A Scary Call

Rev. Debbie Cato
Millwood Presbyterian Church
Acts 9:10-19  (Acts (;1-19)
July 26, 2026 

Holy, holy God.  We come before You with open hearts, ready to receive Your word. Prepare our minds to understand the wisdom of Your teachings. Soften our hearts to be transformed by Your truth.  In Jesus name, Amen.

 

A Scary Call

 

 

Today our scripture passage is what I will call “Part 2” of one of my favorite stories in the Book of Acts.  Sam preached on the first half of this story last week and she suggested three questions for you to consider as you listened to her sermon.  Sam asked:

 1.  What does this passage reveal about us?

2.  What does this passage reveal about God?

3.  and … How does God want us as a church to respond?

 I think these are great questions, so I’m plagiarizing Sam’s sermon! I want to encourage you to consider these same questions today.  What does this passage reveal about us?  What does this passage reveal about God?  And, how does God want us as a church to respond?

Last week, you heard how Saul was on his way to Damascus with a group of men looking for people who were part of The Way – the early believers.  Saul had letters from the high priest to the synagogues giving him permission to search out believers and bring them as captives to Jerusalem – both men and women.  Luke tells us that Saul “breathed threats and murder” against the disciples of the Lord. He meant business! Saul was not a nice man.

Now, in his defense, Saul was a committed Jew. He had been taught the Hebrew scriptures by one of the most highly regarded rabbis.  Saul believed that people of The Way – the followers of Jesus were blaspheming God. He did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah and so he believed that everything Jesus taught, and everything the people of The Way believed, was contrary to God.  It was blasphemy.  In Paul’s mind, he was protecting his faith – protecting the laws of God.  He was getting rid of early believers out of religious zeal.

But that wasn’t God’s heart.  It wasn’t what God wanted Saul to be doing.  So God stopped Paul in his tracks – literally.  Saul was blinded with a bright light. As he is lying on the ground, Saul hears a voice ask, “Why are you persecuting me?” Why are you persecuting me? “Who are you Lord?” Paul asks.  “I am Jesus.  The very one you are persecuting.”  Wow!  That would get your attention, wouldn’t it?!  I can imagine a booming voice, “I am Jesus.  The one you are persecuting.”  Luke tells us that Saul was blind for three days and he did not eat or drink during that time.  God had Saul’s full attention.

In today’s passage, we are introduced to Ananias and the plot thickens.  We don’t know anything about Anania except Luke tells us that Ananias’ is living in Damascus and he is praying. Later in the Book of Acts, Paul gives a speech as he is about to be jailed and he describes Ananias as "a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews" that lived in Damascus. 

As Ananias prays one day – as he presumably does every day since we are told he is devout, God calls him to do what seems impossible.  While he is praying, God gives Ananias specific instructions. “Get up and go to the street called Straight. At the house of Judas, ask for a man of Tarsus named Saul. He is praying, and he has seen a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so that he will regain his sight.”  Wow!  Now, that is a word from God.  That is a call to be bold.

Has God has ever prompted you during prayer?  Perhaps He’s put on your heart to reconcile a relationship; repair a broken friendship or a family relationship.  Maybe, like Ananias, God has asked you to do something hard; something you don’t want to do.  Something bold.

As I was finishing up seminary and presbytery approved me to seek a call, I was so excited.  I prayed that God would lead me to the right church; the church He wanted me to serve.  I’ll go wherever you send me, God. 

One day I got an email from a search committee in Casper, Wyoming.  They had read my PIF – my personal information form and they were interested in talking with me.  Casper, Wyoming.  I knew there was no way God was calling me to go to Casper, Wyoming – so far away from my daughters.  I replied with a “thank you for your interest but no thank you.”  Maybe three weeks later, my phone rang.  It was the chair of the search committee in Casper.  We really think you are the one God is calling to serve our church.  Could we just send you some information?  Sure, I said.  The information came and I half-heartedly looked at it.  Shoot.  I was drawn to it.  It was exactly the kind of church I had been praying God would call me to serve.  But it was Casper, Wyoming.  I could not be that far from my daughters.  I agreed to talk with them over skype – it was skype back then. 

Much to my dismay, I fell in love.  The prompting of the Holy Spirit was so strong, but I was still trying to resist.  It was so far to be from Jessica and Tracy. But, I agreed to go visit them and preach in a neutral pulpit.  It will be good experience, I told myself.  But I was sure I would not like it, that the sense of call I was feeling would go away.

