Today I was talking with some friends about the issue of miraculous healing, and it has made me think about the issue a fair bit…
I have Cerebral Palsy, it is a disability that I was born with, and it affects the right side of my body. Throughout my childhood, this disability has resulted in me being ostracised from many of my peers; it meant that none of them wanted to play sports with me, many of them were repelled by a fear of the unknown, most thought it uncool to hang out with someone like me and some even went so far as to beat me up on a regular basis. These were the joys of having a disability in the era that I grew up in… Australian society was just coming to terms with having people with disabilities share the same space as them rather than being locked away, and I had parents who (thankfully) had the view that a disability was not something to stop a person being a productive member of society and so forced me into mainstream school and life.
The treatment that I received from my peers caused me to become very resentful and introverted, and out of these feelings of hurt and isolation the only thing I dreamt about was healing from my affliction. I went forward at church to every healing session that came along…
I believe that I have received healing, at least for the most part… I would say that this healing is about 90% complete, and I see it as a combination of the miraculous and hard work on behalf of myself and my mother who forced me to do hour upon hour of physio.
But complete healing to this day has not come, so I still “suffer” from cerebral palsy.
If you have ever done the faith healer circuit, then you would be aware of what sort of impact not being healed has on a person, from being told that you don’t have enough faith to be healed (and therefore by implication are not a real Christian), to being told that you have to receive the truth of your healing before the actual healing will occur (ie fool yourself into believing you have been healed)… That sort of thing can really screw with your mind and threaten your belief in God.
All of this comes out of some sort of misguided belief that as Christians we should all be perfect, that we should not be afflicted with physical disabilities, or health issues; just as we are spiritually transformed, so too should we be physically transformed, but I really don’t see that teaching present in the bible, sure there could be things misconstrued as God wanting us to be perfect (note here perfect is NOT a synonym for whole ), and yes there is a big focus on healing in the bible, but let’s have a bit of a look at that…
Firstly, Jesus, on his time here in the flesh did not heal every disabled person that he met… the pool of Bethesda is a prime example of this, so is his return to Galilee. However having said that we also know that not every healing He did is recorded in the bible either, there are many passages that said he healed many, even that he ‘healed all their sick.’ Having said that, if we do look at the healings that are present in the bible, I think that we can see that there is more going on in these occurrences than simply healing someone’s affliction. When Jesus (and indeed the Apostles) healed someone he did so to illustrate a point or to teach someone (often that person receiving the healing, but not always) a lesson.
You want an example? OK, how about Jesus going to heal Jairus’ Daughter, the crowd were excited, Jairus was powerful and important, imagine what this healing will do for the cause… But then a sick and outcast woman pushes through the crowd to touch Jesus’ cloak and get healing. At this point Jesus could have just continued to press on, the woman had received her healing and Jairus was waiting for Him, but he stopped, affirmed the woman welcomed her into the Kingdom and taught everyone there that the poor and marginalised are just as important (if not more) in His Kingdom as the rich and powerful. To illustrate the point Jairus’ Daughter died while Jesus was delayed. Of course we know that Jesus raised her and everything was fine with her, but the focus of this passage is not the Jesus could raise the little girl from the dead, the focus is what Jesus did for the woman and at the same time taught the crowd.
If we hold to a theology of suffering (read James 1:1ff), which says that God uses the suffering in our lives to teach us and mould us, then we have to see that Physical Afflictions are in the same category, God wants us to learn from these things, and in many cases he will not remove this issue because it is a testament to his power (1 Cor 1:26-31). If a person can be accepting of his or her affliction, and continue to be a vessel of God, used by Him in powerful ways then that person receives wholeness within the economy of the Kingdom, perfection is not needed.
The bible says that if we have enough FAITH that we can pray for healing and we will receive it (James 5:15). FAITH is nothing more or less than a complete trust in God, a knowing of his will and ways. So if we have Faith then we will supposedly know what is appropriate to pray for and when. We need to look at what is whole or perfect within the context of the Kingdom, and the more we get to understanding the Kingdom, the more we realise that it’s logic and values are opposite or upside-down to the values and logic of the world.
It could almost be argued that Jesus wants you to be physically whole as much as he wants you to have that BMW… If you think that he wants you to be rich, then you have missed the point.
