Jesus The Healer

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Jesus The Healer

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ January 4, 2003 ⋅ Post a comment

JESUS THE HEALER (Precis of a sermon based on
Mark 5:21-43) = Mt. 9:18-26, Lk 8:40-56

In spite of the almost universal human desire to
have good health, the sum total of our diseases does not diminish.
Infectious diseases may be decreasing, but emotional illness is
increasing. Questions about sickness and healing are numerous
and complex. Powerful emotions are stirred up over the issue.
In the NT miraculous healings constitute the largest single element
in the narrative. But Christians are divided over it all. Here
"the zealous lack knowledge, and the wise lack all conviction".
At one extreme are the charlatan "miracle-workers" selling
the gifts of Christ as Simon Magus wanted to do. At the other,
are established churches lacking both faith and power. (One Australian
Baptist church excluded a lady from fellowship because she was
miraculously healed by God through the prayers of some of her
friends!)

1. Jairus and his daughter. Nearly every parent has
felt the deep emotion connected with having a severely ill child.
Visit an old cemetery and you’ll find that this was much more
common in earlier days. Jairus was in important and respected
man – "chairman of the Board of Elders" of his synagogue.
Jesus had offended the Jewish authorities so much – He was teaching
things contrary to their orthodoxies – that He was excluded from
the synagogue, rejected by the religious leaders. So for Jairus
to come publicly to Jesus, and fall at His feet, was an act of
immense faith and courage. He had to set aside his prejudices,
his pride, his embarassment, and come humbly, admitting his need.
He had to overcome his fear of ridicule by others, the possibility
of losing his important social position, and swallow his pride
and set aside his dignity. His despair was God’s opportunity!
Like Naaman, he had to do a very humiliating thing indeed to receive
God’s blessing. Here wa a desperate man, feeling the intense agony
of watching helplessly while his twelve-year old girl was dying.
He had nowhere else to go, no-one else to turn to, and was prepared
to suffer any amount of "egg on his face" from others,
if only his daughter could be healed.

2. The woman who touched His cloak. The woman was
suffering from a vaginal hemorrhage – a common, and incurable
complaint in those days. She was ceremonially unclean, and thus
barred from worship, and had to keep her distance from everyone.
She was treated like a leper, and couldn’t mingle with people.
And, of course, she was embarrassed by it all, so in desperation
she pushed her way through the crowd (ignoring the fact that she
was rendering others unclean) to touch one of the tassels (see
Num. 15:38-40) on Jesus’ robe. Mark tells us that she had this
condition for twelve years, and the doctors hadn’t helped at all.
(Dr. Luke is kinder – he stresses that this illness was incurable
anyway). Some commentators suggest it was pure superstition that
motivated her to act this way. So Jesus transformed what might
have been a mechanical, magic act into a personal relationship.
Further, He singled her out: He couldn’t let her be part of a
"faceless crowd", but treated her as an individual.
What a costly confession! She came in fear and trembling; her
embarrassment knew no bounds, but Jesus told her a beautiful thing:
even though she felt in her body that she was healed, He said
further (as the verb tense has it) "Be continually healed!"
To this courageous lady (the only person he ever called "daughter")
He granted continuing health! How difficult for her, and how humiliating!
And yet once she’d made her confession, she was doubly blessed!
"Let not conscience make you linger, Nor of fitness fondly
dream; All the fitness He requireth Is to feel your need of Him.

3. Meanwhile, there’s Jairus… Undoubtedly wringing
his hands in frustration and despair, moving from one leg to the
other impatiently. The message comes "Your daughter is dead"
and his heart sinks.

They come to the house, and the mourners are already
"in full swing", (frenzied, wailing, tearing their garments
and hair, with loud shrieks accompanied by mournful flute-playing).
Their scornful laughter is understandable (curing illness is one
thing; raising the dead is quite another!) and their unbelief
excluded them from seeing the amazing miracle. Peter, James and
John were invited in (the same three who later experienced Jesus’
transfiguration). And what Jesus said made such an indelible impression
on Peter’s mind and memory that he could hear that "Talitha
cumi" all his life. There is no magic formula – just a gentle
command, followed by a follow-up concern that the girl be fed
something. Jesus had no desire for publicity about raising the
dead (He didn’t want an invitation to every funeral in Palestine,
although He spoilt every funeral He went to, including His own!)

AND NOW … THE HARD QUESTIONS:

#Does God want everyone healed? Pentecostals usually
say "yes" (and if you aren’t, the problem is with your
(or your praying friends’ or church’s) lack of faith). Evangelical
Christians often say "no" (Paul had his thorn in the
flesh; Timothy apparently had recurring stomach troubles and the
suggested cure wasn’t prayer but a little wine, 1 Tm. 5:23; Trophimus
was so sick Paul left him behind, 2 Tm. 4:20; Jesus only healed
one person at the pool of Bethesda, John 5 etc.). I frankly feel
that both these approaches have problems, and would prefer Francis
McNutt’s more balanced view: "In general, it is God’s desire
that we be healthy, rather than sick. And since He has the power
to do all things, He will respond to prayer for healing unless
there is some obstacle, or unless the sickness is sent or permitted
for some greater reason … Sickness is in itself an evil, although
good may result from it … There comes a time for a person to
die, and we should pray for light as to when to ask God to take
away the sickness and when to pray for a happy death … Some
sickness may have a higher purpose (there has been a long tradition
of redemptive suffering among the saints) … and yet, by New
Testament standards, it should be normative for the Christian
to pray for the removal of sickness rather than its acceptance."
(Healing, pp. 84-86).