 I landed at the Caspar airport and the whole search committee was waiting for me – full of big smiles.  I spent the day talking with them and laughing and feeling like I had known them forever.  I preached the next morning and – well, to make a long story short, the PNC called me to serve their church. 

God is asking Ananias to go to the place where a known terrorist of Jesus’ followers was, and lay hands on him!  Ask me anything God but not that!  Ananias pleads with God.  “Lord, I have heard about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. He has authority from the chief priests to bind up everyone who calls upon your name.” He’ll kill me, Ananias must have thought.  Anything but this!  Ananias tried to say no to God’s call.  But God doesn’t take no for an answer.  “Go and do this.  I have chosen Saul to carry my name to the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel.”  God called Ananias out of his comfort zone to play a role in the conversion of Saul – Paul who would come to preach the gospel and start churches throughout the nations with as much zeal as he once persecuted those that believed and followed the very things that Paul becomes so passionate about.

Remember those questions I asked you to think about? What does this passage reveal about us?  What does this passage reveal about God?  How does God want us as a church to respond? 

I think the big question this text poses is how might God be calling you outside your comfort zone.  Maybe God is calling this church – Millwood Presbyterian Church outside our comfort zone. 

God called Ananias to be bold and courageous.  Ananias was called to walk down the street and turn Saul from persecuting God’s people to being God’s mouthpiece for the teachings of Christ.  Maybe God is calling you, calling us to be bold in some way.  To be courageous.  Maybe God is calling us to be bold for our faith in some way – to be God’s hands and feet.  Or maybe even his mouthpiece.

As I watch what is happening in our culture, in the world today, I wonder if God is calling us to correct the course; to bring kindness and justice and mercy back into vogue.  I wonder if he’s calling us to reach out to neighbors, to learn something about the immigrant members of our community, to lend a helping hand, to be generous to the needs we see all around us.  Maybe God is calling us to be generous with our money and generous with our time.  Maybe God is calling us to be these things.  These things that build the Kingdom of Heaven.  These things that reflect the values Jesus taught about over and over and over again. 

I wonder if God is calling us to bring people back to the right teachings of Christ. We have wandered far from the true teachings of Jesus.  Far from the true gospel message in scripture.  When Jesus stood up in the synagogue of Nazareth, he opened a scroll from the prophet Isaiah which speaks of hope, healing, and liberation. The world has turned upside down from Jesus’ teachings.  I wonder if God is calling us to be bold and speak truth?  To speak hope and healing and liberation in our community.

Author Toni O’Keefe recently said, “There are times we must speak.  Even if we are afraid, we must speak.  We must say, this is wrong.  This is broken.  This is hurting me.  This is hurting others.  I don’t believe in this.  I can’t accept this.  We have the right to remain silent, but should we?” 

In one of his devotionals, Henri Nouwen wrote, “We are not called to save the world, solve all problems, and help all people.  But we each have our own unique call, in our families, in our work, in our world.  We have to keep asking God to help us clearly see what our call is and to give us the strength to live out that call with trust.  Then we will discover that our faithfulness to a small task is the most healing response to the illnesses of our time.”

It was just an ordinary day when God calls Ananias to be bold and courageous.  All he has to do is go to a man who is “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” and lay hands on him.  As a disciple of The Way, Ananias is called to go to this man who is persecuting people just like him and lay hands on him because God is calling Saul to bring the truth of The Way to the gentiles and all of Israel and the kings.  Do you see that God is using Ananias to achieve his purpose for Saul?  This famous Damascus Road story is both a description of a transforming personal encounter with Christ and an introduction of Saul as a leading actor in the apostolic mission to the ends of the earth. 

But as I see it, this is also a story about an ordinary man called to do something scary.  A story about a faithful follower, not that different from you or I, who was obedient to God’s call.  (After he tried to say no of course!)  Because of Ananias’s obedience, one of the greatest threats to the new Christians becomes arguably the greatest apostle for Christ’s message.  Because of Ananias’s obedience, Paul goes on to take three missionary trips through modern-day Turkey, Greece, Syria, and Italy, planting more than 20 churches, preaching the gospel, and raising up new leaders.  Paul is credited with writing 14 of the 27 books of The New Testament.  Nine out of those 14 books are written to seven of the church communities Paul started on his journeys:  Romans, 1^st and 2^nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1^st and 2^nd Thessalonians.

