Jesus the Healer

Well in the Bible this morning, we meet two women. One, really, is still just a girl. She’s twelve, she’s an only daughter, and her parents are looking forward to seeing her grow up. And then she gets sick and dies. The other woman has been chronically sick for twelve years. She’s seen every doctor she can, but actually got worse – so while others are enjoying ‘normal life’, she feels cheated.

What’s your reaction to stories like that? George Bernard Shaw’s reaction was this:

How are atheists produced? … probably nine times out of ten, like this: A beloved wife, or husband, or child or sweetheart is gnawed to death by cancer or strangled by diphtheria, and the looker-on, after praying vainly to God to refrain from such cruelty, … repudiates his faith in the divine monster and becomes… fiercely hostile to religion.

That’s one possible reaction: to say, ‘There can’t be a God if things like this happen.’ But, actually, our gut reaction to sickness and death points the other way – because our gut reaction is to feel, ‘This shouldn’t happen. This is not the way things should be.’ And that begs the question, ‘Where does that deep sense of how things ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’ be come from?’ You see if you are an atheist, believing that life is just the chance product of evolution, you’ve got no reason to expect that things should be other than they are. You’ve just got to accept that life is a nasty business of the survival of the fittest – and that there’s no such thing as the way things ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’ be. But deep down, we don’t accept that, do we? Deep down we want to say that sickness and death are evils – things that should not be. Which is why we fight them – not least, with medicine.

And whereas atheism can’t explain why we have this sense of how things should and shouldn’t be, the Bible can. Because Genesis, the first book of the Bible, says that this universe was created by a good God, and that in the beginning, everything was good – there was no wrongdoing or sickness or death. And according to the Bible, that’s why we have this sense that it should be good. But Genesis also says that we’ve rebelled against God – consciously or subconsciously we’ve said to him, ‘I don’t want you telling me how to live; I want to live as I choose.’ And that’s why there’s now so much wrongdoing. But Genesis also says that’s why there’s now sickness and death. Just turn with me to Genesis 3 and verse 17. This is after the original rebellion of Adam and Eve – and, verse 17:

To Adam [God] said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.By the sweat of your brow you will eat your fooduntil you return to the ground, since from it you were taken;for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3.17-19)

Ie, God is saying there, ‘I’m now imposing mortality on you, as a ‘blanket judgement’ on your rebellion.’ So some sicknesses are the specific consequence of specific wrongdoing – like, liver failure following alcohol excess. But overall, our mortality is a general ‘blanket judgement’ on all of us, where you can’t draw lines from every specific sickness to a specific wrong.

Now I know talk of a ‘blanket judgement’ sounds hard. But it’s also merciful – because it’s meant to show us how things really are. You see, according to the Bible, we’ve said to God, ‘We don’t need you.’ But that’s a lie – the truth is: we depend on God for every breath we take. And to show it up as a lie, God has imposed this blanket judgement of mortality, to get us to see that we’re not independent of him. And that’s the message of every illness and every funeral. God’s message is; ‘You’re not independent of me – witness the fact that you can’t even sustain your own health, let alone your own lives.’

And that’s why we have this deep sense that sickness and death should not be, and why we long for things to be otherwise. And that’s the background for understanding what Jesus was saying about himself in those miracles we heard about in Luke 8. Because the Old Testament (OT) also promised that God would send a Saviour to rescue us from our rebellion and its consequences. And as Jesus rescues this woman from sickness and this girl from death, he’s saying, ‘I am that Saviour.’

So would you turn on in the Bible to Luke chapter 8 and verse 40:

Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. Then a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. (vv40-43)

So this is part one of a two-part story and you could give it the heading,

THE DIFFERENCE JESUS MAKES TO SICKNESS

So, v43:

a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years [probably uterine bleeding] (v43)

Which begs the question, ‘Wasn’t she entitled to better health than that? Wasn’t she entitled to feel cheated – and others entitled to feel that, on her behalf?’ Well, the Bible’s answer is, ‘No, none of us are entitled to health. We’ve all taken part in that rebellion which Genesis describes, and consequently, we can’t say we deserve anything from God – any more than a rebellious teenager can claim the right to ongoing allowance money, privileges and use of the car – regardless of how he treats his parents. We’re not entitled to health. And in fact, if God did allow the human race to continue in perfect health, it would only confirm us in the lie that we can get along fine without him.

