The Lutheran Hour
-
"Healings Miracles by Jesus"
- No Sermon MP3 No bonus material MP3
-
Text: Mark 1:35-39
-
Prayer: O God, the strength of the weak and the comfort of sufferers: Mercifully hear our prayers for all the sick and grant them the help of Your power. If it is Your will, grant their sickness may be turned into health. Above all, may their sickness become an occasion for greater faith in You and confidence in the goodness You bring our lives through Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
“Jan was pregnant when her doctor discovered two growths in her uterus he feared were cancerous. They would have to be surgically removed. Although it would be a complete hysterectomy, Jan’s doctor was quite sure the baby in her womb had already died. All attempts to detect the baby’s heartbeat had produced negative results.
“Many people were praying for Jan and her baby. The night before the scheduled surgery, her doctor ran several pre-surgical tests and also listened one last time for a heartbeat in Jan’s womb. After checking the test results, he came into her hospital room shaking his head.
“‘Well, prayers have been answered,’ the doctor reported. ‘I can hear a baby’s heartbeat, and there’s no more evidence of those lumps. You may as well go home because I’m canceling the surgery. You are simply a very healthy, pregnant woman.’
“There were a few frightening moments during the remainder of Jan’s pregnancy, but she is well today-and so is her strong little son.”
Jan’s story comes from a booklet we are offering. The booklet is titled “So You Prayed for a Miracle.” Jan got the miracle she wanted, but you and I know many good people whose prayers for healing have not been answered. So what’s God doing? “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you,” He promises in Psalm 50:15. While some people pray for a miracle and get it; so many others do not get the miracle they pray for. What’s God saying to them, “April Fool”?
Let’s examine some of Jesus’ healing miracles because they teach us about God’s ways. Our booklet “So You Prayer for a Miracle” says this: “The healings of Jesus released people from a physical problem. The four Gospels of the New Testament include references to more than 60 instances of physical healing. There are no reports of things like ingrown goiters, stiffness of the neck, or desire for alcohol being removed, the types of ‘beneath the surface’ healing claimed by those who make a profession of it today. Healings such as these may have taken place, but the Gospel writers report only big league stuff like withered hands taking their normal shape, blind eyes seeing, deaf ears hearing, speech impediments removed, lepers made whole, or a severed ear being re-attached” (p. 8f).
Did you catch those words “big league stuff”? Jesus began His ministry in Galilee with some dramatic healings, real “big league stuff.” In Mark chapter one, he healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law of a high fever. In the same chapter He healed a leper. In Mark chapter two, a man who couldn’t walk was healed. In Mark chapter three, Jesus restored a man’s withered hand to normal use. Matthew chapter twelve talks about Jesus’ early ministry and says, “Many people followed Him and He cured all of them.” (12:16). “He cured all of them.” Why doesn’t He do that “big league stuff” in all our lives today?
As I study and understand the Scriptures, the answer is this. Jesus did His healing miracles as a means to an end. For Jesus, the miracles were not an end in themselves. Jesus wouldn’t say, “If you’ve got your health, you’ve got everything.” His healing miracles were a means to a greater goal.
Let me demonstrate that by citing John chapter four, where we find yet another healing miracle from Jesus’ early ministry. St. John says, “Jesus returned to the city of Cana in Galilee, where He had changed water into wine. A government official was in Cana. His son was sick in Capernaum. The official heard Jesus had returned from Judea to Galilee. So he went to Jesus and…… asked Him to go to Capernaum with him to heal his son who was about to die.
“Jesus told the official, ‘If people don’t see miracles and amazing things, they won’t believe.’
“The official said to Him, ‘Sir, come with me before my little boy dies.’
“Jesus told him, ‘Go home. Your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus told him and left.
“While the official was on his way to Capernaum, his servants met him and told him his boy was alive. The official asked them at what time his son got better. His servants told him, ‘The fever left him yesterday evening at seven o’clock.’ Then the boy’s father realized it was the same time that Jesus had told him, ‘Your son will live.’ So the official and his entire family became believers.”
St. John wraps the story up with these words: “This was the second miracle Jesus performed after He had come back from Judea to Galilee” (John 4:43-54).
I read that from a new translation of the Bible called “God’s Word.” I like that translation because it uses simple language; it’s easy to read. But here the translators’ desire for simplicity robs us of some understanding. They translated “This was the second miracle Jesus performed.” Another new translation, the “Contemporary English Version” offers a similar reading. Now here’s a more literal translation of the Greek text: “This is again a second sign that Jesus performed” (“New American Standard”). The important word is “sign.”
A sign can direct you to some destination, someplace where you are not now but want to be. Jesus used His healing miracles as signs, directing you and me to where He wants us to be. In other words, Jesus’ healing miracles were not the goal any more than a sign is the destination. The sign directs us, and Jesus intended His miracles to direct people to a greater goal. That goal, that destination, that end, was so people would believe in Him as their Savior. The official we just heard about did. When Jesus said, “Go home. Your son will live” the Bible reports, “The man believed what Jesus told him and left.” Then St. John reported, “the official and his entire family became believers.” I won’t take the time now to go through the other healing miracles I cited earlier, but the same holds true. Jesus’ healing miracles are signs pointing to Him as the Savior sent into the world by God the Father.
