Healing And Concerned Mothers
Stories
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit
Series V, Cycle C
Object:
As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, "Do not weep." Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, rise!" The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. (vv. 12-15)
John Killinger tells the story of a 65-year-old woman he met once at a spiritual retreat center in Kentucky. Her name was Margaret Howard and she was a sturdy woman of the hills who managed a small bookstore in Richmond, Kentucky, called the Miracle Book Room. Margaret had humble beginnings in life. She married when she was fourteen, causing her formal education to cease after the eighth grade. But she was a woman of rare qualities.
When one of her daughters was seven years old, the girl was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The doctors removed most of the right hemisphere of her brain, and they told Margaret the girl would be a vegetable for the rest of her life. Margaret wouldn't accept that prognosis. She nursed her daughter and prayed for her always.
She read a newspaper article about a special operation being performed in Canada that might improve her daughter's condition. She soon discovered the operation would cost $7,000. Margaret's family was dirt poor. They didn't have $70, much less $7,000.
But that didn't stop Margaret. She prayed some more and told some people about her need. An article in the newspaper raised more than $10,000 to send her and her daughter to Canada.
When the two of them arrived in Canada, they didn't have the proper papers and were not permitted to deplane. Margaret persuaded the airport officials to get her a phone connection with the Canadian government. She told the government officials that she was from the Commonwealth of Kentucky and needed to get her daughter to the hospital. The officials misunderstood her and thought she was related to the governor of Kentucky. So they sent an ambulance and a limousine to take her and her daughter to the hospital.
Later someone asked her, "Are you from the governor?"
She replied, "No."
The response came back, "Are you a friend of his?"
She answered, "I didn't even vote for him."
At the hospital, the doctors x-rayed the little girl. After studying the results, they announced that they did not want to operate. Margaret said, "There's a power higher than you that obviously wants you to." The doctors operated, and the girl lived an almost normal life until she was a young woman.
God invented something pretty special when he invented mothers. They put an awful lot of love and care into the world. In fact, they are a never-ending supply. Loving and compassionate mothers take their cue from Christ.
We may not always understand how miracles work or how Christ decides to intervene to perform one, but we know that from time to time, he will do just that. A mother will be concerned or grieving. A child will be healed and then handed back to a rejoicing mother.
(James Killinger "Fruitful Persistence," The Minister's Manual, James Cox, ed. [New York, New York: Harper Collins, 1994], pp. 97-98)
John Killinger tells the story of a 65-year-old woman he met once at a spiritual retreat center in Kentucky. Her name was Margaret Howard and she was a sturdy woman of the hills who managed a small bookstore in Richmond, Kentucky, called the Miracle Book Room. Margaret had humble beginnings in life. She married when she was fourteen, causing her formal education to cease after the eighth grade. But she was a woman of rare qualities.
When one of her daughters was seven years old, the girl was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The doctors removed most of the right hemisphere of her brain, and they told Margaret the girl would be a vegetable for the rest of her life. Margaret wouldn't accept that prognosis. She nursed her daughter and prayed for her always.
She read a newspaper article about a special operation being performed in Canada that might improve her daughter's condition. She soon discovered the operation would cost $7,000. Margaret's family was dirt poor. They didn't have $70, much less $7,000.
But that didn't stop Margaret. She prayed some more and told some people about her need. An article in the newspaper raised more than $10,000 to send her and her daughter to Canada.
When the two of them arrived in Canada, they didn't have the proper papers and were not permitted to deplane. Margaret persuaded the airport officials to get her a phone connection with the Canadian government. She told the government officials that she was from the Commonwealth of Kentucky and needed to get her daughter to the hospital. The officials misunderstood her and thought she was related to the governor of Kentucky. So they sent an ambulance and a limousine to take her and her daughter to the hospital.
Later someone asked her, "Are you from the governor?"
She replied, "No."
The response came back, "Are you a friend of his?"
She answered, "I didn't even vote for him."
At the hospital, the doctors x-rayed the little girl. After studying the results, they announced that they did not want to operate. Margaret said, "There's a power higher than you that obviously wants you to." The doctors operated, and the girl lived an almost normal life until she was a young woman.
God invented something pretty special when he invented mothers. They put an awful lot of love and care into the world. In fact, they are a never-ending supply. Loving and compassionate mothers take their cue from Christ.
We may not always understand how miracles work or how Christ decides to intervene to perform one, but we know that from time to time, he will do just that. A mother will be concerned or grieving. A child will be healed and then handed back to a rejoicing mother.
(James Killinger "Fruitful Persistence," The Minister's Manual, James Cox, ed. [New York, New York: Harper Collins, 1994], pp. 97-98)
