Brief Worship & Sermon -- February 9, 2014

Human 2.0 – A Need for Healing

Introduction

When we ‘hurt’ we want to be healed, don’t we?

Jesus heals individuals from widely different walks of life.  For one the behaviors of faith are obvious, for the other not so much.  One asks Jesus for healing; the other is asked by Jesus if he wants to be healed.  More is going on than meets the eye.  What is seen is tied to the unseen.  What kinds of healing are Father and Son working for?

Prayer of the Day

God of restoration,
You have the power to heal and to renew. Mend all that is broken in us and in our world, and bring us to wholeness, for the sake of your son, Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Read John 4:43—5:18

SERMON: “Healing: Receive & Believe”                                     

Who is Jesus?

That’s an Epiphany question.  It’s also a question that’s on everyone’s mind as they encounter him through word and deed.

Who is Jesus?

He’s a healer...(to which we might respond, “Well, DUH.”)

But what exactly does that mean?

Does he heal everybody who needs it?  Does he heal everybody who asks?  Do you have to ask or can healing just come because you need it?  Does he always heal immediately?  Do you have to have a certain amount or quality of faith in order to be healed?  What kinds of healing does Jesus do? 

(Can you think of other questions?)

It would be very worthwhile to do a study of Jesus’ healings throughout the gospels.  We aren’t going to do that today, but you could start in Matthew and work through John listing all the healings that Jesus does and see what you find...

Today let’s take the two healings in our text and see what they tell us about Jesus.

Reports about Jesus are getting around and when the son of a royal official becomes gravely ill, his father sets out to ask Jesus to come and heal him.

He asks Jesus to come to his home and heal his son. Jesus’ response?  “You people will not believe unless you see miracles and wonders.” 

Jesus uses the father’s request to make a comment about the people’s focus on the physical and not seeing something deeper...

“Sir, come with me before my child dies.”

Jesus looks into his eyes... “Go...(a pause, where for a split second it seems that Jesus is totally refusing the request, then)...your son will live!”

At this point the father/royal official has a decision to make:  plead with Jesus to come to his house once again...or take Jesus at his word and head back home (20 miles away).

He decides to receive and believe Jesus’ word.

You read the rest of the story... (4:51-54). 

It’s interesting...

--that the servants words are almost the same as Jesus.’
  (Reinforcing the gift of healing?)

--that the response to Jesus’ word and healing is that, not only does the father receive and believe, but the whole family does as well.

I wonder what life in that family was like from then on... (wonder for a moment...)

The next story of healing is quite different.

Instead of someone coming to Jesus to ask for healing, Jesus sees a man in need and asks him if he wants to be healed. (We, the readers, are given what Jesus knows...that he has suffered for 38 years.)  Can you imagine what his life has been like?

Not knowing who Jesus is, the man recites his tale of woe.  “I’m alone; there’s no one to help me.  Everyone else gets healed before I can even get close.”  What do you hear in his voice?

Jesus doesn’t debate or comfort or console.  He simply says, “Get up, pick up your mat and walk.”

Now what was he thinking in that moment?

Was he going to retell his story of how hopeless his efforts had been?  Was he going to ask Jesus to help him into the water?

John says he was healed immediately.  Did he feel something...a strength coming into his legs...a new sense of energy and hope?

All we know is that he did what Jesus told him to do.

He received and believed Jesus’ word.

But there’s more than physical healing going on in these stories.

When the man walks with his mat he is accosted by the Jewish authorities.  They tell him it’s forbidden to do that kind of “work” on the Sabbath.

“But the man who made me well told me to walk.”

Eventually both the man and the authorities find out it’s Jesus who healed him.  And instead of being thankful for the healing, they focus in on what they consider an offense to God (and certainly an offense to them!).  Jesus doesn’t fit into their worldview.

They choose not to receive and believe in his word... the word that was God.

Instead of wondering...asking...listening...they judge and condemn.  They try to fit Jesus into their paradigm of reality, their worldview.  And Jesus is trying to draw them into his.

Who is Jesus?  He’s a healer for sure...but his interest in healing goes far beyond the physical.

He’s a healer of relationships.  Think of the royal official’s family and his servants and their families.  How many times and to how many people will they tell their story of healing?  How many more will come to receive and believe?

We don’t know about the man who was sick for 38 years, whether he had family or not...but in 38 years someone had to have talked with him, gotten to know him and his story.  Now he has a different story to tell.  He has a changed life to show.  And like the woman at the well, who will come to receive and believe in Jesus through his witness?

These two stories don’t give us a theology of healing; they don’t give us a formula to guarantee certain results...but they do give us some clues:

Jesus can heal you through someone else’s request (prayer).

Jesus can heal over a distance...or close up.

Jesus can heal with a word.

Jesus can be asked (“Ask and you will receive...” Matthew 7:7) or Jesus can ask you (“Do you want to get well?” John 5:6).

You can ask for physical healing...but that’s not the goal Jesus has in mind for you and me.

Jesus wants to heal much deeper.  He wants to heal our relationships...and our hearts.

How do you need to be healed?  (Take a few moments...)

Jesus can heal immediately...or it may take some time.  Can you wait 38 years for your ‘immediate’ healing?

You may be interested in a kind of healing that doesn’t go as deep as Jesus wants to go.

Are you open to receive and believe what Jesus wants for you?

Jesus does want to heal you...and God is constantly at the ready.

The question is: are you willing to be healed where Jesus knows you really hurt? 

Physical healing may only be the start...or maybe not the place to begin at all.  We know that mind and body affect each other.  Where do you hurt?  Where do you need to be healed...in mind, body, or spirit?

Receive and believe his word of healing for you.

“But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.”
                                                                       –John 1:12-13 (NRSV)

You...are one of those children...you have the power...and the light and grace and truth of Jesus are yours.  Be healed.

Amen.

What thoughts came to mind as you read & reflected on what I ‘heard’ in these stories?

Devotions this week were written by Pastor Tom (PT), Lou Hanson (LH), and Laura Gifford (LG).