Healing that Costs
Jesus in Isaiah, part 4
Wildwind Community Church
David Flowers
December 31, 2006
In late October a former student of mine – Malorie Ward, age 20 – was involved in a terrible car accident when a horse walked out onto the road where she was riding as a passenger in a vehicle. The driver hit the horse, and the horse’s head came through the front window, shattering much of Malorie’s face, nearly severing the optic nerve in one eye, and causing head injuries and complications with her hearing. As I speak to you today, several months post-accident, Malorie is packing to go on a trip to Israel with her class at Greenville College. Healing has taken place. But we’re talking two months here, folks.
Healing. Healing. What happens in you when you hear the word healing? Healing is a word that has been politicized. Pretty soon we’ll be hearing in the media about healing that needs to happen between Rosie O’Donnell and Donald Trump. After Michael Richards lost his mind and verbally assaulted those two men at the comedy club, we heard about the importance of healing. When Mel Gibson spewed sick racial slurs last July against cops who were doing their jobs, Mel and his publicist spoke about the need for “healing.”
I’m not asserting that some kind of healing didn’t need to happen in these cases, but in all three of these cases we are dealing with wounds that were suffered by one party simply because of words used by the other party. And in all these cases we say “healing” needs to happen, rather than saying that people just need to get on with their lives. In 21st century America, we need to heal from the abuse that has been done to the word “healing.” It has been assaulted, minimized, and de-clawed. It has been made into a giant warm-fuzzy, the adult equivalent of a kiss on a boo-boo.
In the three cases I talked about, whatever may be needed for people to get back on with their lives, not all that much healing is really needed. You know how I know that? Because not much will be required of those involved. Real healing costs something. In fact, real healing costs a LOT. The sicker you are, the more you are in need of healing. And the more you are in need of healing, the more radical your healing is likely to be. When healing can happen with a few words of apology and a round of appearances on talk shows, not much healing was needed in the first place. When healing can happen with a truce, not much was needed in the first place. When healing itself doesn’t dramatically and sometimes permanently alter the life of the one who was healed, it probably wasn’t really healing, but rather just getting on with life.
Real healing costs something. Ever had a loved one who was diagnosed with cancer? Often when someone has cancer, healing is possible, but it costs something, doesn’t it? Weeks or months or years of chemotheraphy, bone marrow transplants, painful tests, dark hours of pain and desperation and loss of hope. Oftentimes if one is going to receive healing, one must muster courage from deep inside of them that they never knew they had.
Let’s get back to Malorie for a minute. I told you about her accident, then I zipped forward and told you she’s leaving for Israel. Do you think that’s the story? Do you think Malorie’s recovery has been quick and easy? Do you think it happened when a nurse approached a doctor and simply “called for” healing that needed to happen? [That’s what happens in the media, is some public official or celebrity “calls for” healing.] Better question: Do you think Malorie’s healing was all up to the doctor? Did the healer, the doctor, play the only role? Of course not. Malorie had to muster strength and willpower and determination in order to hang onto hope. She had to cope with losing almost all the vision in one eye. She had to submit to dangerous surgery to repair her face, and rely on her parents, her brother and sister, and people around the country who were praying for her. She had to cope with being set back a whole year in her college studies. And if her healing is to continue, she will have more obstacles to overcome in the future. Why? Because Malorie wants healing, and healing often comes at great cost. The process of finding and receiving healing often changes us forever, and sometimes the process of healing itself leaves scars that never fully heal.
Let’s be honest about healing this morning. Let’s take the word away from the media, who purposefully use the most over-the-top language they can in order to build a sense of drama. Most of all, let’s scrap the impression that healing is some fanciful thing where everybody jumps for joy and finds instant peace and happiness and tranquility. Healing, like most of life, is often a journey and one usually fraught with frustration and difficulty, and sometimes boredom and despair. Healing costs something. Healing requires our cooperation. Healing can bring us to a great place, a place we really, really want to be, but we’d better be ready to count the cost. We’d better not expect it to be cheap, or easy, or fun, because chances are pretty good it will be expensive, and hard, and often miserable. Isaiah chapter 35 contains a prediction that someone would come to the world as a healer. Christians believe he came 700 years after the prediction, in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus healed throughout the 3 ½ years of his public ministry. He healed people physically. He healed them emotionally. He healed mentally. And he healed spiritually. I want to talk to you about the healing ministry of Jesus this morning, and at the end of this service I’ll give you a chance to come forward and receive healing from God. I believe Christ is still in the business of healing and if you need healing today, let’s ask God to make it happen. But first let’s look at how Christ brings healing, and what healing might cost. Let’s look at Isaiah’s prophecy:
Isaiah 35:1-8 (NIV)
1 The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;
2 it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.
