Christ's Ministry of Healing
Mark 2:1-12, Matthew 11:2-6
One of the things that we have enjoyed about our home is that we are almost surrounded by the woods. Until this week, that is. For the past several days, the backhoes have been at work, tearing down the trees in the lot just behind us. We knew this would happen some day but for six years we have lived with the illusion that those woods were our woods and that they would be there forever. As the trees came down, there was more and more light in our house. But less of that nice feeling of privacy that we've enjoyed for six years. As I have watched the shape of our own personal world shift this week, I have been thinking about how often God challenges the way I see things. I prefer the cozy and unchanging world view--my view. God always seems to prefer the broadening view that takes in new perspectives and new ways of seeing the world. Especially God's way.
A rather cynical school teacher decided that she was going to prove to her young class that God did not exist. She called on a young boy, and said, "Tommy, do you see the tree outside?"
Tommy answered yes. Then she said, "Tommy, do you see the grass outside?" Again, Tommy answered, "Yes."
Then the teacher said, "Go to the window, look up and see if you can see the sky." Tommy did as she asked, and then said, "Yes, I see the sky."
Then the teacher asked, "Did you see God?"
"No, I just saw the tree, the grass and the sky."
The teacher said, "My point is that we can't see God, because he isn't there."
One of Tommy's classmates, a little girl, asked the teacher if she could ask Tommy some questions.
She asked, "Tommy, do you see the teacher?"
"Yes."
"Can you see our teacher's brain?"
"No."
"Does that mean she doesn't have one?"
That's the context within which I want to talk about the ministry of healing. In order to get our minds around the idea of Christ's healing ministry and what that might mean for us, I think we need to be open to new perspectives, perhaps a new world view.
We see this through the eyes of our old friend John the Baptist. Like many of the Jewish faithful at the time, he was looking for definitive signs that the messiah indeed had come. John’s perspective was a little different from others, though, since his job was to prepare the way for the messiah. It seemed important to him to know that he was preparing the way for the right messiah. When he baptized Jesus, he was sure that this was the one. So sure that he even encouraged his own followers to follow Jesus. But some things had happened that made him wonder. John was arrested. Long story, but to put it briefly, he angered King Herod by some things he said. While John was in prison, he heard about what Jesus was doing. Teaching, healing, casting out demons. He was attracting huge crowds of followers and seekers. All wonderful things. But he wasn’t doing the one thing everybody thought the messiah would be doing: he wasn’t rallying any troops against Rome. So, John seems to have had some second thoughts. Was Jesus really the messiah? Had he thrown his support behind the right candidate? Now that John was in jail, he had little chance of changing his vote, but perhaps he could die in peace, if he just knew for sure.
Read Matthew 11
Jesus is saying that John needs to change his perspective about what the messiah is all about. Overthrowing Rome is not his agenda. But the ministry of healing is integral to his ministry. These acts are signs that he is indeed the messiah. They are the proof of the pudding, so to speak. Wherever he went, people found healing.
What’s important for us today, beyond understanding the miracles as signs of his true identity, is that we are the body of Christ today. We are the agent through which Christ speaks to the world today. And if healing is integral to his ministry, then it makes sense that healing would also be central to the life of the Church as well.
At Morning Star, we call one of our priorities, recovery ministries. It’s our goal and our desire to see ourselves and others healed from the inside out. Every time we come together for worship, we pray for people who need healing in a wide variety of ways. People who are going to have surgery, or are recovering; people who have the flu, or a cold; people who have life threatening diseases; people who have been in accidents; or those who have broken relationships, or are depressed, or emotionally wounded; people who suffer with addictions.
I believe that God meets us in these times of need. God gives us tools for the battle: vitamins and antibiotics; medical professionals; counselors. And I believe that there are times that God intervenes in our life in ways that can only be explained by saying "God did it. God healed me."
