Feb 16, 2020

JRCC

• The Life of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark
• “Healing and the God of Shalom”

Text: Mark 2:1-12 (Parallels: Matthew 9:1-7, Luke 5:17-26)

• Focus: The Shalom of Jesus heals beyond our modern human construct of healing.
• The Background of Healing
• The Christian Church has always been in the “business of healing.”

• Where does your mind go … what do you feel inside when I make that statement?
• The Christian Church is the “business of healing.”
  • Today we’re going to talk about healing, and I want to begin by acknowledging and giving space for our different experiences and thoughts towards illness, healing and Christianity:
• For some, when we hear this topic, it triggers very difficult thoughts and emotions … abuse of power, fraud, prayers unanswered or answered with a no, doubt, suffering, anger, unfair, death…
• For some, it may not trigger anything … perhaps you haven’t had to experience life-altering illness.
• For some, it triggers thoughts of thankfulness, hope or greater expectations/faith … your experience may be a cancer-free verdict, a successful surgery, pregnancy and birth, perhaps even death & resuscitation…
  • Can we take a moment and internally name the thoughts and emotions that you have when we link personal words like pain, unfair, suffering, chronic, death with … cured, God, faith, prayer, healing.
• I’m not asking you to engage or resolve what you are thinking and feeling … just acknowledge what’s there…
• And if you want, when you are ready, you can ask God to hold that for you.
  • Can I pray for us as we enter into the teaching time together?
  • Father God, we admit that nothing is more personal than our own well-being or the well-being of those we love. In our ongoing state of sin & forgiveness, we are broken and being redeemed, healed by you Jesus, all at the same time. We live in this tension, and it affects our relationship with You, our Creator. Holy Spirit, would you tend to us as we open the Good News and see the healing of a paralyzed man. Lead our minds to truth, hold our bodies with grace, and give peace to our souls. Amen.
  • From the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, he healed people.
• Between the incarnation and the resurrection, Jesus healed those whose being had been damaged, or reduced, by loss of sight, failure of limbs, disease, chemical imbalance…
• He healed those excluded by community due to incurable sickness – lepers, the demon-possessed, the spiritually afflicted, the emotionally distraught, the chronically ill…
• He even healed the dead.
  • For Jesus, healing took precedence over Sabbath Law, which was a radical shift – it was the kind of shift labeled as heresy.
• And this wasn’t just “mission drift” in need of correction … Jesus wasn’t distracted/surprised by all the health needs.
• Healing people wasn’t an audible to his real purpose for coming to earth in human form.
• In fact, salvation, which is what John 3:16 says was Jesus’ purpose for coming to earth… for Jesus, salvation and healing are intrinsically intertwined.
• And that’s precisely why throughout our history, the Church has been in the healing industry:
  • The Church established the first asylums and hospices.
    • The 1^st ecumenical council (Nicaea 325) called for a hospice in every city with a cathedral.
  • Hospitals, as the world’s first voluntary charitable institutions offering care & good news to the sick and dying, were widely established by the 6^th century by the Eastern Orthodox & Western Catholic Churches.
    • As a direct result of Jesus’ ministry and that of the early Church over the centuries, we now live in a society that is the most medically advanced in the history of humanity.
  • Yes, a shift has predominantly moved the field of healing from Religious institutions to those of Science & Medicine…
  • Nevertheless, our life expectancy is at an all-time high … and not only longevity, but quality of life as well.
  • We live in a time where we expect that anything is curable if we raise enough money, produce enough research, think the right thoughts, pray the right way, have enough faith…
    • And over time, we as society and Church have drifted from the foundation set by Jesus, and we’re missing the mark in our expectations, understanding, practice of healing.
  • We have shifted focus from the person to the condition… …from wholeness to the absence of illness…
    • …from healing to cure … and there is a difference.
  • As a medical student (Vongai Madanire) in London put it,
    • “People can be cured without being necessarily healed. Equally, not everyone who is healed is physically cured.”
    • Jesus Heals
    • Turn with me in your Bibles/devices to the Good News of Mark 2.

2 When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. ² Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, ³ four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. ⁴ They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. ⁵ Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶ But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, ⁷ “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”

⁸ Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? ⁹ Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? ¹⁰ So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, ¹¹ “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”

¹² And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!”

• In the healing accounts of the Gospels, you will often discover a seemingly incongruent or at least confusing pattern between “obvious need” and “Jesus’ initial response”.

