Christian Caregiving 5- Praying for Healing
Today we continue our sermon series on Christian Caregiving. Last time we spoke about caring for people who sin. Today we are going to talk about praying for people who desire healing.
Some find this topic intimidating because it brings to mind televangelists, who are known for their dramatic and loud prayers. … Others dislike the topic because it is not predictable enough- we don’t know when a person will be healed and when they won’t be- there are no guarantees. There are no techniques or formulas that always bring a predictable result. It is a controversial topic for many people.
And yet… it is a part of what we are called to do as disciples of our Lord. St. James writes,
“Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective” (James 5:14-16).
We read about the ministry of the 70 that were sent out- Jesus instructs them
“cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you’” (Luke 10).
We also see this ministry of healing continue in the book of Acts after Jesus ascends into heaven. St. Peter and St. John were going to the Temple to pray when they come across a crippled man begging. Peter turns to him and says,
"I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk." (Acts 3:6).
The man is completely healed and this starts a huge controversy with the authorities. Praying for healing is part of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, who was constantly engaged in healing.
Many of us have either our own stories of physical healing or know people who claim to have received healing in response to prayer. If you are interested in an inspiring book on this subject, the New Testament academic Craig Keener wrote a book called “Miracles” that gathers amazing case studies of healings from around the world in our own time. (It’s in our library).
Our reading from Sirach teaches that God heals through medical professionals and medicines. So, we should be careful not to put the medical field in competition with healing prayer. God uses medications and various medical treatments and the wisdom of doctors and nurses and various other healing professionals. This is a conduit of God’s healing. … God also uses prayer to bring healing.
Of course, there are still 'sickly saints and healthy sinners'. The spiritual world is a complicated reality. For example, Paul had a thorn in his flesh that would not be healed (2 Cor 12:7), even though God’s healing power flowed through him many times. … We live in a world that is often beyond our understanding, but that should not stop us from praying. We are told to pray. We don’t have to understand everything.
Many of us have either our own stories of physical healing or know people who claim to have received healing in response to prayer. If you are interested in an inspiring book on this subject, the New Testament academic Craig Keener wrote a book called “Miracles” that gathers amazing case studies of healings from around the world in our own time. (It’s in our library).
Our reading from Sirach teaches that God heals through medical professionals and medicines. So, we should be careful not to put the medical field in competition with healing prayer. God uses medications and various medical treatments and the wisdom of doctors and nurses and various other healing professionals. This is a conduit of God’s healing. … God also uses prayer to bring healing.
Of course, there are still 'sickly saints and healthy sinners'. The spiritual world is a complicated reality. For example, Paul had a thorn in his flesh that would not be healed (2 Cor 12:7), even though God’s healing power flowed through him many times. … We live in a world that is often beyond our understanding, but that should not stop us from praying. We are told to pray. We don’t have to understand everything.
The fact that prayer doesn’t always bring physical healing doesn’t refute the fact that sometimes it does bring healing. We don’t understand how it all works, but sometimes amazing things happen when we pray, so we should pray for healing, while also understanding that there are deeper mysteries and purposes that can mean healing will not always come. Hemingway once wrote,
“The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong at the broken places”.
Mysteriously, sometimes God can bring a deeper healing for our soul out of suffering that we would not receive if the suffering were taken away. The healing and strengthening of our soul might be more important than our physical healing. The reality of suffering is sometimes deeper and more mysterious than we can understand.
Wherever Jesus went, people were healed. He healed people that were born blind. We even read about Jesus bringing people back from the dead. The most famous of these was Lazarus, but there are others as well (Jairus’ daughter- Mark 5; The Widow’s son at Nain- Luke 7). Jesus healed people, but it is important to remember that eventually they all died. Physical healing is only temporary. So physical healing really only points towards a greater healing.
Jesus in his compassion and mercy is about healing the entire person, body, mind, spirit. … And this isn’t just a matter of healing the individual. Jesus also desires the healing of social relationships, which we see in his emphasis on forgiveness. … Jesus’ ultimate goal is to heal the relationship between the world and God. Jesus’ physical healings (which are temporary) really foreshadow and symbolize that great healing.
In Jesus, we see humanity as it was meant to be- he is the fully-healed human being. This is God’s desire for us as well. The church is ideally meant to be an instrument of God used to help heal the split between the world and God. … It has been said that the church is not a museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners. We enter the church as broken, fallen, sick, and confused human beings, and through a variety of spiritual disciplines, receiving the Sacraments, following the teachings of Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit we enter the process of becoming healthy.
We see this healing most clearly in the saints. They are the ones who have received the deep healing God is offering. They followed the way Jesus taught us, and have been healed (in the ways that matter from an eternal point of view). And, having been healed, they show the Fruit of the Spirit-
“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23).