I don’t think Ananias knew what the result of his visit to Saul would be - the vastness of God’s call on his life.  I don’t think Ananias knew how much this terrorist to The Way would end up expanding the outreach of Christ’s life and ministry.  Rather than capturing and murdering believers, Paul became a fervent believer himself. 

And how can we know what the outcome of our obedience to God’s call will be?  How can we know who might be turned around because of a conversation we have with them; or who might feel validated and supported because we speak up. How do we know who’s life might be changed because we are generous or kind. God lays before us opportunities to speak up for his truth.  We have to keep asking God to help us see clearly what our call is and to give us the strength to live out that call with trust God.  And then we have to be brave and courageous to follow that call.

Saul couldn’t see the truth until God blinded him and then used Ananias to lay hands on him and speak the truth into his life.

I bring us back to the questions Sam asked last week that are also good questions for this week.  What does this passage reveal about us?  What does this passage reveal about God?  How does God want us as a church to respond?  Who might God be bringing before us – calling us to respond by speaking the truth about what scripture teaches?  What opportunities might God be making available to us where we can demonstrate our faith, our beliefs, through our actions?  What unique call might God be calling you to; calling Millwood Presbyterian Church to?  It’s a question we should be asking ourselves.

In the name of God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit – three-in-one.  Amen.

 

Weeds Everywhere

Rev. Debbie Cato
Genesis 28:1-19 and Matthew 13:24-30 and 36-43
Manitou Park Presbyterian Church Tacoma
July 19, 2026 

God of surprises, we come here from the weariness of the week.  Some of us have celebrated triumphs and others’ fears and doubts. Some of us have experienced all these in the same week.  Open our hearts to receive your surprising message of hope for all people, for we ask this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

Weeds Everywhere!

 

I don’t know about you, but the weeds are growing rampant at my house.  They are in our lawn, they have filled in the cracks in the patio and sidewalk, and my flower beds are full of weeds.  Weeds have taken over.  I have not planted them.  I do not water them.  I did not carefully prepare the soil so they would grow well.  The heat has not discouraged them from growing. They just grow.  Weeds are everywhere!

This parable has similarities to the Parable of the Sower, which Jesus tells right before this parable on weeds.  Did someone preach a sermon about that last week?

Well, in that parable, the farmer sowed his seed, and some landed on the path, some landed on rocky ground, some among thorns, and others on the good, rich soil that he had prepared. Jesus’ compares the outcome of the planting to how we digest His Word. Sometimes God’s word doesn’t phase us – like the seed that landed on the path.  Sometimes, we aren’t open to hearing from God.  That’s like the soil on the rocky ground or even among the thorns.  Other times, our hearts are open and we both hear God’s word, and we apply it to our lives.  This is when the soil of our hearts is rich.

Today, we hear the parable of the weeds.  In this parable, the farmer has already planted his crop.  Jesus tells us that the field is planted with good grain.  We can anticipate a good crop.  The plot thickens when the “good grain” must compete for space and nutrients with weeds that unexpectedly appear. The problem for the those who work the land is that the weeds look a lot like the wheat.[1] How do they know what plants to pull and which to leave? 

Jesus says the presence of the weeds is the result of a deliberate, hostile act (an act of the “enemy”).  An enemy planted the weeds. Now, you would expect that the weeds should immediately be removed.  Gardening 101 would surely recommend such an approach. Get them out! I certainly pull the weeds in my garden as soon as they grow. Or at least I try.  Get rid of them before they spread, is my motto!

But not this time, and this is the key point Jesus makes in this parable.  The workers have a sense of urgency to get those weeds pulled as quickly as possible.  But the owner says, no.  “We’ll wait,” he says. “Let the wheat and the weeds grow together.  There is enough time to pull them. When it’s time to harvest, then the weeds will be removed and burned. Then the wheat can be safely harvested.”[2]  But for now, the parable goes, we’ll let them grow with the wheat. In their infant stage, it’s too hard to tell the weeds from the wheat.  We might pull out good, healthy wheat thinking it is weeds.

The parable, like so many in Matthew’s Gospel, paints a realistic picture of the world. Good and bad, constructive and destructive, are all indistinguishably bound together. Helpful and harmful are mixed up all around us, and, let’s be honest, even within us — as persons and as communities.[3]

In this parable, Jesus acknowledges that evil exists.  His parable clearly teaches that there is evil in the world. And the truth is, evil exists, side by side with good. Jesus is teaching that we must get rid of it – burn it as he describes.  But, He also acknowledges that it’s difficult to get rid of it. And sometimes, it’s hard to tell evil from good.