• It happens with a bleeding woman who touches Jesus’ robe.
• It happens with a blind man named Bartimaeus.
• It happens with a lame man outside the pool of Bethesda.
  • All in obvious/desperate need of physical healing and Jesus shockingly doesn’t engage at that place.
  • In Mark 2, a group of friends have one thing in mind, and go to extreme lengths to get their friend in front of Jesus.
  • The 5 of them are desperate for a “healing”.
  • They carry their friend on a stretcher to a roof, dismantle the mud/thatch roof, and lower him between the timbers…
  • No one inside says anything or goes outside to investigate…
  • Jesus knew what was happening outside, but we have no record that he changed what he was doing to make things easier for these men and their paralyzed friend.
  • Nevertheless, they get him in front of Jesus and vs. 5 says, “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ‘My child, your sins are forgiven.’”
    • Did you catch that!
  • It’s the same thing when a blind man approaches Jesus, and Jesus asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
  • What do you mean, Jesus? The guy is blind … he wants to see!
  • Mark 2, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”
  • Great Jesus, but that’s not what this is all about!
  • These men didn’t just go through all this effort and prayer to get forgiveness.
  • “Jesus, in case you missed it, the need here is for physical healing … a cure so he can walk is what we need.”
    • Thankfully, the Pharisees speak up!
  • Unfortunately, they don’t care if this man is healed…
  • The Pharisees take issue with Jesus forgiving his sins.
    • That could only be done within the confines of the Temple … which, by the way, the paralyzed man was not allowed to enter because of his infirmity.
  • According to Jewish Law, the Pharisees are rightfully questioning who Jesus thinks he is! Only God can forgive sins and that happens via Covenant Law & sacrifice in the Temple.”
    • So Jesus engages the paralyzed man and the Pharisees, to reveal who He is and what the Kingdom of God is like:
  • First, Jesus is the Son of God!
    • He does have the authority to forgive sins and he is beginning to put a new Covenant in place.
    • And for the sake of the unbelieving, he proves it:
      • “Why do you question this in your hearts?⁹ Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’?¹⁰ So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, ¹¹ “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” ¹² And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers.
    • And in that instance, the Kingdom of God is also revealed for anyone in need of healing.
      • Healing in the Kingdom of God is very different from our human constructs of healing.
        • ⁵ Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”
      • Why in other encounters where physical healing/cure is so obviously needed, does Jesus start with questions like,
        • “What do you want me to do for you?”
        • “Who touched me in this crowd and snuck some of my healing power?”
      • Jesus, why are you calling her out, hasn’t she been ostracized enough because of her constant bleeding.
    • With people continuously being brought to him in need of obvious healing, wouldn’t it have been better if Jesus set up a system where people could come through on an assembly line, touch him, be healed, and go on their merry way?
    • I know from my own experiences, when my body needs healing, I want the process to be quick, painless and convenient.
      • “Hello, can the doctor see me today?”
      • “Doctor, you’ve had 10 minutes, what’s wrong with me?”
      • “Oh, it’s “x”? Do I have to take medication, do I need therapy or surgery, who do I see next and how long until I am back to normal?
      • “Okay, elders, this is what the doctor says, please pray for me … lay on hands, anoint with oil, use the right words and tone, let’s get me back to normal.”
    • My goal is that God will heal me, either miraculously or via a cure from the doctors … I’ll take either one!
    • In Mark 2, the doctors couldn’t cure the paralyzed man.
      • Jesus Offers Shalom
      • “My child, what would you like me to do for you?”
      • “My child, your sins are forgiven.”
    • “I thought you’d cure me of my depression, remove the cancer in my body, restore my sight, heal my concussion, remove my addiction, free me from autism, Parkinson, trauma of abuse…
      • “My child, your sins are forgiven.”
    • “Wait! Jesus, are you missing the point…
    • “Wait! Jesus, am I missing the point?”
    • “Jesus, is there something I can’t see because of the struggle/pain I’m in?
    • “Are you saying there’s more for me? Who are you Jesus?”
      • John Swinton, practical theologian, says that there is no word in the Bible for “healing” the way we mean healing today.
    • He states that the closest the Bible comes to our word/meaning for healing is actually, Shalom.
    • Now, much like we have reduced the word for healing to a physical cure or absence of illness…
    • We have reduced the word, Shalom, to peace or the absence of conflict.
    • But Shalom in the Bible actually means wholeness or completeness.
      • It’s often used as a greeting to describe a hope for the well-being of a person or a community … which would include peace, physical health, and more.
    • An English/western equivalent greeting might be something like, “Hi, I hope everything is alright in your life.”
      • Shalom, is never just about the absence of conflict … it’s always about a complete sense of well-being:
    • Good physical health, emotional well-being, healthy relationships and most of all the fullness of being in relationship/connected with God.
  • Ultimately, Shalom is the intended/future/eternal state of wholeness and well-being of life in community with God.
    • Revelation 21 - freedom from sin, illness, disease, conflict and all of the suffering and consequences that go with our current human condition.
    • And in the Gospel stories, like the one we have today in Mark 2, Jesus is breaking through with this profound truth.
    • The man comes seeking healing/cure, he wants to walk again, and Jesus provides Shalom!
    • Jesus enters deeper into this man’s suffering…
    • …where physical healing is pleaded for, Jesus says there is more … “let me lead you into something even greater?!”
      • “I, Jesus, am the one who saves from all human conditions of sin, suffering, illness, disease, creation abuse, conflict and war – anything that is destroying or disrupting the Shalom in which God intends for you to live, I, Jesus can heal.”
        • Friends I confess how hard it is for me to take my eyes off of my own pain/suffering, but in God’s grand narrative, healing through Jesus, the Son of God, is always focused on intimate, whole relationship with our Creator God…
      • And sometimes that involves a removal of something that is physically ailing or attacking us in order to more fully facilitate that … and sometimes it does not.
      • I can’t tell you why that is … God alone knows those reasons.
      • But what I can tell you is that in either scenario (physical healing or not), my wholeness before God is not dependent on what happens to my physical body or circumstances.
      • Why? Because my physical body and environment are not yet fully changed into what God intends/promises for eternity.
      • He’s working in the temporal, preparing me for the eternal.
      • Human healing/cure are always limited by a finite beginning and end… they are for a moment… God is doing something greater.
      • Mark Greenberg, renowned Canadian paediatric oncologist, says it this way, “Cure is defined by a beginning and an end. Healing, no matter the outcome (i.e. survival, survival with scars, or even death), is defined as a broader construct that includes a person, relationships, community. The impact of healing will reverberate over time and even over generations.”
      • Jesus’ healing always involves a movement towards … the created towards the Creator … the not yet towards eternity … the unclear towards perfect clarity.
      • In other words, you can be cured without being healed, but Jesus’ intent is to always offer you healing/Shalom.
        • Conclusion
        • Five months before he died of intestinal cancer, leaving behind his wife and 3 yr. old daughter, Dr. Chua How Chuang (Regent College Alumni) wrote in his blog…

