“Stretch Out Your Hand”
Christian Healing - Part 1
Text:
Thesis:
Mark 1:40-45
Jesus is still willing to heal but we need to be willing to be Jesus’ hands of
healing.
Pastor Fred Anderson remembers a time early in his ministry when he visited a
neighbor in the hospital. Chris was a young mother who discovered she had ovarian
cancer. Chris was not a parishioner – she described herself as "a lapsed Roman
Catholic." Anderson also knew her through the community mental health center
where he served on the board – she was a psychiatric nurse. Chris had just come
through her first surgery. The doctor announced that he had done all that he could
do. Short of a dramatic miracle, she had very little time left. And he exited.
Fred entered the room and stood at the foot of her bed, wondering what to say. Her
first words were, "Fred, I’m terminal." Now he really didn’t know what to say so he
stammered, "Chris, we are all terminal." She replied, "Yes Fred, but I’m more
terminal than you. Will you anoint me for healing?" Now, this was 1976 and
Presbyterians had not yet begun to embrace the promise of God’s healing power in
our liturgical and pastoral life. So Fred said he’d have to think about it.
Anderson visited an older, much more experienced pastor to ask for advice. "Can I,
with any integrity," he asked, "pray for healing for Chris?" This wise pastor looked at
him with a seriousness that told him to listen carefully. "Fred," he said, "God always
heals. God always answers our prayers for healing. Sometimes it is a recovery so
dramatic and marvelous that we call it what all healing is, a miracle, and the person
returns to live more days, months or years. But at other times, God’s gift of healing is
so complete and so profound that they are no longer equipped to live in this world.
They have been given a greater miracle still, the gift of resurrection, new and eternal
life." Fred anointed Chris the next day. [from sermon, “Does God Heal?” Fred R.
Anderson, 2003]
Many Presbyterians, and other mainline Protestant churches still aren’t certain what to
do with healing prayer. What do you believe about healing prayer? What is the
church’s role in healing? Specifically, what is our call here at AUPC with regard to
healing prayer? So, this Lent we’re going to explore Christian healing and healing
prayer. This morning I want to raise 2 questions.
The first question is directed to Jesus – are you willing to heal? Our gospel reading
tells us that a leper confronted Jesus, kneeling before him and saying, "If you are
willing, you can make me clean." The disciples with Jesus and probably a few others
around him fell silent. What would Jesus do? Surely he’d never touch that...that
leper. In his previous healing moments, Jesus did touch those who were sick. But
would he risk touching a leper?
The leper was also taking a risk. Under the law he was not supposed to be near
others (Leviticus 13:46). He was probably wearing a bell to warn others that he was
in the area so they could keep clear. Lepers were among the untouchables. By
coming to Jesus, this man was risking stern rebuke on the part of the bystanders.
They might even take violent action against him because they were so afraid of this
disease. The leper also risked disappointment. In the first century, leprosy was a
persistent and incurable skin disease that disfigured a person. Their rotting flesh
caused them to stink to high heaven. Once you had it, you had it for a lifetime.
There was no help or cure.
Jesus had a reputation as a healer but leprosy? But the man is desperate. He was
willing to risk all of this and threw himself on the mercy of Jesus. His faith is
expressed in his words, "If you choose, you can make me clean." He was convinced
that Jesus could restore him physically, spiritually, and socially.
Jesus took the risk. With compassion, his first response to the leper's request was to
stretch out his hand and touch him. Then Jesus said to him, "I do choose. Be made
clean." He knew what he was doing was risky. But Jesus never gave it a second
thought because human need took priority over everything else: his own health and
well-being; his status in the eyes of others; even the demands of the law. Jesus was
willing to heal – even a man with leprosy.
The important words for us today are Jesus' words "I will." By this reply Jesus shows
us that he can in fact heal even the most dreaded diseases – leprosy, cancer, AIDS.
These words "I will" are words of grace and hope to the leper, but also good news to
us. God wills healing. God is on the side of the healers. And we need to remember
that Jesus never turned anyone away.
The second question comes to us as the church – are we willing to heal? Early on
there is no doubt the answer would be a resounding yes! Jesus sent the disciples out
in pairs to cast out demons and heal before his death and resurrection. After
Pentecost, the apostles and disciples carried out this ministry in the power of the Holy
Spirit. Even as late as the 3rd century, long after the apostles were gone, long after
the New Testament was written, an influential Christian thinker named Origen wrote,
“the name of Jesus can still remove distractions from the minds of men, and expel
demons, and also take away diseases.” [Norberg & Webber, Stretch Out Your Hand,
p. 18]
But beginning in the Middle Ages, the Western church saw a decline in healing prayer.
