Jesus Heals And Forgives Series

By Rev Bill Stewart

What sorts of things can you now claim on your health insurance that you couldn’t 20 years ago? Pilates classes, yoga, naturopathy. You can even buy a new pair of running shoes because you might just run around the park once or twice! Aren’t these things a sign that are our society has been changing its mind about what it means to be healthy and what healing involves? Over the last 20 years or so we have seen the development of the “holistic health” movement. That is to say many medical practitioners now believe that all aspects of people's needs, psychological, physical and social need to be part of their medical care. But the idea of holistic health is not just restricted to medicine is it? Many alternative forms of non-Christian religion and spirituality are now part of many people's health care—the Mind Body Spirit movement. I would like us to do two things together today. The first is to look at Jesus’ healing of the paralyzed man in Mark chapter 2. The second is to ask these questions: What does it mean to be a “healthy” person? What does it mean to be healed? How does Jesus healing of the paralyzed man influence our Christian understanding of healing? Then I want to tell you about something Gus said. If you don’t know Gus I will tell who he is and what he said at the end of the sermon.

Someone has worked out that at least a quarter of the four Gospels are about Jesus’ healing people. Obviously healing was a very important part of Jesus’ ministry. And throughout his ministry people looked to Jesus to heal them. Today we heard the unforgettable story of the four people who bring their friend to Jesus to be healed of his paralysis. Many of us probably remember it from Sunday School. They were so desperate to get him to Jesus that they dug a hole through the roof. Are we that desperate to bring people we know to meet Jesus?

1. HEALING AND SALVATION

The Gospel reading says in verse 5 that, “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Child, your sins are forgiven’.” Why doesn’t Jesus say to the man: “Your body is healed”? Why does he say: “Child, your sins are forgiven”? It seems to me that it is because healing and salvation are not divided in the Bible the way we divide them. In the Bible a person cannot be properly healed unless their relationship with God has been healed. This does not mean that physical healing doesn’t matter. Physical healing does matter. Jesus heals the physical problem of the paralysed man. But just because we are physically healthy does not mean we don’t need to be healed. In the Bible to be completely well we also need to be at peace with God. Many times in Mark’s Gospel we see that Jesus heals people physically and spiritually. Another very good example of this comes in chapter 5. Jesus heals the woman who touched his coat to be healed from the bleeding she had suffered for 12 years. What did Jesus say when he realized that the woman touched him? “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your disease” (verse 34).

2. HEALING AND GOD

The result of her healing is that she is healed from her disease and at peace with God. Of course this does not mean that because God forgives our sins he will heal all our physical or psychological problems. Both spiritual evil or sin and physical evil like disease will only be wiped away when we are with Jesus in his kingdom. We see that in the book of Revelation. Not all cases of sickness in the early church were healed. In fact both Paul and Timothy had to live with physical problems.

If we go back to today’s reading, verses 6-7 say that, “Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ‘Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’” Of course the religious leaders understood that people need spiritual healing. And they knew that only God can heal people spiritually. And that is why they had a problem with Jesus.

3. HEALING AND JESUS (THE SON OF MAN)

So Jesus said to them in verses 8-9, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk?’” What’s Jesus saying here? I think he is saying this: I can’t heal this man unless God is with me. But God is going to heal this man when I say he is healed. So you can believe that God also forgives this man when I say he is forgiven. In verses 10-12 Jesus tells them, “‘But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he said to the paralytic—‘I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.’ And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them.” Did you hear what the reason for the healing of the man was? So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. The healing is a sign that God really is at work in Jesus. Jesus makes this point many times in Gospels. For example, in Luke chapter 11, Jesus says: “If it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you” (verse 20).