If we are honest, we know what Jesus is talking about.  Sometimes our own lives resemble the farmer’s infested field, with weeds and wheat intertwined in our souls, our hearts, and our minds.  The apostle Paul certainly knew it.  In Romans 7, Paul writes, “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”  Do you ever feel that way?  “I do not do what I want to do but I do the thing I hate.  Or the things I don’t want to do.

So often we think of evil as the school shooter or the drunk driver that kills the family who’s driving home from vacation. We think of evil as something “big”.  Something awful.  Something we ourselves would never do. 

But the enemy’s sowing can be more subtle and harder to notice than that.  Countless distractions that derail us from doing what we need to do – like games on our phones or internet searches or watching a marathon of old TV shows. These things are not bad in themselves, but when they derail us from something we should be doing, then that’s the enemy subtly creeping in and distracting us from doing something good.  

Maybe it’s the teacher facing a clique of parents whose criticism chokes out her creativity and care for her students. 

Perhaps it’s the employee who’s asked to look the other way “for the good of the organization” when something doesn’t feel right.

It could be the youth athlete who’s told to keep it to himself when he sees the coach breaking the rules or mistreating another athlete. Or it could be us.  Saying a hurtful, angry word to someone we love in the heat of the moment.  

Often, when we are hurting we lash out at someone we care about rather process what has hurt us.  It’s easier.  It’s safer that way.  But it’s so hurtful. Words come out so fast and are not easily forgotten. We can easily be the perpetrators of evil. Each one of us.  Evil is in us.  None of us is exempt.  The enemy is waiting for an opportunity to pull it out of us.  That is why we must be rooted in Christ.  It’s easy to see how the hate and injustice of our times has gotten so out of control in our society and throughout the world. We may not be first-century Galilean farmers, but we confront evil every day, and we have decisions to make.[5]

 Just before telling this parable, the pharisees, the leaders of Jesus’ own faith, try to trick him and begin their plot to destroy him.  They look like true leaders, but they are as false and deadly as any evil weeds planted among the wheat that Jesus talks about in his parable.  Elsewhere in the Gospel, Jesus warns against “false messiahs and false prophets, “those who cry, “Lord, Lord,” and seem faithful and caring, but who lead people astray and harm the community.  Today, we see Christianity used for things far outside the Gospel teachings.  Stephen Haugk, the founder of Stephen Ministry, describes such people as “antagonists in the church.” 

By any name -  antagonists, weeds, wolves, false Prophets – whatever we call them, they are a reality in the community of faith and this parable acknowledges that hard truth.[6]

But interestingly enough and important to notice - this parable also clearly cautions against a rush to judgement.  We cannot always initially tell what is a good plant, and what is not.  Plants can look like weeds and weeds can look like plants.  The landowner knows this, so he tells his workers to be patient and wait until the harvest, when they can see the difference between the weeds and the wheat by the fruit that is borne.  Evil does not produce fruit, but the wheat –the good, does.

 Once they can tell the weeds from the wheat there is no more hesitation.  The separation is swift and harsh.  Jesus knows that failure to deal with evil allows it to spread, just as the seeds of noxious weeds allow them to multiply and infest other fields.

And here’s the good news, Friends.  We all make mistakes.  We’ve all chosen weeds over wheat a time or two in our lives.  We’ve all been weeds – none of us are perfect.  At least I’m not.  And often we are weeds to the people we love the most.  But we are loved by a God who pours his grace over us each and every day. 

 I saw this on Instagram a while back.  I don’t know who to give credit to.

 “A thousand times I have failed God,
Yet He keeps forgiving me. That’s love.”

“A thousand times I have failed God, Yet He keeps forgiving me. That’s love.”

 I’ll add – that’s grace.  It’s Grace that He forgives us over and over again.

 Because of the grace God extends to us, we must extend grace to others.  We must forgive those who inadvertently do evil against us.  Because we are no different.  We also commit evil. But when we face true evil; someone who intends to be destructive.  Someone whose intention is to hurt and tear us down, walk away.  Stay away.  Do not be a part of it. 

