A woman who worked for a vet was to have knee surgery. She was nervous about the procedure and asked her boss if he had any advice. He replied, rather half-mindedly, ‘Just turn your worries into prayers, get plenty of rest, and don’t lick your incision.”
I do not think that the latter piece of advice would have been a problem for the woman. But I do think that the vet’s first two pieces of advice, especially the first one, is sound advice. ‘Just turn your worries into prayers.’
Last week I spoke of the anxiety we sometimes have in feeling at home and that part of our commission from the Lord to ‘go and make disciples’ is to help people feel at home in the church and ultimately, in the faith. And we were reminded of the impact that our faith has on relationships with people.
One of the gripping stories from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has to do with the situation at University Hospital in New Orleans. Are you aware of that story?
It was on CNN last week (I cannot remember when), and was a story about the neo-natal intensive care unit at the hospital, and the 18 babies trapped along with the medical staff.
The situation was desperate as one of the nurses desperately tried to get help through a friend in another state via cell phone. Finally, some rescue boats came only to be driven back by armed men.
With little or no food, and no power to keep the medical equipment going, the situation grew critical. Finally, a helicopter arrived and rescued the infants and staff and not one infant died.
In our text for this morning, there was another medical emergency. It was a man, crippled from birth as we read in verse 2, who was in desperate straits.
We do not know how old he was but we could surmise from the conversation that took place with Peter and John; he had lived for a while. We also can surmise something else; he seemed to have no hope of healing because his expectation was that there would no miracle of healing only money given to him.
I am reminded of the story in John 5 when a man in a similar position encounters Jesus. He too is lame and seeks to be put into the healing waters of the Bethesda Pool in the hope that he could be made well.
Now our two stories diverge at this point because in our main text we have an individual who seems content in his circumstances compared to the other who is seeking to get well. He has a hope that he can be well, that life can be better.
However, Jesus asks this man an interesting question, ‘Would you like to get well?’ Why does Jesus ask this question? It seems obvious from John’s account that this man wants to get well. He is anxious to get into the pool because he believes, and perhaps has seen; people get well from soaking in it.
But the question that Jesus asks is a question that deals with the issue of motivation. He seems to be asking this unnamed man, “Are you willing to pay the price for healing?”
Now we need to pay attention to how the man answers Jesus. ‘I can’t sir,’ he says, ‘I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred up.’ (There was a belief that when the waters of this pool stirred, it was done so by an angel of God and the first person in would be healed.)
The man is not looking at Jesus for help; he is looking at Jesus to help him get into the water. Jesus is seen here not as the end to his suffering but as a means to the end of his suffering.
Jesus chooses to heal him in a dramatic fashion as we read in verse 8, ‘Stand up, pick up your sleeping mat and walk!’ And he did!
It was Jesus’ desire for this man to get well and He made him well. But, the story does not end there. As we move to verse 14, we read that Jesus addresses the other need in the man’s life. ‘But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.”’
I wonder if the man heeded Jesus’ advice? His words seemed indicate that he linked his illness with his sinfulness. Now today such an assumption is seen as judgmental, right?
Or maybe Jesus simply came to him to remind him of a second healing that needed to take place in his life and needs to take place in all of our lives: spiritual healing that comes from the confession and forgiveness of sins.
‘What’s your point, Pastor Jim?’
My point is this: ‘The history of our faith and the history of our church includes the belief in divine physical healing.’ But, there is also another kind of healing that we believe in. In fact, it is the most important kind of healing that we believe in. It is spiritual healing.
This spiritual healing comes through the confession and forgiveness of our sins. It is why Jesus came to earth and it is the reason that Holy Spirit came on Pentecost to give power and ability to Christians to ‘go’ and make disciples.
Our mission and purpose as believers and as a church is a spiritual mission. Yes, there are many expressions of this mission, including the physical care and healing of people. Yet, first and foremost, our mission is soul care. This brings us back to our main text for this morning.
In contrast to the man in John 5, this man seems to have given up hope for any healing, was content with his circumstances, and now perhaps even believed that only money would ease his pain and misery. But, he would soon find out that God, through Peter and John had other plans for him.
