Clean Up on Aisle 3.

I was reading through Mark 6 and all the miracles that Jesus had been doing and when I came upon vs. 56 it says, “And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment.” (ESV).  Can you imagine what this scene looked like in that day? Can you imagine what it must have been like for Jesus, His disciples, and followers who had been with Him daily to see thousands of people gathering around in the hope that they might be healed?  They didn’t care where they brought the sick, or how they got the sick to be seen by Jesus, they just wanted them to be healed so badly that they laid them in the marketplaces in the hopes that Jesus would heal them.  There are many times in scripture where we see desperate people do desperate things to get Jesus’ attention.  In Luke 5:17-39 people literally cut a hole in a roof and lowered a disabled man before Jesus so that he could be healed. Can you imagine that scene?

Desperate times call for desperate measures and people who are in pain often find themselves desperate.  Perhaps you are in physical pain that is so debilitating you would do anything to bring relief. Perhaps you have been given a terminal diagnosis and you need a miracle. Perhaps you just lost a loved one like I did, and as you lay beside their body feeling hepless inside, the pain and grief can be so gripping it can cause you to wonder if you can even go on breathing yourself.  Maybe you are dealing with a drug or alcohol addictionor watching someone you love be torn apart by it but the battle is so fierce you can’t even begin to think of what it means to consider trying to stay clean for an hour, never mind a whole day. Maybe you are tormented with thoughts in your mind, and you need internal peace.  Whatever you are going through, Jesus is still healing and performing miracles, and setting people free. 

Jesus is the Great Physician, and He wants those who know that kind of power to be willing vessels to help set others free. The problem isn’t that miracles ceased, the problem is a lack of faith and a serious root of doubt that has hindered the workers from going out and doing what Jesus did for others. Even Jesus couldn’t do some miracles because of a lack of Faith in people see Matthew 13:58. Yet, in other scriptures we are told if we have faith like the size of a mustard seed, we could move mountains see Matthew 17:20. This is one of many scriptures where Jesus talks about how a little faith can go a long way because stepping out in faith that may be the size of a mustard seed can develop into the faith that can move mountains.

Can you imagine the same scene back when Jesus was on the earth taking place today but this time through God’s people who are out in the world setting people free from all kinds of pain and afflictions?  Imagine people bringing their sick to the marketplaces today and you as one of God’s children start to help them get free and you operate under the power of The Holy Spirit continuing in the work that Jesus has called you and all of us to do. Imagine you are casting out demons that are destroying people all over the world and ripping apart families but suddenly they are made clean and YOU ARE THE CLEANER BECAUSE YOU ARE A WILLING VESSEL TO BE USED BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO SET CAPTIVES FREE!

Imagine you are in Walmart or a similar store shopping and all of a sudden you hear on the loudspeaker “clean up on aisle 3.” When we hear that, we know someone spilled something, or a box broke open and a person usually comes and cleans it all up.  However, a spiritual clean-up is about to take place and you, as a powerful servant of The Lord, happen to be there at just the right time.  You start to pray for someone on aisle 3 and they get healed.  They no longer care about what they look like or who is watching, they are amazed that their body is moving, or their child wants to stop using, or they are not sitting in that wheelchair, or they are now of sound mind.  The cleaner on aisle 3 is doing some serious cleaning.  When that loudspeaker announces “clean up on aisle 3” all of the sudden the entire store flocks to aisle 3 because they know that a miracle is about to take place.  Today people would be on their cell phones right there in the middle of aisle 3 recording miracles or calling the cleaner crazy, or possibly calling their loved ones on the phone saying, “Yo, get down here fast, the cleaner is here” and before you could notice, people come from all around because they are about to get set free or they just want to watch what they think is a sideshow taking place.  

