September 10, 2000
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

LECTIONARY READINGS
from the Revised Common Lectionary

Isaiah 35:4-7a and
Psalm 146
James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17
Mark 7:24-37

[ Read the texts at the Vanderbilt Divinity On-Line Library ]
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What About Healing?

I would suspect that every single one of us here has at one time or another urgently prayed that God would intervene in someone's life and bring about a miraculous healing.

Do you remember?

For me it was a heartfelt prayer that God would intervene and at least give my mother more time.  She was critically ill and we had just begun to mend a painful broken relationship that had endured for many years.

On another occasion, I asked my five year old daughter to pray for her mother - my wife - who was struggling with a chronic illness.  I know God loves the prayers of children who pray without pretense. Her prayers for her mom actually taught me something about sincere, honest, straightforward prayer.  (If you want to learn something about prayer, take time to listen to a child who has had no training except to trust that God hears and God cares!)

What about healing?

Some people have a kind of a, "That was then - this is now," attitude about the healing ministry of Jesus.  Others have a, "Well maybe..." reserved sense about it.  Still others feel that everyone who is ill simply needs "enough faith" to be made well.

There is no doubt that the healing ministry of Jesus was a major part of his proclamation that "the kingdom is at hand."

***

I have a friend who is a surgeon and a committed Christian.  he is the physician who took care of me when I had a snow blower accident and needed surgery on two fingers.  During one of the surgeries (all done with local anesthetic), I asked, "Don, do you believe in divine healing?"

"Is there any other kind?" he responded.

Good point, but what I really wanted to know was whether he believed in what we would call miraculous healing, so I asked, "Actually, I wanted to know if you believe in miraculous healing."

"Yes," he answered in a matter of fact way, "Why do you ask?  Do you want me to stop the surgery?"

This physician believes that God intervenes in some instances and brings about healing.  Nevertheless, he spends most of his vacation time going to Third World countries doing surgery in remote areas.  He and his team begin at sunup and work into the night for about 14 days at a time.  (No doubt James would consider him someone whose faith translates into works.)

Another physician in our congregation, having read that the sermon topic for an upcoming Sunday had to do with healing asked, "You're not going to get flaky on us are you?"  At the other end of the spectrum was a mother who commented, "It's about time we dealt with this.  My son died because my husband and I didn't have enough faith for him to be healed."

***

There are two extremes with the issue of healing:

[1]  Faith without Medicine

There are some who teach that illness is an illusion and that true faith overcomes every illness.  When illness strikes and there is no healing, the problem is with the person who is ill or the person's closest family members.  If they had enough faith, God would heal.  This approach brings to mind the limerick:

There was a faith healer from Deal,
Who said, "Although pain isn't real,'
When I sit on a pin,
And it punctures my skin,
I don't like what I fancy I feel."

[2] Medicine without faith

This approach views all instances of healing in a psychosomatic way at best and as "mumbo jumbo" at worst.  

Both extremes are wrong. There is much room for differing views on divine healing in the Christian world.  I visit my physician regularly (at the insistence of my wife who says without her I would succumb to "terminal masculinity!" At the same time I pray regularly for people who suffer from physical illness and ask God to bring healing to them.

We should be aware, however, that there is a significant amount of fraud in this area.  You can be sure something is wrong with a healing ministry or healer when:

[1] The focus is on the healer instead of the healing.

[2] The issue of healing takes center stage and the rest of the gospel is relegated to the sidelines.  The ministry comes off as more "showbiz" than "kingdom business."

[3]  The only thing that improves is the financial condition of the so called healer.

***

It is difficult in one sermon to address all the questions that should be addressed on this subject, but here is a brief answer to questions that arise most frequently.

[1]  Can God heal?

Yes! (That's the short and simple answer.) One of the classic statements about God is that God is Omnipotent - or - "all powerful."  Obviously an "all powerful" God can heal.  The question is:

[2] Does God heal?

Yes!  The bible is filled with stories of healing and there are credible witnesses to the fact that healing which can only be classified as "miraculous" have reported divine healings.

