Thursday, January 15, 2015

Thursday, January 8, 2015

JOHN 4: 46-54

Jesus heals wherever he goes. The gospels record him touching hundreds and perhaps even thousands of people in various settings. It is no wonder that the crowds lined up to see him. I’m sure some in those crowds wanted to hear him speak of the Kingdom of Heaven, but there is no doubt many more were there to have their various illnesses and afflictions healed. In this story, “a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum” comes to Jesus begging him to come and heal the boy. Jesus’ reaction is very telling.

“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.”

Jesus does not go to heal the boy but promises that the boy is well. As the story unfolds, the official finds out that the boy was made well at the exact moment the official was speaking to Jesus. John’s implication is that Jesus healed the boy from a distance simply by thinking about him. Jesus deliberately does not go. He makes no show of healing here. There is no spittle and mud placed on the eyes. He does not place his hands on the boy. There is no “event” that people could point to as a “sign” or a “wonder”. There is only the healing and the option to “believe”.

I look to motives in all Jesus’ healing stories. What he says and what he does in these very personal and visceral encounters always points to the wholeness of creation that he seeks to mend. The individual illness or disease is merely part of the brokenness of the world that Jesus’ love restores. He is, by extension expressing the love of God, the Creator, whose desire is to make the world whole. In this story, the result was that the official and ALL his household believed.

I find this story of healing to be in severe contrast to the ‘miracle healings’ I have seen in our own time. Mostly, they occur on television, accompanied by much showmanship and fanfare. There is music, lighting and all the trappings of a theatrical event. There is an ever-present preacher/healer who calls upon the Lord with a very loud voice, augmented with a body microphone, to come down and heal this or that cripple. Foreheads are pushed. Crutches are thrown away. And people begin to walk. The audience/congregation gasps that a “miracle” has occurred. The healer invariably gives the GLORY to God, but always seems very happy with the applause he or she receives from the vast audience. And money flows in to their ministry.

This kind of healing may be real, or may be a staged event. I have no way of knowing. What I do know is that it is far removed from the way Jesus healed and even farther removed from the reasons he healed. Such healing events seem to be more about supporting and extending the vast expensive ministries these folks have built up and now must maintain. I find it telling that a moment of healing such as I see on TV is followed by only a brief few minutes of thankful ‘prayer’ before the TV cuts away to a very long commercial to sell the latest DVD by the same preacher/healer.

If Jesus’ eye was on mending the wholeness of Creation, one person at a time, using the skills God gave him, and I call myself a follower of Jesus, then I too am tasked with the same mandate. I must use the skills God has given me to mend Creation in my own small corner of the world.

- Peter Mansell Epiphany, 2014