying, "can you believe in these miracles in the 21st century?" Let me give you George Caird, a Professor of New Testament at Oxford, who summarizes the best of modern New Testament scholarship like this: "Sober criticism cannot get behind the gospel record to a plain commonplace tale devoid of the miraculous and the supernatural." And he goes on: "The early Christians believed that, in Christ, God had been at work in new and astonishing ways and they had the evidence of their own eyes to support their faith." So Jesus was healing and restoring wholeness.

But he was not only doing this among the small group of worshippers in the synagogue. He was also doing this in the confines of a simple house in a more one to one situation with Simon Peter's mother-in-law. Then, verse 32:

"That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was."

Now you've got people "at the door". Presumably they are assembling in the open-air - a vast crowd of them - "the whole town" we are told. Jesus is now healing in the street and in a very public way. So Jesus healed in the equivalent of the church, then in a home and then, so to speak, in the public square. And he was consistent. Wherever he went he was the same. Sadly some of his followers can be one thing in church, another at home and yet another at work. Are you consistent? You come to church but do you witness to Christ at home and do you witness to Christ at work? If you are a doctor or medical, it is getting harder and harder witnessing at work, I know.

Nearly 25 years ago an article in the British Medical Journal said this: "As the influence of the Church declines until its effect is negligible, as fewer and fewer people are encouraged to, or are willing to, take responsibility ... a general lowering of standards seems inevitable."

The inevitable has arrived. This was evident at the last annual conference of the British Medical Association. There was then an agreement not to oppose legalized euthanasia. Morally standards are lower now, and when that happens you can expect administrative standards to be lower. How important, therefore, that Christian doctors and nurses stand firm and act as salt and light.

A doctor friend of mine once said that he was not there, in the clinic, to talk about his faith. Well - yes and no! If his faith leads to ethics that are in the best interests of his patients, he is failing in his duty of care, if he doesn't talk and act on those ethics. And more and more it is being empirically proved that Christian ethics are in the best interests of patients. Sometimes today, therefore, you must argue for (and if necessary fight for - peacefully) your ethical position.

In 1954 Richard Doll's research into the connection between smoking and lung cancer was established but virtually ignored. So that had to be fought for as the NHS and politicians were ignoring this research for many years. 50 years later there is now widespread acceptance of his findings and action has been taken that is saving thousands of lives.

The parallel today - and it relates to Christian morality - is the connection between giving contraceptives to the unmarrieds and the increase in sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. Professor David Paton's research has shown that, yes, some contraceptive health measures lessen some dangers when perfectly followed, once there is a decision to engage in sexual activity. But the measures themselves increase the amount of sexual activity. The result is that the overall health outcome is not what was intended, rather the reverse. The only actual (let alone truly) healthy measure is to see that behaviour is modified. That means Christians have to fight for the reinstitution of heterosexual marriage with sexual relations reserved exclusively for marriage. If smoking habits can be changed by legal and administrative measures, so can sexual habits. We should be praying and working for that.

So when necessary you must fight for your beliefs, if they are right, for they will be in the interests of your patients. That is how the great pioneers in medicine acted. In the modern period (that technically began in the 16th century) these were predominantly Christian pioneers. Thomas Sydenham was one of these at the end of the 17th century. He was called the "English Hippocrates" because of his careful bedside manner and his clinical reports. He had to go against the tide and reject some of the received wisdom of the day which involved complicated prescriptions. Listen to what he said:

"Whoever takes up Medicine should seriously consider, [first] that he must one day render to the Supreme Judge an account of the lives of those sick men who have been entrusted to his care. Secondly, that such skill and science as, by the blessing of Almighty God, he has attained, are to be specially directed towards the honour of his Maker, and the welfare of his fellow creatures, since it is a base thing for the great gifts of heaven to become the servants of avarice and ambition. Thirdly, he must remember [listen] that it is no mean or ignoble animal that he deals with. We may ascertain the worth of the human race, since for its sake God's only begotten Son became man, and thereby ennobled the nature that he took upon him."

Yes, Jesus was concerned for the body; so, rightly, have Christans been ever since. Let's now move on ...


... secondly, to JESUS' CONCERN FOR THE SOUL

Look at verse 35. Here Jesus is concerned for his own soul:

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."

The disciples couldn't understand this. There was a religious revival going on. Everyone wanted to see Jesus. Look at verse 36-37:

"Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: 'Everyone is looking for you!'"

But Jesus said that physical healing now wasn't his priority. Look at verse 38:

"Jesus replied, 'Let us go somewhere else - to the nearby villages - so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.'"

Jesus' priority was to teach men and women about God and his kingdom. Look at verse 39:

"So he travelled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons."

Yes, as he preached he helped men and women with the disorders they experienced - whether they were related to the occult or simply physical illnesses. But they needed to "repent and believe the good news". That was their supreme need - not physical comfort. You say, but why? The simple answer is that Jesus knew that a healthy soul is far more important even than a healthy body. Your eternal destiny depends on the health of your soul. The Bible says that unless you are born again, unless your soul comes alive you can't begin to experience that true health. And that new life and health comes as, by God's grace, you respond to the message of Christ in simple faith, and trust him.

But may I now add this about health and wholeness. For some can get it wrong. Our God - our loving heavenly Father - wants to see human beings flourish and that flourishing includes, of course, physical health. But sometimes, amazingly, he allows sickness and illness for the greater good of our souls. Let me list four reasons why.

First, while illness often will have nothing to do with sin - that was the case with Job in the Old Testament and the man born blind in John 9 - sometimes it is due to sin. Psalm 106 verse 43 speaks of God's people who "were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin". But then that illness or distress can lead to repentance and faith.

Secondly, illness can test and strengthen faith. That happened to Job whose faith was strengthened when he had a great vision of God. His problems weren't solved but they then took second place.

Thirdly, illness can put you in mind of heaven. A clergyman and his wife had a baby when they thought it impossible. But the baby was born with problems and after a period of intensive care sadly died. The following week in church the clergyman's sermon was entitled: "The Sovereignty of God in the death of our Daughter." In the sermon he said, "God healed Joy Anne [the baby] by taking her to heaven." For those who trust Christ the hope of heaven, when "there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain" (Rev 21.4) is a great answer to suffering in this life; and it increases faith.

Fourthl, and this relates to that hope, illness and suffering makes you more fit for heaven in so many different ways. Yes, heaven is open to all believers who are forgiven through Christ bearing their guilt on the cross. But they are then to grow in grace and be more fit for heaven; and suffering and illness can make you more like Christ. For example, the Bible says that Christ himself (Heb 5:8) "although he was a son, ... learned obedience from what he suffered." And Christians can do the same. And suffering and sickness can make you pray when otherwise you would not. Isn't that so true? So people can be more open to God in times of suffering and sickness. And suffering and sickness make you humble. When you are ill, you realize that you cannot control everything and have everything your own way. And how important humility is! God sometimes allows sickness for our greater good.

So, Jesus was concerned for the health of the body. He was even more concerned for the health of the soul.

I must conclude. We are in the programme of 40 Days of Community at JPC. And today we are to be thinking about "reaching out together". How we need to share with those around us in the community of Tyneside that you can be healthy in your body but desperately sick in your soul and th en to tell them that Jesus Christ is the great physician in every way. But we need to do that in the spirit of the "40 Days" verse for today - Colossians 4.5-6: "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

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