St. Luke, Evangelist
Luke 1:1-4; 24:44-53
October 24, 2004
Dear Friends; Grace, peace, and the gift of healing that comes through Christ our Lord be with you all. Amen
We come today in search of healing. We do so on the Day of St. Luke, Physician, Healer, and Evangelist, the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. The gospel reading that we just heard is from the beginning and the end of Luke’s gospel. In the beginning, he gives us his purpose for writing—to set down an orderly account of the life of Jesus, as it had been passed down from eyewitnesses, in order that those who would come after might know the truth. That’s how it begins.
In the ending, Luke shows the resurrected Jesus just before his ascension, as he repeats the promise that has been fulfilled in him; “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name.” Jesus then blesses his disciples, promises to send the Holy Spirit, and is taken up in to heaven. That’s how it ends.
We have come today in search of healing, but we don’t hear about it in the beginning and end of Luke’s gospel. But if we were to read what comes in between, we would find the healing Lord we seek in action. Jesus was definitely in the healing business, and Luke wanted to make sure that we knew about it.
As a physician, Luke had a particular interest in Jesus’ healing ministry. He was so interested in it that he used nearly 1/5—that’s 20%-- of the verses in his gospel to describe the healing miracles of Jesus. And it was through miracles, not through medicine, that Jesus healed those who came to him for release from their afflictions. Luke reports that Jesus performed three different kinds of healing miracles with regularity.
First of all, Jesus was an exorcist. He was able to recognize and cast out demons from people who were possessed and tortured by demons. Today we probably don’t think of exorcism as a form of healing, but in Jesus’ day, a person who could free people from internal anguish would have been seen as a great healer indeed.
Secondly, Jesus miraculously healed a wide variety of
physical illnesses. He regularly made the blind to see, the deaf to hear,
and the lame to walk. He cleansed lepers, cured fevers, stopped a hemorrhage,
restored a withered hand, replaced a cut-off ear, and on and on. There is no
doubt that Jesus was in the healing business.
The third and final way that Jesus healed is probably the most dramatic, but like exorcism, may not seem like healing to us. Jesus raised people from the dead. That, I think, is the ultimate form of healing. The gospels tell us that Jesus raised at least three people form the dead. He raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead with the gentle words, “Little girl, get up.” He raised a widow’s only son from the dead at the village of Nain, giving that young man and his mother a second chance at life. And who can forget Lazarus, the dear friend of Jesus? Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days when Jesus arrived, but that didn’t stop him. “Lazarus, come out!” he shouted. And Lazarus came out.
Jesus was definitely in the healing business—casting out demons, healing the sick, and raising the dead. But that was then, right? What about now? Sure, Jesus was in the healing business during his reign on earth. But what about now? Is Jesus still in the healing business?
I believe that he is, and somehow, so do you, because you have come here seeking healing. I believe that Jesus is still in the healing business, and that today, he heals in at least three different ways.
First, Jesus heals through regular medical channels. During the time of Jesus, medicine didn’t have much to offer the sick. “Cures” were primitive, based on magic and superstition, and were largely ineffective. But that has changed. God has gifted human beings with intellect, and those in the scientific and medical communities have used that intellect to treat, and yes, even to cure some diseases.
My daughter came home from college a couple of weeks ago with a staph infection. Before antibiotics, something like that would have been very serious, even fatal. But within 48 hours of beginning her medication she was on the mend, and on her way back to school.
Most healing today comes through the skills and procedures of the medical community. Those skills and procedures are a gift from God, given that we might be healed.
Now, having said that, I do believe that there is a second way that Jesus remains in the healing business. I believe that Jesus does continue to heal through miracles. Now please don’t think that your pastor is crazy. I do agree that healing miracles are rare today. But they do happen. Each of us has heard of or read about a case of miraculous healing that the medical community just cannot explain.
Research shows that healing miracles are more common in those areas of the world where the Christian faith is new. As in New Testament times, new faith communities, or the Younger Churches, as they are called, are filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit. They believe in miracles, and are not afraid to ask for them. In most of established Western Christianity, we’ve lost some of that zeal for the Spirit. We’ve become too dependant on the medical model of healing. We might be embarrassed or afraid to ask for a miracle, because they are so rare. But they do happen. And I’m not the least bit hesitant to ask for one.
I said that there were three ways in which Jesus is still in the healing business. The first two ways are through regular medical channels, and through miracles. The third way that Jesus continues to heal us is on the way to heaven.
What does that mean? It means that we are ultimately healed when we are united with him in heaven, where there is no more pain and suffering, and where we experience eternal life in communion with God. Any healing that happens before we get there is tentative and temporary. After all, the mortality rate for human beings is still 100%. Each one of the people who Jesus healed got sick again and died of something. Each one of us is eventually going die of something, even if we experience healing in this life.
I fervently pray that God will grant you the healing you are seeking at this point in your life. And I hope that you will see that healing as a sign of God’s love for you, and as a reminder of the promise that God has given to all who believe—that each of us will one day experience the ultimate in healing—that is, the resurrection to new and eternal life with Jesus, the healer of our every ill. AMEN