# How does healing occur? First, we must affirm that
ALL HEALING COMES FROM GOD! He may heal through doctors, through
drugs, through the removal of stress factors, through prayer -
either miraculously and instantaneously or more slowly, through
death (the perfect healing) or through resurrection. Doctors don’t
cure patients – God does. They simply help remove the cause of
the illness, and allow the Creator’s healing processes do their
work. An an eminent doctor put it, "I dressed his wound,
but God healed him". It is a mistake, therefore, for a Christian
to choose only one method of healing. Here we use both faith and
works – we pray, and go to the doctor, in most instances. Conversely,
doctors should pray, too!

# Why are some not healed? Why are some people (including
atheists) healed, and others – some very godly people among them
- are not? Ultimately, this is a mystery: we don’t know. However,
there are some clues:-*Lack of faith (see Mk 9:19). Even Jesus’
power to heal was limited where faith was absent (Mt. 13:58, Mk.
6:5,6). We, too, need to grow in faith, so that God may use us
more. *Sin. Some Corinthian Christians were ill – some had even
died prematurely – because of sinful attitudes and actions (1
Co. 11:29-32). Resentment, bitterness, failure to forgive – these
bad attitudes can cause sickness (it’s not what you eat, but what
eats you!). *Faulty praying – our prayers are either not specific,
or earnest, or our diagnosis is wrong (eg, should we be praying
for physical/inner/emotional healing, or healing of memories,
or deliverance from evil spirits?) *Ignoring other means to health
- medical help, exercise, correct diet and sleep, etc. *Now is
not the time – God may heal immediately, or later, or gradually,
or, apparently, not at all, at least on the physical level. (See
McNutt’s Healing, ch. 18, for other factors).

# Isn’t Healing more than physical? Certainly, and
on our journey towards wholeness, suffering and trouble can play
a significant part. Even if physical sickness is not relieved
we may still learn, with Paul, that God’s grace is sufficient
in our weakness (2 Co. 12). Sometimes God desires something more
than a healthy body – to be more like His Sin, Jesus, for example.

Charlie Shedd tells of a little boy who happened
to be present when a butterfly was struggling to be born out of
the chrysalis of a caterpillar. He watched with amazement as the
tiny creature pushed and pulled agonizingly to get out of the
resistant encasement and only after great effort was finally able
to break free and fly away. He was so touched by the awesomeness
of this struggle that he found another caterpillar and watched
very closely until he saw the first movements of the birth process.
At that moment he took his father’s razor blade and cut open the
chrysalis so that this butterfly would not have to struggle so
hard. To the child’s amazement the butterfly did not have strength
enough in its wings to fly away. What he didn’t realise was that
the struggle to get out of the chrysalis is precisely what develops
the strength called for in the next phase of its existence. Sometimes,
as Geddes MacGregor says, God is the "One who lets us be".
The pains – emotional, physical, spiritual – are the prelude to
a new birth of some kind. God’s not doing everything for us is
an expression of love, not indifference. With us, too, sometimes,
not to act is the essence of authentic caring, for to do otherwise
would be to infantise or pauperise the other person.

GOD CAN HEAL ANYONE OF ANYTHING – AT ANY TIME! He
wants to heal our anger and hatred, as well as our cancers and
ulcers. We ought to expect some miracles in the area of physical
healing, and also in our suffering spirits. The person who finds
it easier to be sick than to be well needs more than healing in
his or her body! (Probably most of our praying is too late!)

# And what about our church? Last year our pastoral
team looked at this and we felt that James 5:13-16 ought to be
re-emphasised among us. If you want special prayer, come to the
elders or pastors, and they’ll pray for you – privately or perhaps
sometimes deliberately in services of worship. Morton Kelsey says
that in early Christianity healing was considered as God’s ordinary
will. Today’s Christians often consider sickness to be God’s ordinary
will for them. The great shift took place between the 3rd and
5th centuries. We need more faith! But more than that – we need
more obedience, and less pride and prejudice. Often the problem
isn’t lack of faith, but failure to use the faith God’s already
given us. Jesus actually chided the disciples when they asked
for more faith (Lk 17:5). Small "mustard seed" faith
in Him as the object will begin to do wonders. We in our pride
will only commit ourselves to something we know will "work".
"But what if we pray and they’re not healed?" is the
kind of faithless question that stymies all our growth in this
area. OUR CALLING IS TO BE FAITHFUL AND OBEDIENT. IT’S GOD’S BUSINESS
WHETHER HE HEALS OR NOT! So let us step out of our safe boat and
walk to Him. The very name "Jesus" implies healing:
it means God saves or God heals. It is the nature of Jesus to
heal. Where Christ is present there is healing. The woman was
healed because in that moment she touched the principle of life
Himself. He’s still the same today!