Now I am not telling you to go to some random store or to cut a whole in someones roof to lower them down for healing but honestly, the church should be looking a lot more like this.  We should be going out to the world, setting people free, healing the sick, helping the oppressed, and casting out demons that are tormenting people in all forms.  I want that kind of faith and I am working hard at developing that because I do believe we are meant to stop debating about color, politics, religion, and whatever else the devil uses as a smokescreen and instead just treat people the way Jesus did which was through love and compassion.  

I too am learning to love well. I have strong opinions on all kinds of topics that have led to arguments with people I love dearly.  The world is in such a high state of hatred and malice that the devil is using the media, politics, religion, and whatever else he can to divide us.  It takes hard work to not engage in something you may feel passionate about.  However, I have also been put back in my humble place many times remembering how much grace was given me in my own sinful state. I am quickly heartbroken by my own behavior and lean on Jesus all the more to set me straight and do my best to love well.

Love is hard work people! It is always a choice when you love someone. If love wasn’t a choice then Jesus would not have gone to the cross because He didn’t want to go through the brutal suffering He did for people who were mocking Him while He was on it.  But Jesus knew the only way to save mankind whose blood contained the DNA of sin, was for Him to use His own blood that was perfect and pure and be the one-time sacrifice for us all.

The message Jesus keeps telling me is that He wants me to love well and be willing to be used by The Holy Spirit to help set people free. I will surely meet people along the way that want me to draw a line in the sand of “which side are you on” but I am working hard trying to come away from that because I honestly want to be the Cleaner on aisle 3. I want to be a vessel that The Lord can use to heal the sick, cast the demons out of people who are struggling in so many ways, open the eyes of the blind and watch the captives be free no matter who they are or what they believe in or whatever their sexual orientation is. I just want to love well.

I am going to mess up, God knows I have so many times already.  When a woman in John 8:3-11 who was caught in the act of adultery was thrown down by the Pharisees before Jesus' feet they told him that according to the law, she should be stoned to death.  As a side note, why wasn’t the man she was with thrown down before Jesus’ feet too?  Anyway, they were trying to get Jesus to choose sides, they were trying to snare him and Jesus’ response to them was simply amazing. In vs. 7 Jesus says, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” (ESV).  I mean what are you gonna do with that? How are you going to respond to that? 

The truth is that God’s original design for people was completely changed when Adam and Eve engaged with Satan at the tree.  Our DNA changed that day because of sin, but Jesus made a way back to God with His own blood by giving His life as a ransom for us.  He is the biggest blood donor this world has ever known, the most incredible Superhero we will ever read about, and the most loving man that ever touched the earth.

The work of Jesus is still on the move today through the power of The Holy Spirit and people who are willing to develop the kind of faith that can move mountains.  Whatever that mountain is, it can be moved, and we need more cleaners on aisle 3 and throughout the entire world to make it happen. As a Cleaner for Christ, it isn’t my call to determine who I pray for, what mountain gets moved, or the status of their sins, political views, or anything else. It is up to me to just let God lead me and use me to set people free.  Consider the story in Mark 5. This poor man had been tormented by demons it says in vs 3, that he lived among the tombs and that nobody could restrain him, and he often would break free from the physical chains they put on him. It also says that he would cry out in the night and pick up stones and cut himself. By the way, the affliction of “cutting” that we hear so many people doing today, is the same demons at work in our world we have just renamed them.  Imagine what this man was feeling alone in the tomb area, chained up, unwanted, and demons were feasting on him.  

Then Jesus showed up and restored the man back to sanity.  This man pleaded to go with Jesus but instead, Jesus said in vs 19, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.”  I cried as I read that because my heart broke for this man. I also rejoiced that he was free.  Jesus knew the greater good was to send this man back to other broken people so that they could see the power of Christ was real and able to do anything.  I do wonder where this man’s friends were while he was in the tombs being tormented, but that’s another story. Grow your faith so strong that you can help others move their mountains and while you are at it, learn to Love well.

By Melissa Anne Hathaway LMHC, PhD
© The Vine Christian Counseling LLC