The theologian Paul Meyendorff says,
“the very purpose of the Church is to heal us, to restore the rift between God and humanity which is caused by our sin and leads to death. This is achieved precisely when we are united to one another and to God in the body of Christ, which is the church”… “Jesus Christ is here asking for nothing less than the healing of the whole world, all humanity, all creation. This is achieved when we come to know Christ, when we become one with him and with one another. Everything that the church does, all its sacramental and liturgical life, all its teaching, is directed at restoring the proper relationship between God and creation, which has been corrupted through our sinfulness. This is the real meaning of Christian healing, and it involves the whole person, body, soul, and spirit.”[2]
With that ultimate greater healing in mind, we are called to pray for people. This can be intimidating for some of us, but I promise that, if you are nervous about it, it gets better the more you do it. You might worry about stumbling over your words, but that is okay. The power of prayer is not in the eloquence of the words, it’s in the One who is listening. In prayer, it is more important to consider the attitude of your heart, rather than the eloquence of your words. Silence is okay, too. John Bunyan said,
“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart”.
So, if you are nervous about praying with someone, that is okay. We were probably nervous about learning to ride a bike too.
As you are speaking with someone who is expressing some sort of pain, or expressing their need for help, you could ask, “do you want to pray about this?” or “What would you like prayer for?” Don’t impose. Be polite and respectful. But, they might be wanting prayer, and aren’t sure how to ask. When you pray, be honest with God and pray as you would if you were speaking to someone you respect and love. God is your loving Father. Be yourself. Be honest about worries and emotions and confusion. Take your time. Allow silence to be a part of the prayer as well. If it is appropriate, hold their hand, or place your hand on their shoulder. Ask God to bring the healing that is desired.
In the Bible God has called us to pray for those who are suffering, so, in obedience and love, we pray. We can have confidence that God hears and has the power to act. We also recognize that there is a bigger picture God is aware of that is hidden to us. We pray trusting that God will work to do what is best for us. Our ultimate greater healing is his desire. As the Church, this is who we are called to be. AMEN.
[1] “There was a monk in Palestine whose obedience was to baptize people, and people used to get baptized naked. It was a very problematic for him because he was tempted. He complained and complained and complained to God and Saint John the Baptist appeared to him and made the sign of the cross and Saint John said you will never be disturbed again by the passion of lust and you will never get the reward that you would have gotten by struggling with it. Saint Paul said ‘oh Lord take it away from me I can't handle this’ three times and God said ‘too bad you need to just deal with it’. Yes, we need to struggle. We need to eradicate. But sometimes it doesn't go away. It's a cross you just gotta deal with it. Another monk said to the spiritual father, ‘take it away’ and the father prayed and it went away and three days later the monk came back and said put it back on, so she said I feel I've lost all the grace that I was having while I was complaining about the struggle. So this is a mystery. We need to struggle with sin, but we need to get to the bottom of the passions. But it's the struggle that we get a reward for. Success depends exclusively on God. If he crowns with success, it's not our business, and if he doesn't we just keep going push forward”. -His Grace Bishop Luke of Syracuse
[2] Paul Meyendorff, The Anointing of the Sick, p 19
As you are speaking with someone who is expressing some sort of pain, or expressing their need for help, you could ask, “do you want to pray about this?” or “What would you like prayer for?” Don’t impose. Be polite and respectful. But, they might be wanting prayer, and aren’t sure how to ask. When you pray, be honest with God and pray as you would if you were speaking to someone you respect and love. God is your loving Father. Be yourself. Be honest about worries and emotions and confusion. Take your time. Allow silence to be a part of the prayer as well. If it is appropriate, hold their hand, or place your hand on their shoulder. Ask God to bring the healing that is desired.
In the Bible God has called us to pray for those who are suffering, so, in obedience and love, we pray. We can have confidence that God hears and has the power to act. We also recognize that there is a bigger picture God is aware of that is hidden to us. We pray trusting that God will work to do what is best for us. Our ultimate greater healing is his desire. As the Church, this is who we are called to be. AMEN.
[1] “There was a monk in Palestine whose obedience was to baptize people, and people used to get baptized naked. It was a very problematic for him because he was tempted. He complained and complained and complained to God and Saint John the Baptist appeared to him and made the sign of the cross and Saint John said you will never be disturbed again by the passion of lust and you will never get the reward that you would have gotten by struggling with it. Saint Paul said ‘oh Lord take it away from me I can't handle this’ three times and God said ‘too bad you need to just deal with it’. Yes, we need to struggle. We need to eradicate. But sometimes it doesn't go away. It's a cross you just gotta deal with it. Another monk said to the spiritual father, ‘take it away’ and the father prayed and it went away and three days later the monk came back and said put it back on, so she said I feel I've lost all the grace that I was having while I was complaining about the struggle. So this is a mystery. We need to struggle with sin, but we need to get to the bottom of the passions. But it's the struggle that we get a reward for. Success depends exclusively on God. If he crowns with success, it's not our business, and if he doesn't we just keep going push forward”. -His Grace Bishop Luke of Syracuse
[2] Paul Meyendorff, The Anointing of the Sick, p 19
Comments
Post a Comment