One of things that grabs my attention in this passage is Luke’s statement in verse 4, ‘Peter and John looked at him intently and Peter said, “Look at us!”’ I wonder what they were thinking and feeling in that intent look.
They were there when Jesus healed the man in the John 5 account. They were with Jesus in other healings. They were, to quote Acts 1:8 ‘witnesses’ of the healing power of Christ.
What went through their minds? Did they see the begging cripple before he made his request for money? Did they recall the John 5 healing?
On the other hand, was it the prompting of the Holy Spirit to ‘pay attention’ to this man cause them to address him as they did? The important point is that they took notice of him and the Lord would use them to achieve a great and miraculous healing in his life.
The contrast between what the man was wanting and what Peter and John would do for him is somewhat illustrated in a story told by author and speaker Tony Campolo.
‘I was in a church in Oregon not too long ago,’ he wrote, ‘and I prayed for a man who had cancer.’
‘In the middle of the week, I got a telephone call from his wife. She said, "You prayed for my husband. He had cancer." I said, "Had?" Whoa, I thought, it’s happened. She said, "He died." I felt terrible.
She continued, "Don’t feel bad. When he came into that church that Sunday he was filled with anger. He knew he was going to be dead in a short period of time, and he hated God. He was 58 years old, and he wanted to see his children and grandchildren grow up.
He was angry that this all-powerful God didn’t take away his sickness and heal him. He would lie in bed and curse God. The more his anger grew towards God, the more miserable he was to everybody around him. It was an awful thing to be in his presence.
‘After you prayed for him,’ Compolo continued, ‘a peace had come over him and a joy had come into him. Tony, the last three days have been the best days of our lives. We’ve sung. We’ve laughed. We’ve read Scripture. We prayed. Oh, they’ve been wonderful days. And I called to thank you for laying your hands on him and praying for healing. ‘And then,’ said Compolo, ‘she said something incredibly profound. She said, "He wasn’t cured, but he was healed." ‘
I think that we could make a case that this man before Peter and John saw money as the cure for his situation. He expected nothing more nor nothing less. That is where the challenge for us as followers of Jesus Christ exists.
Many people want to be cured but not healed. They seek to perhaps numb their pain not eradicate it. Money, power, sex, drugs, alcohol, work, a whole host of things, are used as cures for the boredom, pain, anger, and a whole host of other things in life. The challenge for us is to help others find the healing in Christ rather than merely being ‘cured.’
Peter and John knew this. They had seen Jesus at work and when Pentecost came, they experienced the power that would make healing, not just curing, possible.
When you review the history of our faith and the impact that it has had on society, healing ministries have been an important part of our history. Hospitals, medical clinics, medical mission teams, and today, a host of faith based psychiatric and psychological clinics, hospitals, and centers have come into existence because of the Christian desire, from Jesus’ ministry to today, to treat the body and the mind and bring healing.
However, soul care remains our number one priority. We have been empowered to present a message of healing through the forgiveness of sins.
Our role as witnesses is to live in and tell of the power of God to change lives. Our mission and our ministry as a ‘fully following and faithfully functioning church’ includes our continued presence in hospitals and nursing homes.
However, it also means our continued presence in the lives of people who need to hear ‘Rise and up and walk!’ in the hope that they will rise to their feet and walk with Jesus Christ.
As we conclude this morning, I ask each of us to reflect prayerfully on the following questions: (Overhead 1)
Am I content with merely being cured or being healed by the grace and power of God?
How am I letting God use his healing power through me to bring healing and hope to others?
Healing has a price. It changed the lives of those two men because it changed the shape and nature of their lives. I would argue that they were looking for a cure, but Jesus healed them because the healing they received changed their lives in a dramatic fashion. Really, in a God purposed fashion.
And our mission as followers of Jesus Christ is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in offering the healing of not just the body but also the soul. It is our most important mission. Let us embrace it and let it continue to heal and change us. Amen
Sources: Campolo story is from sermoncentral.com
Opening illustration is from Michael Hodgin’s 1001 Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking. © 1994 by Zondervan