In one instance I was personally involved with, a man who came to the hospital for lung surgery to remove a tumor which had appeared during a bronchoscope, was discharged when the tumor was no longer there on the morning of surgery.  The doctor (who happened to be in the "medicine without faith" camp) was asked by the patient what happened.  The physician's response was, "We changed the diagnosis"

The patient later told me, "Personally, I think God changed the diagnosis!"

So the quick answer to the question is, "Yes," God does heal."  Which brings the discussion down to you and me in those times when illness strikes us or someone who is very close to us.

[3]  Will God heal?

Sometimes.

[4]  Will God heal Me?  (or)  My child?

Maybe.

We are to be faithful in prayer and trusting in God's ability to bring about the eventual best possible circumstances for us.  We are not, however, to expect that God's healing action in our lives is an "on demand" kind of thing because the issue of divine healing has to be centered in the larger picture which is:

The central concept in Jesus' practice of divine healing is that healing is always related to the kingdom of God.

The healing of the Syrophoenician woman in our gospel lesson today, along with the healing of the man who was deaf was rooted in the prophet Isaiah's promise that God would deliver the nation of Israel.  Jesus' healing ministry was a part of his proclamation that the kingdom of God was at hand.

Healing of any kind in the biblical drama is always a mark of God's presence and reign.  When God rules, there is wholeness of body, mind and spirit.  There is no such thing as an isolated healing ministry for the sake of physical healing alone.  It is not as though Jesus came into the world to make all the sick people better or to eradicates sickness in the physical sense.  The physical side of healing is a part but not the point of God's healing presence in our lives.

There is a promise of a place where there is no sickness.  Do you remember where that is?

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them;  he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away."   {Rev. 21:1-4}

God's intent is clear.  The promise here is that God will bring final healing and wholeness.  Jesus' ministry is a penetration of that divine intent into a broken world.  The principle continues through the Body of Christ which is to continue the ministry Jesus gave to us.  Healing, of every kind, is a part of that ministry.

These things dominated the ministry of Jesus:

• Jesus came to bring the power and the presence of God's creative, loving Spirit to bear on our spiritual, emotional, and physical lives.

• Where there was evil, he brought goodness.

• Where there was darkness, he brought light.

• Where there was emptiness, he brought fullness and meaning.

• Where there was sickness, he brought health.

All of this is healing in the broadest and best biblical meaning.  The gospel of Mark begins with the words, "The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God."  The good news is news about the reign of God in the whole of our lives.

This means we may pray for those who need wholeness of every kind and we may pray for the physical well being of others with the certain knowledge that these prayers flow from the heart Christ himself.

The details of where, when and how the healing of persons takes place is totally in the hands of God.  The faith and trust that this is the will of God is in our hands.

Connections in the Text

Isaiah enjoins the oppressed people of Israel to trust in the Lord because there will be an ultimate triumph of God's intent for their lives.  There will be "streams in the desert" and all manner of oppression will be defeated.  The gospel text shows Jesus reaching out to someone beyond the bounds of Israel as he heals the daughter of a foreign woman.  James helps tie the texts together with his injunction to believing people to show mercy "without partiality."

The texts together speak of a broad, all encompassing divine will for the wholeness of persons.  The healing ministry of Jesus Christ can not be separated from the whole of God's will for our lives - healing and health are just a part of that will.  Salvation is God's "Shalom" in the broadest sense.  Psalm 146 brings together healing, righteous living and God's concern for the whole of the human race. Our full text sermon will explore this broad sense of the meaning of healing

Isaiah 35:4-7a

These few verses are set in the context of divine woes which are pronounced upon all those nations which have resisted the righteous will of God and have oppressed Israel.  Israel lives in fear of its predatory neighbors and hope seems lost.  The text brings a message of eschatalogical hope in the face of present hopelessness.  The final intent of God is to bring justice to the world and triumph to Israel.

There will be healing, wholeness and above all - righteousness.  In the land which has been fully restored and where there is harmony in creation, the prophet announces, "A highway shall be there, and a road, And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness."  There is no hope, healing or salvation apart from the righteous will of God as the dominant power of the Kingdom of God.  Healing of blindness, deafness and lameness are not the point of God's reign, but the sign of it. Righteousness and justice in the land are equally a sign of God's reign.