Evil exists in the world, we cannot deny it.  We must be discerning.  And we must remember that we are beloved children of God.  We are called to be the wheat.  Not the weeds.  Amen.

---

[1] R. Alan Culpepper, Matthew: A Commentary, New Testament Library (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2021), 257.
[2] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-16/commentary-on-Matthew-1324-30-36-43-6
[3] Arland J. Hultgren, The Parables of Jesus: A Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 300-301.
[4] Feasting on the Word.  Year A, Volume 3.  Pentecost and Season After Pentecost 1.  Proper 11.  Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43.  Pastoral Perspective.  Talitha J. Arnold.  P. 262. 
[5] Feasting on the Word.  Year A, Volume 3.  Pentecost and Season After Pentecost 1.  Proper 11.  Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43.  Pastoral Perspective.  Talitha J. Arnold.  P. 262. 
[6] Feasting on the Word.  Year A, Volume 3.  Pentecost and Season After Pentecost 1.  Proper 11.  Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43.  Pastoral Perspective.  Talitha J. Arnold.  P. 262. 

Rest for the Weary

Rev. Debbie Cato
Isaiah 40:25-31 and Matthew 11:25-30
Manitou Presbyterian Church Spokane
July 5, 2026

Rest for the Weary

 

This passage in Matthew tells us a lot about Jesus. “Come all who are weary and I will give you rest.”  That sounds nice, doesn’t it? (pause) How many of you feel weary from life’s burdens? (pause) To each one of us, Jesus says, “Come and I will give you rest.” 

 In this passage, Jesus makes the claim that it is He who is the center of all revelation.  He says that it is He who fulfills all the hopes of the Old Testament and is the heart of all revelation.  In a dark world lit by candles and lamps, Jesus comes as a searchlight.

 Jesus maintains that God the Father conceals and reveals everything according to His will.  We cannot grasp an understanding of God or have a relationship with God by our own efforts.  We cannot discern who Jesus is, or what this Kingdom of Heaven is, unless God shows us.  It’s simply impossible.  Whenever anyone comes to faith, it’s because God makes a divine disclosure to them.

Jesus says it is He who isthe supreme representative of the Father.  He comes from the Father; He is equipped with the Father’s power; and He displays the compassion of the Father’s heart.  Jesus fully represents God and He comes with God’s own claim on our human hearts.  Only the Father fully understands Jesus, whose mystery is unknowable this side of heaven.  Theologians have spent centuries trying to reconcile Jesus’ divine nature with His human nature.  We argue with one another about Jesus, as if somehow we actually know.  But, with the limited understanding of the human mind and heart, it cannot be done.  It takes God to know God.  Only the Father knows the Son!

And likewise, 0nly Jesus fully understands the Father!  No one has known God with the intimacy of Jesus, who can call Him Abba, dear daddy.  Jesus absolutely knows God. 

These things make up the most astounding claim that has ever been heard on human lips; that the way to know the Father is through Jesus.  It reminds us of other words of Jesus:  “I am the way and the truth and the life.”  :No one comes to the Father, except through me,” and “anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”  If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.  If you want to get through to God, come to Jesus.  If you want to discover the epicenter of God’s self-disclosure, you will find it in Jesus.  As Eugene Peterson says, “God became flesh in the person of Jesus and came and lived in the neighborhood.”

That is the claim Jesus makes in this passage.  And with that claim comes the rescue we hold our breaths for.  After making the claim that He is the revelation of God, Jesus offers the most wonderful, warm invitation to all of us who feel in need of rescue by God.  “Come to me.”  “Come to me, He says.  I have come to seek you out.”  You. What amazing grace, that God does not come with condemnation, but rather an invitation, “Come!”  That one word shows us the very heart of God.  It shows His attitude to us sinners. Come! (pause) Jesus can offer us rest because of who He claims He is.

“Come here to me, all of you who are struggling and carrying too much, and I will refresh you!”  This is who Jesus invites.  Those who are having a hard time; those for whom life is hard work and those who feel overwhelmed.  Jesus’ invitation goes out to all us who find life has become a grind, for whom existence is difficult, to those, in a word, from whom the juice has gone out of life and all that’s left is the rind.  Jesus’ heart goes out to them.  Those of us who are discouraged.  Those of us who want to be good, to please God, and to help people.  Those of us who feel selfish, not up to the task; quite inadequate, and maybe even like failures.  To those of us burdened with guilt and inadequacy, Jesus now offers – NO. He promises both refreshment and equipment for carrying future burdens and duties.