3 Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;
4 say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you."
5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
7 The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
8 And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.
If you’ve been present any of the other weeks of this series, you’ve heard me say that Isaiah wrote about 700 years before the birth of Jesus. He begins with this exclamation that something really cool is going to happen. It’s something that will make changes that will be miraculous. The parched land and desert will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, in other words, it will have beautiful plants in it like Lebanon. That doesn’t happen. The desert doesn’t suddenly sprout all kinds of beautiful vegetation, but that’s the promise given here. All of it a metaphor, a way of saying, “Things that don’t happen will happen. In fact, things that CAN’T happen will happen.” A lot of times we read the Bible and think, “Those gullible people back then were too stupid to know that miracles were impossible, that miracles can’t happen.” But they weren’t too stupid to know that. The reason miracles are reported in the first place is because they were not expected. People on the receiving end of miracles rejoiced and expressed wonder and surprise precisely because they did not think these things could or would ever happen.
So Isaiah’s saying, “A day will come when impossible things will happen.” When will that be? He tells us in verse 5. “Your God will come, THEN will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped,” etc. Miracles will happen when God shows up. That’s when suddenly we can expect the impossible to become possible, perhaps even commonplace.
Now let’s fast-forward to when Jesus was walking around on earth, doing his Jesus thing. Jesus. Emmanuel. God with us. God had come and suddenly people were witnessing all these incredible miracles. Jesus was going around doing his Jesus thing, and His Jesus thing was unlike anything else ever done by anyone. In fact, His Jesus thing was simply impossible. The eyes of the blind were opened, and ears of the deaf unstopped. Suddenly the lame were leaping like deer and the mute were shouting for joy. You cannot escape this if you read any of the gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Jesus ministry was a ministry of healing.
Let me ask you this. Do you think the people Jesus healed ended up with a price to pay for their healing? There was no chemo, no radiation, no antibiotics, but was there a price to pay? One of my favorite stories of healing in the Bible is in Mark. I’ve preached a whole sermon on this text before, but let me hit this briefly for our purposes here today.
Mark 2:1-12 (NIV)
1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.
2 So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.
3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them.
4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.
5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves,
7 "Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things?
9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ’Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ’Get up, take your mat and walk’?
10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralytic,
11 "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."
12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"
So this guy comes to Jesus, lowered through the roof. He’s thinking, “Man, this is awesome. My big break. I picked a great time to be paralyzed, because the man who can put me back together is right here in this room.”
And he’s dropped down in front of Jesus. His big moment. YES! He was lowered down on a mat, but he’s going to WALK out the door and go home in just a few seconds. Drum roll please.
The hole is cut. Stuff flies everywhere. The people legitimately waiting in line were all ticked off. And this guy is suddenly in front of Jesus. Jesus looks down at this poor, paralyzed man and says those incredible words, “Your sins are forgiven.”
“Wait a minute, what’d you say? My sins are forgiven? I can’t go back to home on this mat still paralyzed and tell everybody I saw Jesus and he forgave my sins! What’s with that? I wasn’t lowered to you through a hole cut in a stranger’s roof to hear you say, “Your sins are forgiven.” What about be healed, or I heal you, or WALK, or ABRACADABRA or something? What about the fact that I’m still sitting here on this mat like I have been for more years than I can count, there are people all over the place in this room, and you’ve addressed me once and nothing has changed? I’m in front of Jesus the healer, and I’m still paralyzed.”
I can’t even imagine how panicked this man must have been at this point. Only later on does Jesus say to this man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” First Jesus attends to spiritual business by forgiving this man’s sins. Then later he gets to the reason the man came in the first place.
