SICKNESS, HEALTH, AND HEALING by R. David Reynolds
MARK 6:53-56
The late Bruce Thielemann, pastor of Pittsburgh’s First Presbyterian Church tells, the story of a clergy friend Southern California who knew a woman who had been in a mental hospital many years suffering from extreme depression. She used to just sit on a bench every day staring at the earth—no conversation, no response. One day a new doctor who’d never seen her came down the hall and greeted her. He said, “Good morning!” She made no reply. “What is your name?” he said. No answer. “Well, my name is Doctor Heven, H-E-V-E-N, and I’ll be by to see you again tomorrow.” Then he started away.
“But she lifted her head and said to him—and because he did not know the patient, he did not know how remarkable it was that she was saying anything at all—‘What did you say your name was?’
“He said, ‘Heven, H-E-V-E-N.’”
“Now, somehow in the confused process of that wounded mind, the woman confused the word Heven with the word Heaven, and she thought of God’s love made know to us in Christ. The next day she said to everyone she met in the hospital, ‘This is the day which the Lord has made.’ And the day after that, ‘Yea, I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Evil, but I fear no evil.’ Within six days she was saying, ‘I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.’ Within five weeks she had been released from the hospital, and for the last fourteen years she has been carrying out her responsibilities as a leading teacher in Southern California” (--Bruce Thielemann, “Christus Imperator,” Preaching Today, Tape 55).
The awesome, healing power of Jesus is the same, “Yesterday, today, and forever.” This same Jesus, Who lovingly let the sick touch Him in the District of Gennesaret nearly two thousand years ago, wants to touch you today. “As many as touched the fringe of His cloak; were being cured.” This same Jesus wants to make you whole today.
Gennesaret is a district on the Northwest corner of the Sea of Galille that covers only an area of about four square miles. It is home to the cities of Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Chorazin, places where Jesus frequently ministered. Magdala, the hometown of Mary Magdalene, “out of whom Jesus cast seven demons, is also in Gennesaret. Although the Gadarene Demoniac, the man possessed by a legion of demons that Jesus cast into a herd of pigs, was from the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee, the miracle of his healing is recoded by Mark in the previous chapter.
But how does all this relate to our lives today? We are just like the people that came to Jesus in Gennesaret that day. There were at least three steps they took to Jesus that if we take will lead us to healing an wholeness in our lives today.
I. THEY RECOGNIZED THAT JESUS COULD HELP THEM:
Verse 54, “When they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him,” i. e., “They recognized Jesus.” How do you recognize Jesus? Recognition implies knowledge or understanding. To recognize a person means you have some knowledge of that individual or know him/her personally; the two of you have a personal relationship. When you recognize a person, the two of you are mutually acquainted.
I want us to recall an Old Testament incident that comes to mind here. Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh in Exodus chapter two to give him to give him God’s message, “Let My People go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the Wilderness.” In verse two we read, “But Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and besides, I will not let Israel go.’” Pharaoh was not acquainted with God; God had no part in his life style or thinking; no part in his plans. So God showed His power to Pharaoh and the Egyptians in ten traumatic plagues that proved His awesome power. Pharaoh finally came to know Who God is, but only fully when his armies were drowned in the Red Sea.
The people of Gennesaret knew Who the LORD was, they knew His awesome power that had healed Mary, the Gadarene Demoniac, and others; therefore, they “recognized” He could help them. Some of their neighbors had already had personal encounters with Him. To know Jesus is to have a personal relationship with Him, and He came to make it possible for the people of His day and for all of us to have a personal relationship with God for all eternity. This was the One Whose awesome power could help them; they recognized this truth; therefore, they. . .
II. THEY RAN TO JESUS:
(Verse 55), “. . . ran about that whole country and began to carry here and there on their pallets those who were sick, to the place they heard He was.” Get the picture? They ran about that entire region—Capernaum, Bethsaida, Chorazin, Magdala, and the countryside—to bring their sick to Jesus. My brothers and sisters, we who have a personal relationship with Jesus; we who know Him and have experienced His power in our lives are called to do the same. We need to be running throughout Decatur, Forsyth, Mt. Zion, Elwyn, Harristown, and Niantic bringing our friends and loved ones to the One we know can help them and make them whole.
