On Sunday we looked at the text from Acts 3:1-10. It's the story of the healing of the man by the Beautiful Gate. Peter and John are heading to the temple and on the way they encounter a lame man seeking alms. Peter speaks these memorable words, "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." It's a pretty amazing story. Peter lifts the man by the hand and the text says the man began walking and leaping and praising God. It was an incredible demonstration of the power of the name of Jesus.
It's not that I expect we'll be doing similar miracles today but it could be that we are far too cautious when praying for healing. Why is that? It could be because we are more profoundly shaped by the expectations of our culture than we are by our faith in Jesus Christ. I quoted a few paragraphs from written by Lois Barrett in Missional Church.
This is what she had to say on the topic of healing:
It is right to see healing in its broad sense--healing of the emotions, forgiveness of sin, peace, reconciliation, freedom, and restoration of justice and right relationships, as well as physical healing. But it is important to realize that healing in the missional church will go against the grain of many expectations in the dominant culture.
With its Enlightenment expectations that all truth can be perceived through the five senses and reason, the dominant culture is generally skeptical of spiritual healing, particularly healing of the physical body. Such healing is not always observable, repeatable, and verifiable by the scientific method. It simply does not fit the Enlightement categories, because the Enlightenment mind-set does not factor God into the equation. Nonetheless, the missional church believes that God continues to act in the world, for the healing of the world. (134)
I wanted to drive home the point that demonstrations of God's power and healing are not just for yesterday's church. We can pray with the same hope and expectation that we expect from our doctors and nurses. Healing does not always come and that is part of the mystery we have to live with. Prayer is not in opposition to medical treatment but if I had cancer I would want both chemo therapy and prayer. In the end, I would attribute healing to a broad spectrum of blessings that God made available to me.
I didn't have time to read more of what Lois Barrett had to say about healing but maybe her words are appropriate here:
Numerous theologies about healing are, however, defective. It is not true, for example, that the more faith one has, then the more healing one will receive. This idea is contrary to Jesus' promise that if one has even the slightest bit of faith, no bigger than a mustard seed, it is enough to move mountains. Neither should one put physical healing and long life at the top of one's list of priorities. Although healing is good, it is not the ultimate goal in the Christian life. Being in the love of God, life in the Spirit, and living in the grace of Christ are all far more important. The psalmist phrases it this way: 'Your steadfast love is better than life" (Ps. 63:3). For Christians, dying for Christ's sake may be more important than simply extending life.
But the fact that some people have wrong ideas about healing is no reason to reject right thinking about healing. Healing was not only part of the New Testament church but also continued to be reported throughout the early centuries of the church. ...
Healing--of mind, body, and spirit--is a sign of the work of God in the world, a sign that the reign of God is near, a sign of the love and the power of God. The missional church points to these signs as it gathers people into the reign of God."