Christian thinking became more Roman and less Hebrew. The soul and body
became separated with the soul the container of good and the body the container of
evil. Healing was discouraged. Suffering purified the believer. And death liberated
the soul from the body.
Secondly, rational thinking took over in the church. Thomas Aquinas was the premier
theologian in the 1200's. His massive work, Summa Theologica, did not allow for
Christian healing or even the spiritual gifts of Paul. The interesting story about
Thomas is that toward the end of his life, he had a vision that had him stop writing the
Summa – he discovered he was wrong about the spiritual side of faith. But his
thinking persisted as the Enlightenment began to take over all thinking, religious and
secular.
While the official church – Roman Catholic and Protestant – may have discouraged
spiritual healing, ordinary believers have always sought such healing. People turned
to special oils, prayers to saints, relics, sacred shrines, and individuals with the gift of
healing. And, there have always been Christians who appeared to have the spiritual
gift of healing. Among Roman Catholics – St. Francis Xavier and St. Vincent DePaul
and more recently Francis MacNutt. Among Protestants – George Fox and John
Wesley and more recently Kathryn Kuhlman and Oral Roberts. Unfortunately, the
excesses of individuals like Oral Roberts and the questionable reliability of TV faith
healers can make us skeptical. “Put your hands on the TV set and be healed” turns
off most of us. But Kathryn Kuhlman had an active ministry. My grandfather followed
her on TV and I think he attended one of her services in Pittsburgh. First PC in
Pittsburgh helped sponsor at least one of her “healing crusades.”
So what is our response as the church to healing prayer today – are we willing to
heal? The Rationalistic side will say, we don’t need signs and wonders like
miraculous healing any more – we have faith. Or, we don’t need healing prayer, we
have the medical sciences. And some will say, the Biblical miracles were not real –
they were only a primitive way of expressing reality. Those who may accept the
possibility of the spiritual gift of healing will say it’s a rare thing not found in the
ordinary church. I must admit, I have yet to use a spiritual gifts inventory in the
churches I’ve served and find someone with a true gift of healing. But I know of
Christians with this gift.
Even without the special spiritual gift, the ordinary church is called to pray for healing.
The letter of James is to an ordinary church. Those who are sick are to call for the
elders to pray, anointing with oil, and laying on hands. This ministry is ours as well.
Fortunately, more and more congregations are accepting this aspect of ministry.
Individuals are more open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in their lives. We don’t
need to reject healing prayer if we use all the medical resources that are available.
Even medical science recognizes the positive effects of prayer on healing. It’s not
either/or – it both/and.
Jesus is willing to heal – are we willing to pray? Jesus told the disciples that we
would be the ones to do greater things than he did. (John 14:12) Francis MacNutt
writes in his book, Healing – “For me, most of the battle in learning to pray for healing
was simply accepting that God would answer my prayers for physical needs in a
human, physical way. But he does! God treats us as human beings with wounded,
hurting bodies, and not just as disembodied spirits.” [p. 26] Throughout this book,
MacNutt describes amazing stories of healing – Katherine’s healing of a bladder
hernia without the surgery the gynecologist insisted she needed; Barbara’s healing
from agonizing back and leg pain after 12 years including 8 surgeries, 11 injections,
and 12 nerve blocks. But then he reminds us, “You will notice that the physical
healing is not an end in itself but leads to a more intense personal relationship with
God. We do not seek healing so much as we seek the Healer.” [pp. 27-28]
None of us is going to be Jesus, but we are all called to be like Jesus, in all respects.
Jesus healed the sick with the power that he received through his relationship with the
Creator, through quiet and through prayer. So maybe the secret of healing is to be
like him. We spend time with God in quiet and prayer. We seek to come as close to
God as we can come. And God will bring healing to us and through us to others.
One of my favorite stories is about a statue of Jesus in a church in Europe that was hit
by a bomb during World War II. As they cleared away the rubble they found the
statue. It was undamaged except for the hands that had been broken off. They
hired a sculptor to replace the hands. But, finally, they decided to leave it like it was.
It was a reminder to the people that Christ has no hands but ours to do his work.
"Jesus stretched out his hands and touched him." Amen