You might know that the word “run” would appeal to me, but I was really touched this week as I studied this passage and discovered that the word used here for “run” implies prompt obedience. These people were prompt to obey the Spirit of God by running to bring their hurting friends to Jesus.
Are we always prompt in our obedience to the Holy Spirit? Scripture declares in I Corinthians 12:3b, “. . .no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.’” In our hesitation, procrastination, or tardiness to obey the Holy Spirit, we can harden our hearts to the point where it becomes extremely difficult if not impossible to come to Jesus. The writer to the Hebrews points this out in Chapter three verses 7, 8, and 12, “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today if you hear His voice, 3:8, “Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me; as in the days in the Wilderness. . . .’ 3:12, “Take care, brothers and sisters, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the Living God.” For Jesus to touch us and make us whole, we need to be quick to obey Him the instant His Spirit moves within our hearts. They recognized Jesus, they ran to Jesus, and finally. . . .
III. THEY RESPONDED TO JESUS BY FAITH:
Verse 56, “Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside,
They were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured.” We mentioned Mary Magdalene and the Gadarene Demoniac; but, along with His healing in the previous chapter of Mark the woman with the issue of blood was also healed. Remember her testimony and act of faith in Chapter 5:27-29? “After hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. For she thought, ‘If I just touch His garments, I will get well.’ Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.” Now here once again in our text we read, “. . . .they were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured.”
It’s not just enough to recognize intellectually that Jesus can help us, we must demonstrate our obedience through an act of faith. Those who touched Him were made whole. But who were made whole? How sick were they? Just what diseases afflicted them? Look with me for a moment at that word “sick” in verse 56. There are several terms for disease, sickness, and illness in the New Testament, but this one comes from a group of words whose meaning is all inclusive. It refers to suffering from weakness of any kind, including: physical, psychosomatic, emotional, economic, and relational to name just a few.
Psychosomatic illnesses are physical problems that are rooted in emotional causes. We all know that emotional stress can result in gastro intestinal problems and/or headaches. The sicknesses included in the term used here would also include despondency or a state of depression resulting from a loss of courage or hope. In other words, there is no problem or area in your life or mine in which Jesus can not make us whole. Jesus can touch your physical disease, your psychosomatic trauma, your emotional pain, your economic troubles, your broken relationships with others. “Whatever cause you to say, ‘I hurt, I’m in pain, I don’t feel well,’” the awesome power of Jesus and His grace are sufficient for you.
Just as emotional stress often brings on physical disease, so too spiritual sickness or sin can also produce physical disease. Basically sin is the root cause of all illness. By that I mean sickness would never be a part of the human race except for original sin. When Adam and Eve sinned, death entered human history, and with death came sickness and disease. Not everyone’s illness is caused by some personal sin, but sometimes that can happen.
John Powell is Professor of Theology at Chicago’s Loyola University, in a sermon entitled “Prayer as Surrender,” he shares this illustration: “I recently read a story by a woman who said that as a girl she was poor. She said, ‘I grew up in a cold water flat, but I married a man who had money. And he took me up to a place where I had flowers, and I had gardens, and I had grass. It was wonderful. And we had children.
“Then suddenly I became physically sick. I went to the hospital, and the doctors ran all sorts of tests. One night the doctor came into my room, and with a long look on his face, said, ‘I’m sorry to tell you this. Your liver has stopped working!’”
“I said, ‘Doctor, wait a minute! Wait a minute! Are you telling me that I am dying?’” And he said, ‘I can’t tell you any more than that. Your liver has stopped working. We’ve done everything we can to start it.’ And he walked out.
“I knew I was dying. I was so weak, I had to feel my way along the
corridor down to the Chapel of the hospital. I wanted to tell God off! I wanted to Tell God, ‘You are a shyster. You’ve been passing Yourself off as a Loving God for two thousand years, but every time anyone begins to get happy, You pull the rug out from under them!” I wanted to tell off God face-to-face!