So our natural reaction to situations like this woman’s is to say, ‘Isn’t that unfair? Doesn’t she deserve the same health as the rest of us?’ But the reaction God wants to lead us to is to say, ‘Isn’t that a reminder that none of us deserves health – and that whatever health we do enjoy is an undeserved gift, not a right.’

Now the end of v43 says, ‘no one could heal her.’ Mark’s Gospel adds,

She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. (Mark 5v26)

So how are we to view medicine, according to the Bible? Well, on the one hand, it’s a gracious gift from God – at the same time as imposing this blanket judgement of mortality on us, God in his love gives us, ‘underneath the blanket’, all sorts of means of alleviating sickness. But on the other hand, medicine does not and cannot remove that blanket judgement. That’s why it’s only about the alleviation and management of sickness; it’ll never be about the eradication of it, whatever the bravado of medical predictions. In that sense, everyone involved in the medical profession is really only in palliative care. And that’s why, as with this woman, there will always be things that medicine can’t treat. And even once it’s worked out how it can treat them, more things will always come along that it can’t – new viruses, new strains of bacteria and so on. We will always have imperfect health. And medicine will always have imperfect answers. And God will always allow that to be true, to humble us and help us grasp that we’re not independent of him, but depend on him for every breath we take.

So that’s this woman’s sickness; but then comes her healing. Look at v44:

She came up behind [Jesus] and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.“Who touched me?” Jesus asked.When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you [literally, ‘saved you’]. Go in peace.” (vv44-48)

And by healing her, Jesus is saying, ‘I am that Saviour, promised in the Old Testament, who’s come to rescue people from their rebellion and its consequences.’

So what does this mean for us today? Some Christians have taught that if only we have enough faith, this is what the risen Lord Jesus will always do for us – and that lack of health is always a sign of lack of faith. But that’s badly – and cruelly – wrong. Because there are enough references in the New Testament to Christians being sick to knock that teaching on the head. Eg, Paul wrote to the Galatians:

… it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. (Galatians 4v13)

So, he hadn’t planned to visit them, but he got sick and wisdom dictated moving to a climate that was better for his health – hence, Galatia. Well, are we really saying that if only the apostle Paul had had more faith he’d have had perfect health? I can’t think how you could have more faith than Paul. No, Jesus said his miracles were ‘signs’ of the kingdom of heaven – ie, that they were like signposts, pointing forward to what it will be like, for those who trust in him, beyond this life – not in this life.

So as we read about this woman being instantly and completely healed, we’re not reading about what we can expect now. We’re reading about what we can expect when Jesus raises us from this life into the next – that is, if we’re trusting in him. Because when he does, we will be instantly and completely healed of everything – because we’ll have resurrection bodies that are finally out from under that blanket judgement of mortality. So there will be no more pairs of glasses or medication or walking sticks or wheelchairs or aches or pains or disabilities. There will be no more doctors, dentists, nurses, physios and so on (no practising ones, that is). There will be no more looking forward anxiously to operations and test results and how conditions will develop – and no more looking back wistfully to the best days of our lives.

That’s what we can expect in the resurrection future. But we don’t know what we can expect in the present – except for imperfect health always, and progressively imperfect health as we age. We also don’t know what God is doing in many of the health situations he allows. But we do know, as seen in the Lord Jesus’ death for us, that he’s always loving. And we do know that he’s also able to restore health, by all the means at his disposal both within our bodies and through medicine. So let’s by all means pray for him to do that – as well as using all the means we can – but without claiming restored health as a right, or pretending to know what his timings or plans or purposes are.

So, eg, a Christian friend of mine had sudden, acute back problems and several operations later he’d gone from a very active life to barely being able to move without pain. And he wrote to a group of us to ask us to pray that God would restore his health, if that was his will. And we prayed for a year, during which his condition didn’t change, although, thank God, his comfort level did. After which he wrote again and said,

Thank you for your prayers. I think we can now trust that we have our answer. So I would like you to stop praying for any further recovery and ask instead that the Lord would help me to accept this new phase of my life and begin to understand his purposes for it.

And that’s not lack of faith; that’s mature faith.

