Jesus’ Healing Ministry  Mark 7: 31-37; 8: 22-26        Patricia Ramsden

 

 

    This morning, we are doing a special service of prayer for healing.  In a little while, you will have the opportunity to come forward in the privacy of the communion table to share your concerns for yourself or for those you love, and we will pray for healing --- for the healing of the body, for the healing of the spirit, for the healing of the mind.  We will pray for relationships and marriages, for grief and for addictions.  We will pray for people to be made whole again.  No one will know the requests;  no one will hear the prayers, but you and me and God.  

    Why are we doing this?  We’re doing it because God hears our prayers, and we’re doing it because there is power in praying together.  

    But is this the only way?  Is this the only way God will hear us --- the only way God will heal us?  Is this the magic formula, the secret recipe that will make ourselves and the people we love whole and well again? 

No.  It is not. 

     I only wish it were that simple.  I wish it were that easy.  

    While I believe in the power of prayer, I also believe it is a mystery how God heals.  I believe God uses medicines, surgery, doctors and sometimes even death as the ultimate healing.  

 

    I was watching a tv faith healer once,  more out of curiosity than anything else, when he said that only those of great faith can be healed by God; so if nothing happens in his healing services the fault is never with him, the fault is always with the petitioner ---- his or her faith was simply not great enough, not strong enough in order to be healed.  

    And then right after his shows, I saw yet another tv service that starred this gut wrenching testimony by a young, successful couple who had always proclaimed themselves to be hard core atheists --- that is until their daughter was healed of cancer by the prayers of that congregation.  They talked about how God used that miracle of healing to turn their lives around and make them powerful witnesses for Jesus Christ.  And the message was subtle but clear  --- your chances for a miracle are better if you’ve never believed before, because then God will use your healing to bring you – and others – to faith.  

    One teaching will insist you pray once and only once for healing, because to do more than that is proof that you don’t really believe God will heal you, and so God won’t.   And the next one will say, “No.  That’s all wrong.  You must storm the gates of heaven and pray without ceasing.”  

    One will insist that the responsibility lies with the sick,  while another will say its the community of faith that makes a difference and that the entire church must be united in prayer.  

    Some will say it’s the power and the faith of the preacher, who God has anointed to be a healer; and others will say it’s not that at all but the holy anointing with oil and the laying on of hands that does the trick,   and still others will say no it’s the formula of prayer you use that really does the work. 

    And all of them, without exception, have scripture to back them up.  All of them, without exception, have beautiful, tear-jerking stories that prove the truth of what they are saying.  And all of them, without exception, make me feel incredibly guilty and inadequate, because in the end I’m left saying “Maybe it’s my fault.  Maybe I haven’t prayed long enough, hard enough, or maybe I haven’t used the right words.  Maybe I should have tried a different doctor or a different treatment, or maybe I shouldn’t have tried  the ones I did.  Maybe I don’t have enough faith.  Maybe I don’t go to the right church.  Maybe …..Maybe…Maybe.” 

    In my mind this is the greatest fault in the healing ministries we find in churches today.  Healing has ceased to be a miracle in the hands of God and it has become something we are in charge of, something we can control by our secret formulas and prayer is the way we manipulate God into doing things our way on our terms in our personal time frames. 

    But it doesn’t work like that.  Healing is a mystery.  How prayer works in healing is a mystery.  We don’t, we can’t control how God works. 

    You see Jesus did not heal in just one way.  Scripture shows us in story after story different ways that Jesus healed.  He healed through touch, the laying on of hands, the spoken word, the faith of the one in need.  He healed the believer and the unbeliever.  He even healed through his spit.  Sometimes the healing came suddenly.  Some times gradually.  Jesus meets the person’s need in the way they need it.  

    Today, I believe that Jesus still heals.  I believe he heals through the power of modern medicine, through the skill of doctors and nurses and medical teams.  I believe he heals through the power of faith we have in the possibility of healing.  I believe He heals through our faith in Him and through faithful prayer.  

    There doesn’t seem to be one way --- one RIGHT way – to approach God for healing.  So what does that mean for us?  

    It means several things.  One is that our God does have the power to heal in miraculous ways, to break in to the laws of nature and suddenly make the blind see, the lame walk.  But when that happens what we are witnessing is a miracle --- something outside the norm --- and so it is not what we should expect each and every time we pray.  We need to be open to a miracle, but we shouldn’t feel that somehow our prayers have failed if a miracle isn’t what happens.  For while I believe miracles are possible, by their very nature they are not probable.  

    The truth is, healing is most often a journey, a process that uses our faith, our prayers, our doctors, our nurses, our medicines, our surgeries, and the touch of God.  Each and every part has an important role to play in healing.  More and more our scientific research is showing the important role of faith and prayer in speeding healing, in allowing healing, which goes beyond the efficacy of modern medicine and amazes the medical experts.  

    But rely on prayer and faith alone?  I don’t think so.  We should never allow our faith in prayer – our faith in God -- to ever limit the ways God chooses to heal us.  

    So we should come to the throne of God in prayer, asking for His strength and His wisdom, asking for His courage and His love, asking for His healing power.  But then we must be open to whatever way He may choose to heal.  He may choose to change  our attitudes and our behaviors.  He may choose to use medicines and surgeries.  He may choose painful therapy or not so simple acceptance.  And yes, He may choose miracles that may not be dramatic, but miracles nonetheless

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    If you desire a word of private prayer this morning for yourself or for a loved one, for the mending of relationships or the healing of the past, for physical or mental illness, for a battle against addiction, for courage to face tomorrow, please come forward and we will pray together for courage, for strength, for wisdom in your private situation and that may mean a healing we may never see on this side of eternity in the way we want, the way we pray for.  Or it may mean the courage to deal with your situation with wisdom and love.  Don’t expect to throw away your proverbial crutches but expect for you to have the love to meet your situation and have God participate in whatever healing will look like for you on your journey.  Come as we take time for private prayer.