Mark 7:24-37

The text begins and ends with Jesus' attempt to remain somewhat incognito.  He enters a home where he hopes for a bit of respite but, "He could not escape notice."   At the end of the text, Jesus tells the people not to spread the news of this healing but, "...the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.

The issue of a "Messianic Secret" has been raised in with respect to this continuing request by Jesus to "keep things quiet."   The "Messianic Secret" refers to the way in which Jesus kept his identity as the "Son of God" a secret. This is particularly evident in the Gospel of Mark. Mark explains how Jesus wants to keep his identity a secret, by his own intent and uniform to the divine scheme of salvation. Mark feels that it is significant that Jesus cannot in fact, stay unknown. Mark emphasizes this in some of Jesus' healings. In Mark (1:44) Jesus ordered the cured leper, "See that you say nothing to anyone." However, in (1:45) it states, "But he (the healed man) went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that he (Jesus) could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter."  The healing of the deaf and mute man is a direct reflection of the promise in Isaiah 35:5 and connects Jesus with the eschatalogical promise of restoration and salvation.  From the vantage point of the contemporary church, Jesus' ministry is very clearly that of Messiah - but  messianic claims in his time would have brought about grave misunderstanding and precipitous action.

Though popular understanding of Messiah would eventually bring conflict with Jesus' mission, the key issue is that the gospel is proclaimed and can not be contained.

James 2:1-10

What does it look like when the people of God are putting actions with their words and trust in God translates into living in light of the precepts of God?  James, ever the one who holds our feet to the fire, has two key points to make about the authenticity of "words of faith."  If we are truly living our faith:

• All persons in the community of faith will be treated equally.
• All persons in the community of faith will reach out to those in the community of faith who are in need.

Otherwise, faith absent works is no faith.  With his famous words, "Faith without works is dead," is not really saying there are two kinds of faith.  A claim to faith which does not result in compassionate acts of faith or translate into equal appreciation of all people in the Christian community is not really faith at all.  "Dead" faith is no faith at all.

The epistle can be related specifically to the gospel text.  Jesus shows the compassion of God toward all persons with the healing of the Syrophoenician woman.

 Worship Helps

A Call To Worship (Based on Ps. 146)

Leader:   O come let us praise the Lord for the rest of our lives,
People:  Let us sing praise to God as long as we live.
Leader:   May we never place our trust in things that do not count,
People:  For those who trust in the Lord will have hope for life.
Leader:   Those who trust completely in God are happy,
People:  For the One who made heaven and earth watches over them!

A Prayer of Confession

Lord, we acknowledge that we have a need to draw closer to you so that we may draw closer to the person you designed us to be.  We have fallen short of your glory and have wandered too far into a life of our own design.  O, forgive us of our sin and give us grace to turn to you with open hearts and willing spirits that we might know the renewing of our souls.  In the name of Jesus we pray.   Amen.

Assurance of Pardon

Brothers and sisters in Christ, our God is a gracious God who forgives our sin and cleanses from all unrighteousness.  Let us gratefully receive the good news that in Jesus Christ we are forgiven.  Amen. 

A Prayer of Thanksgiving

Eternal God, we thank you this day for the way you have made yourself known to us in Jesus Christ.  In his birth he freed us from all outward pretense.  In his life he pointed the way to mercy and love.  In his death he freed us from fear and in his resurrection he gave us hope that will never fail.

How can we deserve such a love and thank you for such grace?  Our words fail us O loving God and our thanksgiving seems so small.  Yet you have told us that you value our prayers and seek our praise. We thank you and bow before you in deep gratitude for the value you have place upon us.  O Lord of all living, give us a heart to see others as you see them.  Give us courage to lift up those Christ would lift up, bring hope to those Christ would visit and confront those forces which are destructive of your children that Christ would confront.

We are filled with hope because your Son, our Lord Jesus came to bring hope and healing to all who would reach out to him.   We are filled with joy because you are at work in the whole of our lives.  We can turn to you for help and hope in every situation.  There is no situation in all of our living that lies outside the bounds of your care.

This is your church O God and we are your people.  We lift up our hearts and prayers to you in the name of the One who gave up his own life that we might live with you forever.  Amen!

Amen.

A Prayer of Dedication