August 19, 2001
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Pr. Bruce Boyce Can you imagine what life must have been like for this woman who for 18 years had been bent over, unable to straighten out, perhaps in pain? Life goes on, of course, and one adjusts to the reality of life lived with this impairment. I'm sure she had developed a number of ways to compensate for her limitations. She probably had relatives and friends who helped her with the things she couldn't do for herself. What a day that was when she shuffled into the synagogue. People were crowded about Jesus. She didn't even attempt to get close. And then Jesus saw her and shouted out, "Woman, you are healed." And going over to her he touched her and that woman who had been bent over for 18 years straightened out. What a day it was for that woman! A whole new life opened up for her. John tells us about another time when Jesus was walking by the pool called Bethesda in Jerusalem. A man lay there on a cot. For 38 years he had been invalided, surviving only on the pity and charity of others. He was by this pool which local superstition said had healing waters. It was a glimmer of hope in a life that was completely dependent on others. Just as with the crippled woman, Jesus said to this man, "You are healed. Get up and walk." And for the first time in 38 years he stood on his feet. And he walked. Imagine it!! What a life-transforming instant. It was like being reborn. In the summer of 1969 neurologist Oliver Sacks began work in a hospital for the chronically ill in the Bronx, New York. Before this summer he had been involved in pharmaceutical research. His life had been the study of chemicals and drugs. Now he was to work with real, live patients. But this was an unusual hospital and the patients to whom Dr. Sacks was assigned were victims of a mysterious form of encephalitis lethargica, a form of sleeping sickness that left them almost unresponsive. Many of them had had this disease for forty years, unable to care for themselves. Their bodies functioned, they could walk, but they were like empty shells. Alive and yet not alive. One day Dr. Sacks happened to see one patient bend over to catch the glasses that had slipped from her face. On a hunch he picked up a tennis ball and threw it to her. Her hand came up and caught the ball inches from her face. He was convinced there was something there that could be awakened. He began the search for a cure even though his colleagues thought it was hopeless. A new drug offered some promise but it had to be given in doses that were nearly fatal. But it worked. A man named Leonard who'd been imprisoned in that darkness since he was 11 years old described what he experienced. It was like being dead, experiencing nothing, being completely unaware of the world around him, even unaware of his own existence. Then, as the drug began taking effect, he began slowly to emerge from his darkness into the light. He became aware of himself, of his surroundings, of other people. It was as if he'd been asleep for decades and had suddenly been awakened by the doctor. The Bible speaks to me today of this life-transforming power of Jesus Christ. First of all, every encounter with Jesus Christ is a life-changing encounter. It may be a physical change such as that which the woman crippled for 18 years experienced. It might be as dramatic as walking after 38 years of lying on a cot. It might be the result of the patient research of a doctor. We are impressed by these miracles which everyone says are impossible. God does sometimes grant these transforming acts of physical healing, sometimes through the agency of faith, sometimes through the agency of doctors and medicine. But we know that not everyone is healed. And we dare not interpret the lack of healing as a lack of faith. I remember a woman who was one of the first women ordained into the American Lutheran ministry. She suffered from a crippling disease and when she was asked if she ever questioned why God didn't heal her, she answered, "But I am healed. God has healed my spirit." I don't know if my wife will appreciate my telling you this or not, but today is her birthday. I won't be so daring as to tell you which one. But she is one faith-filled woman. Four and a half years ago she was diagnosed with cancer. It went into remission for awhile, but the last two years she has been on a regimen of chemotherapy that does some harsh things to a person's body. But I've never heard her complain. She never says, "Why me?" She has a more boyant attitude and positive spirit than most people. She hasn't been healed physically but she has been healed in the spirit. I believe that that is Jesus' desire for every one of us, that we be healed in the spirit. We sometimes are forced to live broken lives in a broken world. It may be a physical brokeness, a failure to heal. It may be a broken relationship or a broken family. It may be a broken dream or a lost opportunity. It may be a financial disaster and a broken personal economy. There are all sorts of things physical, psychological, mental and spiritual that get broken and what we need is to be healed in our spirit. We need that divine presence of Jesus Christ that alone can transform our brokeness into healing and wholeness. We need to feel that healing touch of Jesus' hand. I heard a woman minister not long ago tell about a
retreat which she had attended where one of the options was to learn sculpture
by welding. They took scraps from the junk yard, whatever discarded parts and
pieces that appealed to them and they welded them together into artistic forms.
She pointed out, and I pass it along to you, that this is what God does with us.
He takes the scraps, the broken pieces of our lives, and welds them together
into something beautiful. That is what it means to be healed in the spirit. The
broken bones may not mend as they were before, the relationships may not get
mended at all, the brokeness in our lives may come together in an entirely new
form, but God is there and he is able to fashion something new and beautiful out
of the brokeness of our lives. Jesus' healing touch is offered to all. He tells
the woman, "You are healed." He tells the paralytic, "Take up
your cot and walk." He tells you and me, "Come, live life to its
fullest. Let my Spirit heal your spirit." |
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