“And just as I got into the center aisle of the Chapel, I tripped, I swooned, I fainted, and I looked up, and there, stenciled along the step into the sanctuary, where the altar is, I saw these words: “LORD, BE MERCIFUL TO ME, A SINNER!”
“I know God spoke to me that night. I know He did.”
“She didn’t say how God communicated this to her, but what God said was, ‘You know what this is all about. It’s about the moment of surrender; it’s about bringing you to that moment when you will surrender everything to Me! These doctors, they do the best they can. But they only treat. I’m the only One who can cure you.”
“And she said, ‘There with my head down on my folded arms in the center of the Chapel, repeating, ‘Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I surrendered to God. I found my way back to my hospital bed, weak as I was.
“The next morning, after the doctor ran the blood tests and the urinalysis and so forth, he said, ‘Your liver has started working again! We don’t know why. We don’t know why it stopped, and we don’t know why it started up again!’ And I said in my heart, ‘But I know! Oh, but how I know. God has brought me to the brink of disaster, just to get me to turn my life over to Him’” (--John Powell, “Prayer as Surrender,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 108).
I would word her testimony a little bit differently. God doesn’t bring us to the brink of disaster, but He may “permit” disaster or sickness as He did in the case of Paul in II Corinthians 12:7-10, “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was give me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the LORD three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness!’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weakness, with insults, with distresses with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak; then I am strong.”
Jesus is our Great Physician. He can redeem any circumstance. Sometimes His power is manifested in healing, but at other times He enriches the sufferer and empowers him/her to endure hardships, pain, sickness, difficult circumstances in the spirit of praise. A noted case in point is the modern day Apostle Paul Joni Eareckson Tada. You see, the more we depend upon Jesus, the more awesome He displays His power even when we are disabled.
Eliza Morgan in Christian Parenting shares this story: “One night my 11-year-old daughter Eva noticed I was distracted as I tucked her in to bed. I told her about a friend’s teenage daughter whose hair was mysteriously falling out, and I encouraged Eva to pray for Amy. Her simple words, ‘JESUS, PLEASE HOLD AMY’S HAIR ON HER HEAD,’ touched me.
“As the doctors experimented with different treatments, Amy continue to lose her fair. Eva continue to pray the same prayer.
“After six weeks the doctors determined Amy had alopecia, an extremely rare disorder where hair loss is unpredictable but can be complete and permanent. When I told Eva, she took my hand and closed her eyes. This time her prayer was different: ‘DEAR JESUS, IF YOU WON’T HOLD AMY’S HAIR ON HER HEAD, WOULD YOU PLEASE HOLD AMY?’ Tearfully, I realized how sometimes God doesn’t move mountains; He moves us” (--Elisa Morgan in “Christian Parenting Today,” CHRISTIAN READER, Vol. 34). As Brother Lawrence, the French, Carmelite monk of the seventeenth century and author of THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD said, “God is often (in some sense) nearer to us, and more effectually present with us, in sickness than in health. . . .COMFORT YOURSELF WITH THE SOVEREIGN PHYSICIAN OF BOTH THE SOUL AND THE BODY” (--Brother Lawrence, Leadership, Vol. 9, no. 1).
Where do you hurt today? This same Jesus Who let the sick touch Him throughout the District of Gennesaret almost two thousand years ago, wants to touch you and make you whole today. Do you need spiritual healing, physical, psychosomatic, emotional, economic, relational? Are you despondent? Whatever cause you to say, “I hurt, I am sick, I don’t fell well,” Jesus wants to shower His awesome power on you. He may move the mountains, or He may move you. Whatever the case may be, let Him touch you today.
We want to pray with you, lay hands on you, anoint you with oil in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ Who is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Our prayer teams are here to minister in His Name with you. I as your pastor and friend will also be happy to pray with you as well if you so desire. As our worship team leads us in this time of prayer and worship, will you respond in faith to Jesus right now?