Oct 5, 2014 | Reflections

Few people are more influential than Joni Eareckson Tada in their ministry to the disabled. Joni is herself confined to a wheelchair as a result of a diving accident that happened more than 50 years ago when she was a teenager. Despite her deep faith in God, Joni was never cured of her disability. Once at a public meeting, the leader introduced Joni with these words before she spoke, “I doubt there is anyone among us here who is healthier and more whole than Joni.”

The unexpected introduction caused some stir among the audience, and indeed subverted our normal, oft-unquestioned understanding of health and healing. No one was more whole than the “disabled” one.

• At the beginning of our time together, I asked you to surface and identify the thoughts & emotions within you regarding suffering and healing … and I invited you to ask God to hold them for you.

• As the worship team comes, I encourage you to revisit those pieces of you that God has been so carefully holding.
• God would rather not have you take those back and stuff them where they previously lived.
• Instead, his desire for you this morning is his Shalom – healing, wholeness.
• The invitation is to discover what the Shalom of Jesus means for you personally, for your family, for our church.
• We are invited to tell Jesus what we need and enter into a life-long intimate conversation that leads to our salvation and healing.

• As we sing, talk to Jesus and if you would like someone to be with you in this conversation, our prayer team is making their way to the back to be with you.

• Sending & Chairs
• Friends, know that God’s promises are true!

• The words of Revelation 21 are our eternal reality…

Revelation 21,

³ “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” ⁵ And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!”

• And for now, God’s promise of Shalom in Philippians 4 is also true…

Philippians 4,

⁶ Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ Then you will experience God’s [shalom], which exceeds anything we can understand. His [shalom] will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Shalom!