More Than Healing

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, January 17, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Mark 1:40--2:12.

            When Jesus was on earth, he appeared to be fully human.  I mean, he looked like everyone else.  He sounded like everyone else.  As we found out on the cross, he bled like everyone else, too.

            But the thing is, Jesus was not like everyone else.  He was the divine Son of God.  And that meant a few things.  It meant that Jesus had power that no one else had, and we can see examples of that in our reading for today.  But it also meant that Jesus had a way of looking at things that no one else had, and we can see examples of that in our reading for today, too.

            Let’s look at it.  It starts out with a man with leprosy coming to Jesus.  He falls on his knees in front of Jesus and begs Jesus to heal him.  He says, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

            That’s sounds perfectly reasonable and understandable, right?  Leprosy was a very serious disease.  It was also a very contagious disease with no cure.  There was nothing any doctor could do about it.

            But Jesus could.  Jesus had already healed a lot of people.  The stories of Jesus healing power had spread.  And this man knew, or at least believed, that Jesus could do what no one esle could.  Jesus could heal him and allow him to live a normal life again.  And so he begs Jesus to do just that.

            But Jesus’ response is not what you’d have expected.  At least, it’s not what I’d have expected.  This man comes to Jesus humbly, on his knees.  He does not demand.  He is not disrespectful.  He says to Jesus, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”  And we’re told that, when this man said this, “Jesus was indignant.”

            Why would that be?  Why would Jesus be indignant?  That word, by the way, means to show anger or annoyance.  Why would Jesus be angry at this?  Why would he even be annoyed by what it seems like is a perfectly reasonable request?

            Well, there are a couple of possibilities.  One could be that Jesus was upset that this man thought that he would be unwilling to heal him.  He could’ve been thinking, hey, I’m Jesus.  I love people.  Of course I’ll be willing to heal you.  Why would you doubt that?

            That could be what’s going on here, but it’s not what I think.  I think there’s another reason for Jesus being indignant.

            We’ll come back to that.  After Jesus heals the man, the scene shifts.  Jesus is preaching to a packed house.  It’s standing room only.  No more people can get in.  

            These four guys are carrying a paralyzed man.  They want to get him to Jesus because, just like the man with leprosy, they believe Jesus can heal him.  Their hearts must have sunk when they got there and saw there was no way to get in.  But they did not give up.  One of them got the idea to go up on the roof, cut a hold in the roof, and lower their friend down somehow, to get him in front of Jesus.  And they do.

            Can you imagine this scene?  Jesus is talking, preaching.  All of a sudden, people hear some noises coming from the roof.  Some debris starts to come down.  All of a sudden, there’s a hole in the roof.  And the next thing they know, there’s this man, lying on a mat, being slowly lowered down right in front of Jesus.

            Jesus sees all this too, of course.  Jesus waits until the guy is on the ground and the crowd has quieted down.  Then, Jesus responds.

            And again, Jesus response is not what you’d expect.  At least, it’s not what I’d expect.  I doubt it was what the paralyzed man expected, either.  The man does not say anything, or at least nothing that’s recorded.  But Jesus has to know he wants to be healed.  What else could he possibly want?  But Jesus does not heal him, not right away, anyway.  He says, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

            Everyone had to be stunned.  The man had to be stunned because, hey, what do you mean ‘my sins are forgiven’?  I did not come here to get my sins forgiven.  I came here so I could be healed.  I came here so I could walk again.

            The teachers of the law were stunned, too.  They’re thinking, what does he mean, his sins are forgiven.  Only God can forgive sins.  Who does this guy think he is, anyway?  Does he think he’s God?

            Well, of course, Jesus did think he was God, because in fact he was God, God the Son.  And because he was God, he knew what the teachers of the law were thinking.  And he says, “Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?  But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”  So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”  And of course, the man did.

            This is what I meant when I said Jesus had a way of looking at things that no one else had.  For Jesus, healing this man physically, allowing him to be able to walk, was pretty much an afterthought.  It was not the most important thing.  It was the thing that impressed people, yes.  It was the thing that people remembered.  But for Jesus, healing this man was not the most important thing.  The most important thing for Jesus was for this man to know his sins were forgiven.

            I think that’s why Jesus was indignant with the man who had leprosy.  Jesus was annoyed because this man did not realize what was important.  Jesus was thinking, you’ve got the divine Son of God in front of you, and all you can think about is being healed physically?  Yes, I can do that, and I am willing to do it.  But I could do so much more for you.  I could forgive your sins.  I could give you salvation and eternal life.  And instead, all you can think of is your physical life on earth.  

            As human beings, we tend to think of our physical health as the most important thing in our lives.  The old saying is that as long as you’ve got your health, you’ve got everything.  We do everything we can to preserve our physical health.  And when we don’t have good physical health, we do everything we can to get it back.  And of course, we pray for physical healing all the time.  And I do it, too--I do it pretty much every week in church, and I do it at other times, too.  

Now, I’m not saying it’s wrong to pray for physical healing.  Jesus did not say it was wrong, either.  Our physical health is important.  God has things for us to do while we’re on earth, and we may not be able to do some of them if we’re not physically healthy.  Now don’t take that the wrong way, either.  People who have health problems are still able to serve God.  But as a general rule, the better our physical health is, the more things we can do, and the more we’ll be able to serve God.  And so we need to do what we can to be as physically healthy as we can.

But Jesus wants us to know that there are things that are more important than our physical health.  Because no matter how healthy we keep ourselves, we are not going to live forever.  At some point, no matter how much we exercise, no matter how hard we try to eat right, no matter how many precautions we take, our physical health is going to deteriorate.  And at some point, we are going to die.  Each one of us.  That’s just how it is.

            And so, as important as our physical health is, it’s not the most important thing.  And it’s not the most important thing for us to pray for, either.  The most important thing is that we have faith in Jesus as the Savior.  The most important thing is that we repent of our sins.  The most important thing is that we ask for the Lord’s forgiveness for those sins.  Because those are the things that are going to give us salvation and eternal life.  Our lives on earth are going to end at some point, no matter what we do.  But through Christ, we can have another life in heaven, a life that is eternal.

            God can heal us on earth, if God is willing.  But God can do so much more for us.  God can give us forgiveness and salvation and eternal life.

            Let’s keep that in mind when we pray.  Let’s keep in mind who God is.  When we go God we are going to someone who is holy and righteous and perfect.  We are going to someone who is all-knowing, all-seeing, all-wise, all-powerful, and almighty.  We are going to someone who also all-loving, all-caring, all-compassionate, all-forgiving, and all-merciful.  So when we go to God, let’s not limit ourselves to praying about physical health.  And let’s not limit ourselves to praying about other things that affect our earthly lives, either.  Again, it’s all right to pray for them.  But let’s pray for more than that.  Let’s repent of our sins.  Let’s ask God for forgiveness.  Let’s ask God for salvation and eternal life.  And then, let’s ask God to show us how we can spread God’s message, so that other can also have salvation and eternal life.

            God offers us so much more than physical healing.  Let’s accept all that God offers.