Heal the sick
This is one of Jesus’ commandments to his disciples when they went out to preach the Gospel (Matthew 10:5-f; Luke 9:1-f; Mark 6:7-f) and as we saw in the introduction, Jesus healing the sick was one of His Messianic characteristics; it was part of His mission.
This article will deal with physical healing and I will go from the life of Jesus and the disciples to our present day. I want to show that this ministry did not end after Jesus ascended into heaven and we, as Christians, are called to follow Jesus in this ministry of healing.
As we saw in the introduction sickness and death is, according to St Afrem, something that God never intended for humanity and his creation. Jesus also made it clear when he met the man born blind that God does not punish people with sickness, but on the contrary sent Jesus to heal us from it.
A protestant pastor, Tommy Tyson, once said: “when you read the Gospel – apart from the Passion - you either see Jesus healing somebody, or he just healed somebody or he is on is way to heal somebody”.
Jesus healing the sick
In the Gospel Jesus heals cripples, blind, leapers, people with back problems and He even raised people from the dead.
It is also important to stress how important healing the sick was for Jesus. Let’s just think about the fact that Jesus only had 3 years of public ministry to change the history of the world and lead the world back to God. What did Jesus do for the most of the time? If you study the Gospels you see that Jesus, for the most of the time, went out to unimportant people and healed them (He chose fishermen to be his most important followers). He even healed them on the Sabbath (see for instance Luke 13:10-17) and that was – according to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law – forbidden. But Jesus did this repeatedly and in front of their eyes. We can even say that this was one of the biggest reasons that the Jewish leaders wanted Jesus to be crucified – he defiled the Sabbath by healing the sick.
If it was so important to Jesus that He risked His life, perhaps we need to open up our hearts and minds to the healing ministry more?!
Continuity by the Apostles
Jesus’ healing ministry continues in his disciples and he gave them the power to heal every form of sickness (Matthew 10:1 and parallels).
When we read the Acts of the Apostles it is clear that the healing ministry did not end in the life of Jesus, but by the power and authority of Jesus, the disciples continued to heal the sick.
Saint Paul even writes about it amongst the Charismatic gifts from the Holy Spirit to the Church. So it is clear that Saint Paul wanted this ministry to continue and he regarded it as a normal part of Church life: “To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of Spirits, to another varieties of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes” (1 Cor. 12:8-11).
What is perhaps more striking is that when St. Peter and St. John healed the crippled beggar in Jerusalem St. Peter said to the people: “You Israelites, why are you amazed at this, and why do you look so intently at us as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety… by faith in his name (Jesus), this man, whom you see and know… has given him perfect health” (Acts 3:12-16). So, Saint Peter said that his piety had nothing to do with this miraculous healing – only the power in Jesus name.
If we continue to read the Acts of the Apostles we see that: “so extraordinary where the mighty deeds that God accomplished at the hands of Paul that when face cloths or aprons that touched his skin were applied to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out” (Acts 19:11-12).
Clearly the Apostles continued to heal the sick and even face clothes and aprons that had been in contact with Saint Paul where used to heal the sick and those possessed with evil spirits.
Healing in the Syrian Orthodox Church
We can just quote from our prayer books and see that Our Church fathers had this gift of healing the sick. Shimo says about Saint Augin “You are a wise doctor, oh St Augin. Your Lord gave you authority to heal the wounded. Look, this gathering takes refuge to the treasure of your relics. By your prayers answer all our petitions: Health to those who are sick, rest to the afflicted, bring back those who are far away and give us forgiveness of our sins” (Evening prayer, Tuesday, Shimo).
The same is applied to the Virgin Mary in the midnight prayer of Monday.
Healing is therefore something part of Our Church life and we need to lift it up in the open and pray boldly for physical healing.
Hindrance for healing
Sometimes a physical disease can be caused by other reasons than just physical un-health. When nothing happens as we pray for healing these things can be a hindrance for healing (but these are not the only ones):
- Unresolved memories or pains caused earlier in the persons life
- Un-willingness to forgive another person
- Demoniac activity
- Bad behavior that needs to be cleared out
But what is most important is that if the healing does not come directly it does not mean that God has forgotten them. God is the healer – He knows the best time and He knows factors that we don’t. We need to be open that God wants to show us something before a physical healing can take place. And if it is some hindrance to healing (as mentioned above) these things needs to be addressed first – that is to say perhaps a person needs to forgive someone or needs healing of memories.
Suffering for the other
When we discussed the mystery of healing in the introduction we also spoke about suffering and the problem of suffering. It is clear in the theology of St Afrem and in the Holy Bible that sickness and death was not God’s original plan for the creation, but it is something that slipped into creation from mankind’s disobedience of God’s Word.
But I also want to mention what Saint Paul speaks about in Colossians 1:24: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the Church”.
Some people are called in a mystical way to union with the Crucified Christ and benefit the whole Church through their sufferings. But in the last 1000 years of the Church (especially in the Catholic tradition – this is definitively not written in polemic against our Sister Church, but I just mention the facts) this has been overemphasized, so that people forgot that Jesus actually healed the sick and that His healing ministry is not intended to end. People overemphasized it so much that some people claimed that it was better to suffer that to be healthy. People did remarkable things to suffering and afflicted their bodies with ascetic exercises that almost killed them.
Now a renewal is taking place in the Catholic Church (and Orthodox Churches) and Francis and Judith McNutt (amongst others) have started a retreat center to train and teach about the healing ministry.
I have a deep respect for people who see their sufferings as part of Christ’s suffering in the spirituality of Saint Paul quoted above. Those who feel called to this have a special grace and may God use their sickness for His glory. But it is also important to stress the fact that Saint Paul healed thousands of sick people. He did not preach suffering as a general rule – he believed that Jesus wanted to heal the sick in order that they suffer no more.
Let us not forget that healing and suffering are mysteries that we can’t fully understand.
My intention of this article is to show that healing is just as present today as it was 2000 years ago. Jesus is here and among us. He wants to heal his people. He loves you.
I urge you, dear reader, to read the Gospels and see for your self what Jesus did for the sick – let us all pray more for our sick brothers and sisters and ask the great healer, Jesus Christ, to heal them!
And may His name be praised!
By: Johan Andersson
Sources:
The Holy Bible – Catholic Edition,
McNutt F & J. Christian healing ministries
www.christianhealingministries.org
Shimo
source: http://www.melthodhaye.com/default.asp?itemID=208
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