A few years ago, a friend of ours in California named Kim called and asked us to pray for her brother-in-law Mark who was in his late twenties. Mark had suddenly taken ill and was rushed to the hospital. He was diagnosed as having a rare virus that attacked the heart. Kim told me that there was no known cure for the virus, which was life threatening. The doctors had begun to talk about a heart transplant as the only medical option. When I prayed for Mark, something happened that I don’t usually experience in my prayers. It was a feeling that was almost more physical than emotional. I was three thousand miles from him, but I got the very distinct sense that he was being healed. I didn’t tell anyone, but waited to hear again from Kim. She called a few days later, with the good news that Mark had been sent to a second hospital, had a new round of tests, and he was well. No one had an explanation, but both hospitals had objective medical tests to show the disease at work in one case, and the disease totally gone in the other. The doctors shook their heads as they sent him home, and Kim gave thanks to God.
The ministry of healing is already a part of who we are as the body of Christ, but I want to take some time over the next several weeks to take a very intentional look at this important ministry.
By way of introduction, I want to outline a few general principles that we can glean from the story about the paralyzed man.
Healing goes beyond the physical. Were you surprised, in the story about the paralyzed man, that instead of healing the man right away, Jesus forgave his sins?
In the first century, people believed in a very direct cause-effect relationship between sickness and sin. If you were sick, you had done something wrong. So, when Jesus healed the man’s paralysis, they would have to say that Jesus also had gotten rid of the sin. So, again, his ability to heal gives proof of who he is.
Most of us no longer make that direct of a connection between sickness and sin. But we also recognize that there’s often more to our illness than just germs. Many illnesses are psychosomatic in origin. In other words, what happens in our body is often the result of what’s happening in our psyche. In our heart of hearts, our soul. William Barclay tells the story of a young girl who played the piano in a theater way back in the days of silent films. When the lights were on, she was absolutely well. But when the lights went out, and the audience started lighting up their cigarettes, she was paralyzed. She fought against it, but at last the paralysis became permanent and she sought help. Doctors could find no physical cause to the paralysis. Under hypnosis, it was discovered that when she was only a few weeks old, she had been placed in a bed with an arch of lace over it. Her mother had bent over her with a cigarette in her mouth. The lace over the bed caught fire. She was not harmed but in her subconscious, the memory was alive and still very terrifying. The dark combined with the cigarette smoke triggered a reaction to this memory.
I don’t know whether the man in our story was paralyzed because of an accident, or a genetic cause, or if it was psychosomatic. But I do know this. Jesus has the authority both to forgive sins and heal disease. The most important healing that any of us can experience is the forgiveness of sins—because this heals our relationship with God. Nothing is more important than that.
I also know that Jesus is in charge of the healing. Next week we will talk about the tough reality that not everyone is healed. For today, I simply want to say that the ministry of healing, like all other ministry, belongs to Jesus. It does not belong to us. We do have an important role, though. We are in the position of the four people carrying their friend to Jesus. My hope is that this is a freeing thought. It’s not up to us to decide who is going to be healed. Our job is to carry the people we care about to.
Healing then, depends not upon us, but on the presence of Jesus. The reason why people were hanging out the doors of the house in Capernaum was simple. Jesus was there. Where Jesus went, wonderful things happened. Everybody wanted a piece of the action.
One of the songs that we enjoy singing is "Surely the presence of the Lord is in this Place." And many people comment that when they come to worship here, they sense the presence of God.
If indeed Jesus is here as we say he is, then we will see some remarkable things happening. Recovery of all kinds. Physical healing, emotional healing, spiritual healing. And central to all of it, the forgiveness of sins.
I invite you to open your heart to some new possibilities, new ways of looking at the world, new ways of looking at yourself, new ways of looking at God. Look for God to do some things that are outside the realm of your understanding, but not outside the realm of Christ’s authority and power.
Prayer: God of grace and power, we ask now that you will open our hearts and minds to the wonderful things that you are doing in us and around us in the world. Give us eyes to see, and ears to hear. Give us faith to believe that you still have the same power and authority as you did the day that man stood up and walked.
In the quiet of our hearts, now, we name before you the persons for whom we have great concern. In our minds eye, we carry them now to you, knowing that even though many others are gathered around you, wanting your attention, you will see this need, and you will respond with healing power. We ask for your forgiving, cleansing, and invigorating power to sweep through this room like a gentle summer breeze, lifting hearts and soothing troubled minds.
Now, we leave our prayers with you, thanking for the great love with which you love us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.