I have Cerebral Palsy, it is a disability that I was born with, and it affects the right side of my body. Throughout my childhood, this disability has resulted in me being ostracised from many of my peers; it meant that none of them wanted to play sports with me, many of them were repelled by a fear of the unknown, most thought it uncool to hang out with someone like me and some even went so far as to beat me up on a regular basis. These were the joys of having a disability in the era that I grew up in… Australian society was just coming to terms with having people with disabilities share the same space as them rather than being locked away, and I had parents who (thankfully) had the view that a disability was not something to stop a person being a productive member of society and so forced me into mainstream school and life.
The treatment that I received from my peers caused me to become very resentful and introverted, and out of these feelings of hurt and isolation the only thing I dreamt about was healing from my affliction. I went forward at church to every healing session that came along…
I believe that I have received healing, at least for the most part… I would say that this healing is about 90% complete, and I see it as a combination of the miraculous and hard work on behalf of myself and my mother who forced me to do hour upon hour of physio.
But complete healing to this day has not come, so I still “suffer” from cerebral palsy.
If you have ever done the faith healer circuit, then you would be aware of what sort of impact not being healed has on a person, from being told that you don’t have enough faith to be healed (and therefore by implication are not a real Christian), to being told that you have to receive the truth of your healing before the actual healing will occur (ie fool yourself into believing you have been healed)… That sort of thing can really screw with your mind and threaten your belief in God.
All of this comes out of some sort of misguided belief that as Christians we should all be perfect, that we should not be afflicted with physical disabilities, or health issues; just as we are spiritually transformed, so too should we be physically transformed, but I really don’t see that teaching present in the bible, sure there could be things misconstrued as God wanting us to be perfect (note here perfect is NOT a synonym for whole ), and yes there is a big focus on healing in the bible, but let’s have a bit of a look at that…
Firstly, Jesus, on his time here in the flesh did not heal every disabled person that he met… the pool of Bethesda is a prime example of this, so is his return to Galilee. However having said that we also know that not every healing He did is recorded in the bible either, there are many passages that said he healed many, even that he ‘healed all their sick.’ Having said that, if we do look at the healings that are present in the bible, I think that we can see that there is more going on in these occurrences than simply healing someone’s affliction. When Jesus (and indeed the Apostles) healed someone he did so to illustrate a point or to teach someone (often that person receiving the healing, but not always) a lesson.
You want an example? OK, how about Jesus going to heal Jairus’ Daughter, the crowd were excited, Jairus was powerful and important, imagine what this healing will do for the cause… But then a sick and outcast woman pushes through the crowd to touch Jesus’ cloak and get healing. At this point Jesus could have just continued to press on, the woman had received her healing and Jairus was waiting for Him, but he stopped, affirmed the woman welcomed her into the Kingdom and taught everyone there that the poor and marginalised are just as important (if not more) in His Kingdom as the rich and powerful. To illustrate the point Jairus’ Daughter died while Jesus was delayed. Of course we know that Jesus raised her and everything was fine with her, but the focus of this passage is not the Jesus could raise the little girl from the dead, the focus is what Jesus did for the woman and at the same time taught the crowd.
If we hold to a theology of suffering (read James 1:1ff), which says that God uses the suffering in our lives to teach us and mould us, then we have to see that Physical Afflictions are in the same category, God wants us to learn from these things, and in many cases he will not remove this issue because it is a testament to his power (1 Cor 1:26-31). If a person can be accepting of his or her affliction, and continue to be a vessel of God, used by Him in powerful ways then that person receives wholeness within the economy of the Kingdom, perfection is not needed.
The bible says that if we have enough FAITH that we can pray for healing and we will receive it (James 5:15). FAITH is nothing more or less than a complete trust in God, a knowing of his will and ways. So if we have Faith then we will supposedly know what is appropriate to pray for and when. We need to look at what is whole or perfect within the context of the Kingdom, and the more we get to understanding the Kingdom, the more we realise that it’s logic and values are opposite or upside-down to the values and logic of the world.
It could almost be argued that Jesus wants you to be physically whole as much as he wants you to have that BMW… If you think that he wants you to be rich, then you have missed the point.