So that’s the difference Jesus makes to sickness. The other thing we see here in Luke 8 is,

THE DIFFERENCE JESUS MAKES TO DEATH

Look onto v49:

While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher any more.” (v49)

And just like the woman’s situation begs the question, ‘Wasn’t she entitled to more health than that?’, this one begs the question, ‘Wasn’t she entitled to more life than that? What happened to her three score years and ten?’ I guess the death of a child is probably what most calls out from us that gut reaction, ‘This should not be’ – of all unfairnesses it seems the most grossly unfair. But again, the reaction God wants to lead us to is to say, ‘Isn’t that a reminder that none of us deserves any length of life, and that every day we have is an undeserved gift?’ So back to v49:

“Your daughter is dead,” [says the messenger]. “Don’t bother the teacher any more.”Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” (vv49-50)

Ie, Jesus is saying, ‘Don’t fear death as if it’s the end – because with me, it’s not.’ Read on, v51:

When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.”They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened. (vv51-56)

So Jesus knows full well that she’s dead. So when he says, “She is not dead but asleep”, he’s not denying the facts. He’s saying, ‘Death looks totally different if you’re trusting in me – because it’s as easy for me to pull someone out of death as it is for you to get someone out of bed in the morning.’

Now again, what does this mean for us today? What Jesus did here was to pull this girl out of death, back into this world, so that the eye-witnesses could see her and then testify to us on paper that Jesus can do even this. But then remember: Jesus said his miracles were ‘signs’ of the kingdom of heaven – ie, that they point forward to what it will be like, for those who trust in him, beyond this life. So this is a sign of how Jesus can and will pull those who trust in him through death into the next world – which is where he is, now. Because since the events of Luke 8, Jesus has died on the cross to pay for the forgiveness of all our wrongdoing (so that he can bring us safely through the judgement that lies beyond death). He’s risen from the dead to show that he’s the Saviour and Lord and Son of God he claimed to be. And he’s now back with his Father in heaven. And if we’re trusting in him, he will hold onto us through thick and thin, health and sickness, in this life – and then pull us through death to be with him in the next.

The friend I mentioned with the bad back is called Vernon, and he and I were climbing partners. He always led – which means he went first, tied to a rope which I paid out behind him and which he would periodically clip in to ‘protection’ to catch him if he fell. And after a pitch he’d tie himself on to the cliff and then belay me up – ie, pull in the rope keeping it tight, to hold me if I fell. And I remember one classic climb we did, which has a formidable overhang you’ve got to climb through. And it took Vernon a lot of time and struggle. Which made my heart sink at my prospects given that he was the better climber. But the truth was: once he’d got through, he could get me through. Even if I couldn’t do it, he could pretty much pull me through the overhang on that rope.

And that’s a picture of faith in Jesus. Faith ‘ties’ you to Jesus like that rope tied me to Vernon. And since Jesus has got through death into heaven, he can get you through – and will, if you’re trusting in him.

So, the healing of this woman and the raising of this girl are signs or snapshots of what it will be like, beyond this life, for those who are trusting in Jesus. And that’s why what faith you have this morning is far more important than what health you have. And that’s why Jesus went to all that bother, with the woman, of getting her to come forward from the crowd and confess that she had touched him. Have you ever wondered why he did that? I take it that it’s because he wanted her to know that what had healed her was not touching his cloak, but trusting in him – not magic or luck, but relationship with him. Isn’t that what he says in v48?

“Daughter, your faith [that is, your faith in me] has healed you. Go in peace [and peace is the Bible word for all being well between you and God – which, of course, Jesus is].” (v48)

And if we could interview this woman in heaven today, and ask, ‘How important was that healing to you?’, maybe she’d say something like this: ‘Well, it was amazing to be well again. And I did stay fit and well for quite a while. But as I got older, all the usual aches and pains came on, and then I lost my sight to cataracts, and as a result I then broke a leg in a fall and never really recovered from that – you didn’t in those days. So I am grateful for those years of health. But I’m even more grateful that I lived the rest of my life, with all its ups and downs, knowing the Lord Jesus and knowing I could trust in him. But what I’m most grateful for is being here where all those problems are behind me forever.’

That’s the difference faith in Jesus makes to sickness and death.