The refreshment is “I will give you rest.”   I will set you in quietness.  You will experience refreshment deep down in your soul from me.

When I read this passage, I think of the drive I would make between my church in Fairfield and Spokane. I made that drive often, several times a week,; traveling to visit folks; get groceries ; errands; visit family. I always loved the drive because it was so pretty. A couple of years ago – it was spring,  I was driving home from the Valley, and suddenly I was overwhelmed by the beauty all around me.  It took my breath away. I had to pull over.  The green of the rolling fields, the brown wheat fields that were growing taller, and the gorgeous yellow canola fields surrounding me as I drove down highway 27.  I marveled at how the colors contrasted and yet, also blended together. The sky was bright blue and the sun was out. I was totally overwhelmed at the beauty of God’s creation.  I had to sit there in my car for a bit and just sit in the beauty.  I realized I felt so at peace, and I was awed as I thought about the goodness of God.

I had been feeling so weary.  A weariness deep in my soul.  You see, I was struggling with my health and I was so tired of being sick.  Tired of having no energy.  Tired of not being able to do what I wanted to be able to do.  And at that moment, driving home on 27 like I had done so many times, I was at peace in a way I hadn’t felt for a long time.  And this very verse came to me.  “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”  I was fully aware that this peace I was feeling came from Christ.  My circumstances had not changed.  My health had not improved.  My energy was still low.  I still could not do all the things I wanted to do.  But in the midst of it all, I was at peace – a peace deep in my soul.  Noticing the beauty of my surroundings and fully recognizing all that God created, had brought me a peace and a restful spirit that could only come from Christ. I felt very close to God at that moment.  I’ve never forgotten that sense of perfect peace while I drove home that day.

“Come to me all who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  What beautiful words spoken by Jesus to each of us. This passage almost makes me cry. Who among us does not carry heavy burdens?  Who of us does not get weary?  A weariness deep in your soul?  Whether it’s health like me, or relationships or finances or employment or big decisions you are facing or just life in general, sometimes it all gets really heavy. It weighs you down. It makes you weary. It’s hard to believe you can feel peace and restfulness in the midst of these kinds of heavy burdens. And honestly, I don’t think we can on our own.   

People who feel self-sufficient in their lives have no need for God. The call of God is not addressed to them.  Jesus is addressing the weary, the overburdened; those who suffer from the frustrations and burdens of living in an imperfect world; to those who long for deliverance and long for the help of God. Those that know they can’t do this alone.  Only those who are willing to surrender everything to God, and, depend on God for everything can hear God’s call and respond. Jesus is the bearer of the perfect knowledge of God and the inaugurator of his kingdom and its salvation.  Jesus is both the presence of God and the interpreter and fulfiller of God’s commandments.  Those who come to Jesus experience the rest promised to those who live in God’s presence and walk in his ways. 

Come unto me, all who are weary and burdened, I will give you rest.  George Whitefield said, "And if Jesus Christ gives you rest, you may be sure it will be a rest indeed; it will be such a rest as your soul wants; it will be a rest which the world can neither give nor take away."

Jesus offers rescue and He offers the equipment we need to take him up on his offer – “Here, take my yoke upon you.”   Jesus realizes that the most restful gift he can give the tired is a new way to carry life; a fresh way to bear responsibilities.  For in the final analysis, life is a succession of burdens; we cannot get away from them. So, instead of offering escape, Jesus offers equipment. 

A yoke is the wooden collar that sits across the shoulders of a pair of oxen and enables them to jointly pull enormous weights.  A yoke is used to train a young ox to plow.  The farmer has the young ox harnessed to the same yoke as the mature, more experienced ox.  The younger animal, dwarfed by the mature ox, doesn’t pull any of the weight. The young ox is just learning to walk in a field under control and with a yoke around its neck, the mature ox pulls all the weight.  It is the same when a believer takes Christ’s yoke.  As the Christian learns, the yoke is easy and the burden light.

Here in this text, Jesus is telling us that His yoke fits us well.   It does not rub our neck or shoulders.  It is tailor-made for you, for whoever will take it. Jesus who himself is meek and lowly in heart, extends an invitation to all who know we are burdened and in need of salvation.  Come to me, Jesus says.  Get yoked to me. This is an invitation we shouldn’t resist. 

