INTRODUCTION
A young clergyman new to the ministry went to make his first pastoral visit to an elderly woman who was ill in the hospital. This woman had be laid up in bed for years and her health had suddenly taken a turn for the worst. After he had visited with her for a while he asked if she would like a prayer before he left “Yes,” she said, “and pastor would you pray for God to heal me. I want to walk again before I die.” The minister wasn’t quite sure what he believed about divine healing but to comfort the woman he prayed as she had asked him. When he had finished praying he looked up and was surprised to see the elderly woman throw back her blanket kick her legs off the side of the bed and stand up. Then with the biggest grin he had ever seen the woman began to dance around the room while yelling at the top of her lungs, “My pastor prayed for me and God healed me.” At the sound of all this commotion people began to pock their heads into the room to see what was going on. Nurses, doctors and patients showed up. Then phone calls were made and soon there were neighbors, children and grand kids all filling up the room with an overwhelming sense of excitement and joy. And the whole time this elderly woman continued to shout “My pastor prayed for me and God healed me.” “My pastor prayed for me and God healed me.” Eventually the young minister was able say his good-byes and slip out of the room. He made his way quietly back to his car, and once inside he just sat there taking it all in. Finally he looked up towards heaven and said to God, “Heavenly Father, please, don’t ever do that to me again!”
Divine Healing. A topic many of us enjoy talking about but few of us know anything about Where does divine healing fit in the ministry of the church? When and where are we to turn to divine healing rather than to standard medical care? Healing, how does it all work? But it’s one thing to talk about healing it’s another thing all together to experience that healing that comes from the very hand of God. And so for many of us it feels a whole lot safer to stay with the talk then to get too close to that divine power that we have no control over. For there is in God a deep and dazzling darkness.” An element of the unknown, the uncontrollable. A power that can either transform us or destroy us. So out of fear we keep our mouths shut about our brokenness. We draw back from the presence of God. We do not ask and so we do not receive. I sometimes wonder how many have never received divine healing simply because they never asked for it? This morning I am going to share with you my understanding of divine healing and then I’m going to give you the opportunity to ask God for the healing you need in you life. Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” And the apostle Paul said, “In Him all things hold together.” So if we are to talk about healing then we must talk about Jesus for it is through the Christ that God reached out His hand to heal a broken world. Jesus is the Alpha, He is the beginning to all healing For in the beginning through Jesus God created all things Then He created man and woman in His own image. Jesus Christ is the archetype, the original upon which we were formed. We were created to reflect the glory of God just as Jesus does. This is why Jesus is called both the Son of God and the Son of Man. For when we see Jesus we see God and at the same time we also see who we were created to be in the very beginning, children of God. But when sin broke into the world our relationship with God was cut off. Like a mirror that has been shattered. In that terrible moment we ceased reflecting the image of our creator. So God sent Jesus into the world to redeem us from the power of sin and to restore us back to the glory in which we were first created. Restoration is an on going process begun on the cross where the price for our sin filled lives was paid for once and for all.
Restoration then finds it’s conclusion in the Christ for Jesus is also the Omega. He is the end of our journey towards restoration. Our restoration will find it’s completion when in the end we see Jesus face to face. In that moment we will be transformed to be like the Christ. This is why the ultimate act of healing is the resurrection from the dead. At that final moment the old shall end and the new shall begin. All our tears shall be wiped away and we shall receive our eternal bodies. This journey of restoration is carried out through the power of the Holy Spirit by which God transforms us day by day -- little by little into the image of Christ. Jesus is the Alpha and he is the Omega, the beginning and the end of our journey towards restoration. And in the between time the Spirit of Christ poured out into our hearts is God’s down payment to us until that final day when we are all completely restored once and for all. The Spirit of the Christ which we have received in the here and now is only a foretaste of what is yet to come. And the power of God’s Spirit that we experience here on earth is but the smallest of the smallest expression of what is still to come. But if this is so, then why does God heal in the here and now? Why doesn’t He just wait until the day of the resurrection? I mean, if no matter how much we are healed we must still face the grave, we must all still die, then why doesn’t God just wait and get it all over at the end all at once? What is God’s purpose for divine healing on this side of the grave?
Rev. Eric Sellgren tells the story of how one day he was out visiting people in a new parish when he called on three people who were in need. Two sisters and a brother living together in the same house. Roger, who was 79, was suffering from acute asthma. Zelma, who was 80, couldn’t walk very well because of a huge ulcer on her leg. Bunny at 81 was nearly blind. Touched by what he saw he continued to visited them on a regularly basis until one day when Roger asked him "Vicar we really enjoy you coming to see us. but do you mind if I ask, Why do you come? Its not as if we go to Church, none of us has since we were teenagers. You knew that, but you still come. WHY?" He replied, "Well, Roger, you see, when I first met you I saw that all three of you were in great need. I wanted to help but didn’t know how. But Jesus gave me a great love for you - so I did the only thing I could think of - I came to visit you". Roger said, "What do you mean, `Jesus gave you a great love for us`. He died a long time ago". Rev. Sellgren says, So I told him that Jesus was alive, and can come and live in us, to help us to LOVE PEOPLE". His eyes opened wide in surprise. He called sisters and said "Listen to this" and so I told them all about this Living Lord who loved them. At the end of that visit, one of the most thrilling things that can ever happen, happened with those three old people. Each of them prayed and asked Jesus to come and live in them AND HE DID.
Beloved of God, the greatest act of healing any of us can experience is the restoration of our faith in God. "For without faith it is impossible to please God, For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." This is why healing is a ministry of the church not simple an event we experience on our own. For when healing takes place all who are involved find their faith in God strengthened and their hope restored. Roger, Zelma and Bunny began to read the Bible. They wanted to go to Church, but they couldn’t the front door steps were far too steep for them to manage so Church members began coming to their home weekly to study the Bible and pray with them. As they all studied together, Zelma particularly got more and more excited about PRAYER. She began to see that God answers prayer - so she prayed. And when Zelma prayed for people, they were healed! Zelma, who for years could hardly walk, shut off from the community around her began to pray for people she didn’t know that they might be healed and they were!
Do you, like Zelma, have the faith to pray for your needs and the needs of others? Do you have the courage to ask God for healing? Jesus asked the man at the pool of Bethesda do you want to be healed? Then come all you who are weary and in need of healing. Come to Jesus the Alpha and the Omega. Call on Him to pour out His power upon you and you will be restored, you and your church with you. For as King Alfred said, "To see Thee is the End and the Beginning. Thou carriest me and thou goest before. Thou art the Journey and the Journey’s End."