{"id":619,"date":"2014-07-10T13:31:50","date_gmt":"2014-07-10T20:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/?p=619"},"modified":"2014-08-13T09:25:19","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T16:25:19","slug":"619","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/?p=619","title":{"rendered":"On Healing and Missing the Point"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Sunday school I am teaching on Matthew 8 through 10 which record much of the healing ministry of Jesus. The question arose, \u201cShould we be following the example of Jesus in healing and does the commissioning of the disciples to heal, cast out evil spirits, raise the dead, and cast out evil spirits apply to us today?\u201d When someone said, \u201cYes, we should be doing the same works Jesus and his disciples did,\u201d the discussion, as it often does, veered into gentle ad hominem<\/em> attacks that ignore the real question. This happens a lot.<\/p>\n

Someone will usually say, \u201cI don\u2019t need to see miracles to believe in Jesus! His Holy Word is good enough for me!\u201d The implication is that those who think healing should still be part of the ministry of Church are so weak in their faith that they need to see miracles to avoid falling away. It ignores the possibility that they are motivated by a desire to be faithful to God\u2019s Word, by a compassionate desire to end the suffering of the afflicted, and by a passion to see the name of Jesus lifted high.<\/p>\n

Another will say, \u201cI think it is important for us to be thankful for all the other wonderful blessings of God\u2014like spiritual healing, salvation, and sweet communion with Him.\u201d Perfectly true and perfectly missing the point. The subtle implication is that asking for the Body of Christ to have the healing hands of Christ is somehow a failure to be grateful. A lost and starving man stumbling into town from the desert can be ecstatically grateful for the sandwich and yet still ask for water. When one of our kids is walking with Lord, it is not ingratitude to pray passionately for the others. We can multitask.<\/p>\n

And always someone will remind us, \u201cIt is God that heals, not us. All the glory must go to God.\u201d Again perfectly true and completely missing the point. \u00a0In Matthew 10:1 Jesus commanded his twelve disciples to go out and heal the sick? Would they have been more spiritual if they had said, \u201cNo. Only God can heal. If we heal the sick, someone might mistakenly glorify us instead of you. How do we know it is God\u2019s will to heal? What about God\u2019s timing?\u201d However, the gift of healing is given to the Body of Christ (I Cor. 12) so that we might continue the ministry of Jesus. God has ordained that his ministry flow through His people, the Church. Yes, God should receive all the glory, all the time, but in Scripture he still used people. We can\u2019t get off the hook regarding healing by professing a fear stealing glory from God. Sitting on our healing hands is more likely to rob God of the glory He deserves.<\/p>\n

Another person will chime in with a timely exhortation to love people and to value the fruit of the Spirit as much as the power of the Spirit. Yes. Yes, and Yes. But the subtle implication is that we have failed to value both gifts and the fruit of God\u2019s Spirit. Clearly God desires us to have both. And honestly, I fail to see how loving someone and seeking their healing are incompatible. I can\u2019t imagine one of my sons being sick and being content to love him without seeking his healing. Jesus healed because he loved. We should too.<\/p>\n

All of these subtle attacks have something in common; they assume the issue of healing is about us. But it\u2019s not. It isn\u2019t about our<\/em> need to see signs, a failure of gratitude, a desire for glory, or failure to value the fruit of the Spirit. It\u2019s about the glory of God, the faithfulness of the Church to do Christ\u2019s works, and suffering of the afflicted.<\/p>\n

To all questions raised I answer, \u201cYes! Certainly. Of course. Right.\u201d But now can we get back to the real question? Please? How are we going to obey Jesus command, \u201cHeal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give?\u201d Did only the twelve receive?\u00a0 What about the 70 mentioned in Luke? Does this commission apply to us? What about the miracles of Stephen and Philip who weren\u2019t apostles? What does it mean to be faithful to God\u2019s Word and to faithfully manifest the full ministry of Jesus?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Sunday school I am teaching on Matthew 8 through 10 which record much of the healing ministry of Jesus. The question arose, \u201cShould we be following the example of Jesus in healing and does the commissioning of the disciples … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-john317"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6y6Br-619","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/marksletters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/cropped-cropped-cropped-cropped-Teckla-Mark-Mill-Creek-Falls-June-2011-3123.jpg?fit=1000%2C287&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}