We don’t have to carry our burdens alone.  In this passage Jesus is saying:  “Become my yoke mate and learn how to pull the load by working beside me and watching how I do it.”  Jesus’ simply being there, carrying most of the yoke’s load, helps us carry the rest!

 Pastor Edward F. Markquart says, "We all need to wear the yoke of Jesus. We all need to wear the religion of Jesus. Love of God. Love of neighbor. Mercy, love, and kindness. A faith that moves mountains and carries momentous burdens."

With my yoke, Jesus says, you will find a deep peace and satisfaction that you could never find elsewhere.  I have come for you.  Come to me.

In Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of God has come. He is calling us  - all of us who are overburdened with sin and sorrow, burdened with struggles of this life; all of us who are anxious about life. He is calling us to Himself so that He can relieve us of our anxiety and refresh and strengthen us for our responsibilities in this world. The question is; will we respond to His invitation?  Amen.

The Healer

Rev. Debbie Cato
Isaiah 40:21-31 and Mark 1:29-39
Manitou Presbyterian Church Spokane
June 21, 2026

What news do you bring our way this day, God?  We sit.  Quietly.  Waiting.

We are open to your Spirit.  Speak into our hearts, Lord and give us the courage to live out what you speak to us.  In your Son’s precious name.  Amen.

 

Jesus the Healer

 

Probably one of the more frequent questions pastors hear – or maybe I should say – one of the most frequent questions us Christians ask is - “why?”  I’ve been praying that God would heal me… my friend… my family member… but he isn’t answering my prayer, or maybe he didn’t answer my prayer.  Why?  I know God can heal people so why doesn’t he/why didn’t he heal ….. (pause) … you fill in the blank.  Have you ever asked that question of God? 

Have you ever thought that maybe if your faith were just a little stronger, God would answer your prayer?  Or, maybe if you prayed a little bit more; prayed a little bit harder it would have made a difference. Have you ever thought that? Or worse, maybe someone said this to you.

My daughter was diagnosed with a rare pain condition the summer before her 9^th grade year.  She fell and hurt her back – just a fall in a parking lot; a freak accident.  No big deal. Her back healed, but the pain didn’t go away.  It took over her life.  Tracy spent weeks at a time in the hospital.  She missed her whole 9^th grade year of school. The pain never left her.  We prayed for healing.  Our friends prayed for healing.  Our church prayed for healing. 

Finally, after about a year and a half, her back pain went away.  But it moved to her stomach and for a year, she struggled with intense abdominal pain. More tests.  More medical procedures.  More hospital stays. We prayed and prayed.  Finally, the pain in her stomach went away. But her struggle didn’t stop there. She has had a migraine – a daily chronic headache as they are called, ever since.  She’s 37 now. It never leaves her.  At times it’s crippling. 

So you can imagine that as I planned my sermon for today, these healing miracles caused me to pause. 

Simon’s mother had a fever and Jesus healed her – immediately.  She got up and fixed dinner as if she had never been sick.  And then, after dinner, “all who were sick or possessed with demons” were brought to Jesus.  He cured many and cast out demons. 

I’ve read this passage in Mark many times but this time when I read it, something caught my attention that I guess I never bothered to notice before.  It’s subtle but did you catch it?  “All” who were sick, all who had demons were brought to Jesus.  But… “Many” were healed.  Many were healed.  Many – not all.  Not everyone who was sick; not everyone who was demon possessed was healed. Jesus healed some of them.  Just some.  Obviously he had the ability to heal everyone.  But he didn’t.  He healed many.  He healed some of the people.  But he did not heal everyone.

Now let’s get a good picture of this.  Jesus is just getting started in his ministry.  He’s making a name for himself.  People are flocking to see him.  They’ve heard the news.  Some have see evidence. It’s not just talk. 

People that were sick and invalid are miraculously healed.  People that had emotional and spiritual ailments – demons as scripture calls them – are made whole.  Jesus had a great thing going.  He was a hero. 

Maybe it got too late in the night and he didn’t have time to heal everyone.  Maybe the ones he didn’t heal that night were going to come back the next day.  I think even more people would come the next morning, don’t you? News gets around!  There’s a healer in town.  Jesus had the opportunity for an encore performance.  He was a big draw.  He could make a name for himself as a healer. 

It’s certainly what his disciples expected.  When they get up the next morning, they are upset because he isn’t there.  They think Jesus should be ready for the crowd that will be coming back. Jesus isn’t where they think he should be. Where is he?  In the Greek it says the disciples “hunted” for him. They were frantic.