Personally I think Jesus attended to what he knew was the most urgent business first – his spiritual need, then his physical need. I don’t know if Jesus always did that. All I know is that 1) this man’s healing probably didn’t go the way he thought it would; and 2) he went home a different person, joyful, but with a great responsibility before him. For the first time in his life, he had to go out and get a job. He now was able to support himself. He didn’t have to beg anymore, but he did have to change the way he thought about himself. No longer a helpless beggar. Able now to make it in the world. This man went away able to walk, but I wonder how long after that it took him to start thinking of himself as able-bodied. I wonder how long it was before he remembered in the morning that he could stand up and get out of bed. I wonder whether he had a hard time having to go out and earn his own living instead of begging every day. I wonder if he changed – if his friends still liked him after he was well, if he was gracious or became full of himself. We see Jesus forgive this man’s sins, and then heal his legs, but we don’t see what price he had to pay after that – how much work he had to do later on to continue the healing Jesus had begun in him. Healing doesn’t come without a price. Heck, maybe the first price this man had to pay was the cost of putting a new roof on the house he had ruined when he was lowered in there.
We say we want healing for the things in our lives that dog us, but are we ready to pay the price that will be required? Are we ready to learn to think of ourselves in new ways? Are we ready for our friends and family to start thinking differently of us? Jesus knew this was a big issue. We see this in his healing of another crippled guy in John.
John 5:2-6 (NIV)
2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.
3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.
4
5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
When Jesus saw him lying there and learned he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him “Do you want to get well?”
Jesus understood how attached we get to our sicknesses and disabilities. Jesus knew how we build our identities around our weaknesses. Oh, I have MS. I have cancer. I’m blind in one eye. I’m paralyzed. I’m a depressive. I have chronic anxiety. I snore. I have chronic pain. I get dizzy when I ride roller coasters. I’m afraid to fly. We come to define ourselves by our deficiencies, and consequently they come to define us. They become part of our identity and as much as we say we hate them, we are secretly rather fond of them. They distinguish us, give us a way to seek love and attention from others, set us apart as unique. Jesus asked the man this question for one reason, and that’s because he knew that there was actually a chance that this poor guy, paralyzed for 38 years, didn’t really WANT to get well – that he didn’t want to pay the price that healing extracts. After all, as miserable as his life may have been, it was the life he knew. All of his worst times, all of his best times, everything that happened to him happened as part of that life and he was about to trade it all in and start all over.
Almost every time we receive healing, we have to let go of something. And even if it’s something we hate, something we desperately wished to get rid of, there is a cost in getting healed and going on with our lives.
As I close this morning, I want to ask you some questions. Do you need healing for something today? If so, what kind of healing do you need?
Is it physical healing? Are you ready to give up your claim to illness and infirmity? Like it or not, you get a lot of attention from it. And if physical healing doesn’t come, are you prepared to accept that God knows exactly what you need?
Is it mental? Are you ready to give up thinking of yourself as weak and unstable, and embrace a new identity? It will require a lot of learning and practice.
Is it emotional? Are you ready to stop blaming a rough childhood for your problems, or to give up blaming a spouse or someone else in your life? Are you sick of this problem in your life and wanting more than anything to be healed? Maybe there are marriages that need healing today, and both spouses would come forward and receive healing together. That’s what the church is for.
Is it financial? Maybe you have made bad choices in the past and you are paying dearly now, and you know you need a major change of heart and mind in order to pick your life up again. Today could be the day.
Is it maybe spiritual? Do you acknowledge that there is sin in your life that is keeping you from all that God has for you? Are you ready to stop insisting that you are a good person and face your sin head-on and repent of it this morning and turn your life over to God? It will take a lifetime of continued surrender of yourself to God. Are you ready to pay that price today?
James 5:13-16 (MSG)
13 Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing.
14 Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master.
15 Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you’ve sinned, you’ll be forgiven—healed inside and out.
16 Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.
When we approach God for healing, it begins with acknowledging Jesus as the healer, and having faith that he knows what you need. Like the paralyzed man, you may think your physical or emotional or mental or financial need is primary, but Jesus may realize that your deepest need is spiritual. You must approach God with believing prayer and trust that he will do in you exactly what needs to be done. No more, no less. And you must be prepared to pay the price of being healed, whatever that may be.