But. Jesus had gotten up early – while it was still dark. Apparently, he didn’t want others to know he was leaving – that he was going off by himself.  Away from the voices telling him what to do.  Away from those who needed him.  Away from the demands of the world.  He wanted to be alone with God. Jesus left early in the morning by himself to go somewhere alone and pray.  (pause)

"Everyone is looking for you!" the disciples tell him.  I imagine the crowds were already beginning to gather.  The disciples were ready for their leader to do more healing miracles.  Everyone is looking for you, Jesus!  Come on!  It’s sort of like; “Hey, Jesus - you’re on in 2 minutes”.

But after spending time alone; after spending time in prayer with His Father, Jesus has other plans.  He’s not going to do what the others expect him to do.  After his early morning prayer, he chooses to move on.  "Let’s go somewhere else,” Jesus says.  “We need to go to the nearby villages-- so I can preach there also. That is why I have come."   

True, there were more sick people in Capernaum.  People who hadn’t been healed the night before.  People who needed Jesus’ healing touch.  Yet Jesus moves on.  (pause) “All” who were sick, all who had demons were brought to Jesus.  But… “Many” were healed.

When God created the world, he created everything – including humanity in his image. God’s creation was whole; it was healthy; it was perfect.  God created shalom –wholeness, well-being, peace.  There was no brokenness, no sin no heartache no disease.

Jesus came to restore shalom to God’s creation – to bring God’s kingdom to earth.  Jesus came to bring healing and restoration to creation.  Jesus’ healing touches the whole person – the physical, the mental, the spiritual.  Jesus’ healing brings wholeness.  The kingdom is all about renewing the shalom God intended for his creation.

Jesus doesn’t just heal the physical.  He heals the demon possessed – he heals the psychological and spiritual sicknesses.  He brings healing and wholeness to our minds and our hearts. The Good News of Jesus Christ – the good news of the Kingdom of God brings psychological, spiritual, and physical healing.

My daughter still suffers from debilitating migraines.  But I’ve seen God bring healing and wholeness into her life in ways I never would have imagined; ways I didn’t even know she needed.  But God knew.  Yes, we continue to pray that God will heal her migraines.  But I know He has already healed her in so many ways.

Where in your life do you need healing?  How do you need God to bring wholeness and well-being and peace into your life?  Perhaps Jesus has already brought healing into your life that you may not have recognized?

I think about all the healing our world needs. We are living in a world that seems more and more broken every day.  Every day the news is full of new injustices, innocent people killed by bombs, families ripped apart by ICE, increased homelessness.  Our communities; our country; the world needs healing.  Do you pray for healing in the world?

Perhaps God is expecting us to be participants in the healing of the world.  Perhaps we are meant to be a part of bringing about the Kingdom of God; bringing healing and wholeness.  Healing occurs in the world when we treat one another the way Jesus treated those who gathered around him. Healing occurs when we focus on God and work toward shalom.

The apostle Paul proclaimed that in Christ we are a "new creation;" the "old has passed away;" behold, "everything has become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

 Jesus stays focused on God by going off alone to pray.  Jesus knows what he needs to do.  It isn’t what his disciples expect him to do.  It isn’t what the crowds want him to do.  Jesus moves on to the next village because Jesus knows his mission. Jesus doesn’t get caught up in the fanfare; the notoriety. He doesn’t get distracted.

Jesus didn’t come to be some miraculous healer that draws large crowds.  He isn’t a sorcerer who heals people’s aches and pains on some whim. Jesus can’t be distracted by the expectations of the crowds or even his own disciples.  He has a message – a life changing message for all who listen.  Jesus came to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God.  Not just to one village.  Not just to Capernaum.  Jesus came to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God throughout Galilee and his charge to his disciples right before his ascension was to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God to all the nations.  That charge extends to us, my friends.

The healing miracles that Jesus performed in Capernaum and other places through Galilee are a taste of things to come – when all creation will be restored to God’s image -  when shalom will be restored.  But for now, we get a taste. 

Jesus’ compassionate healings underscore what the restoration of the Kingdom of God will be like – complete fulfillment of fellowship with God and the shalom of all creation – under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. 

 May we all eagerly wait with great anticipation and hope for the time when Christ will come again, and the Kingdom of God is fully realized.  Amen.