It’s sad to say, not everyone got that message back in Bible times and many don’t get it today. In Luke 17 Jesus cured 10 lepers. Only one of them came back to Jesus to give Him thanks. The other nine thought their healing was the goal. Jesus did not commend them. When you have your health, you don’t necessarily have everything. Jesus did commend the one healed leper who returned, the one who read the sign correctly, the one who came to Jesus.
Since there is something even greater than health, Jesus’ healing miracles are signs pointing to Him. We might expect to find times when Jesus did not heal the sick because He was more concerned to get the message out that He is the Savior sent into the world by God the Father. Sure enough, the morning after curing Simon Peter’s mother-in-law and many others, Mark 1:35-39 reports this. “Long before sunrise, Jesus went to a place where He could be alone to pray. Simon and his friends searched for Him. When they found Him, they told Him, ‘Everyone is looking for You.”
“Jesus told them, ‘Let’s go somewhere else, to the small towns that are nearby. I have to spread the Good News in them, also. This is why I have come.’ So He went to spread the Good News in the synagogues all over Galilee.”
Now let’s make some practical applications. The doctor has given you a diagnosis of a serious illness. You get a sinking feeling in your stomach. You may feel he has pronounced a death sentence upon you. What should you do?
For one thing, get involved in your own treatment. Learn about the disease. Talk with your doctors about how they propose to treat it. In his book, “The Cancer Conquerer,” Greg Anderson writes, “Personal responsibility for getting well – for conquering cancer – is one of the most important principles in the cancer journey” (Andrews and McMeel, 1988; p. 20). That advice applies to other diseases as well.
As you do that, remember, secondly, your disease is not the end. It’s a means that God wants to use to bring you to something better. The Bible tells us that God made nature good. Disease tells us that something has gone wrong. What’s gone wrong is that all people have sinned. I am not saying your disease is the direct result of some sin you’ve committed, but I am saying that all of us are sinners. Disease is part of our life in this world. Now what could possibly be better than a miraculous healing from your illness? Eternal life, that’s what! That can be yours through faith in Jesus. Jesus Christ came into the world in order to die on the cross for the forgiveness of all our sins and He rose on Easter to assure us of life now and unending; joyous life in heaven. John 20:30-31 says, “Jesus performed many other miracles His disciples saw. Those miracles are not written in this book. But these miracles are written so you will believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. You will have life by believing in Him.” Use your illness as a sign pointing you to Jesus Christ and the eternal life that He offers you through faith in Him.
Third point: Pray for healing. By all means, pray for healing. And pray with confidence God is doing something good in your life, even though it may not always seem that way. Conventional Christian wisdom says God answers prayers with a “Yes,” “No,” or “Later.” My friend, the Rev. Ken Klaus of Chaska, Minnesota, likes to say God has only two answers to our prayers. Either He’ll say, “Yes” as He did to Jan in our opening story or God will say, “I’ll give you something even better.” In other words, if God does not remove your disease, He’s not playing an April Fools’ joke on you. He is doing something even better for you. So, by all means, pray for healing and pray “Thy will be done,” knowing that God’s will for you is good and even better than you can imagine.
Fourth point: Give us a call for the helpful booklet, “So You Prayed for a Miracle.” Let me close by quoting again from that free booklet. “Miracles of healing are still possible, and God be praised when they occur. Whenever physical help comes to us, directly or indirectly, whether it is the disappearance of a tumor or relief from a simple cold or headache, the healing must be a reminder of an even greater miracle, the forgiveness of sin and the coming of salvation through Jesus Christ.
“But if the miracle does not come now, if you continue to suffer pain, if the illness becomes worse and the handicap still confines you, that does not mean that God has abandoned you. Release from sin has still come. And with that comes a peace of mind that enables you to continue believing God’s love. Along with such peace God also can give the patience to endure a physical burden He has not lifted. Such peace of mind and such patient strength are miracles from God which bear witness to His presence as powerfully as any miracle of healing. There is a blessing from God for each of us, then, whether we live with or without miracles.” (p. 16). Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR NAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for April 1, 2001
ANNOUNCER: I’m Mark Eischer. Joining me is Dr. Dale Meyer. Dr. Meyer, what advice would you give to a young couple preparing for married life?
MEYER: It’s a good time to ask that question. Spring is in the air. June is coming with many a wedding. When I was a parish pastor I would always meet with a couple to be married. The purposes of those meetings were several: one, to plan the wedding service.; another purpose was to share with them what the Word of God teaches about marriage. Getting into those discussions I would routinely ask this question, “Why do you want to be married?” Over the years I came to enjoy that moment. The answers were so predictable. “Well, he makes me feel so good.” “She’s just right for me.” “We get along good together – we’re good for one another.” And what I observed over the years is that it was always about “me.” What this other person can do for “me.” I would thank them for their answers, and then in the course of our discussions I show them that marriage is not about “me,” it’s really about “you.”
ANNOUNCER: Could you explain that a little bit more, please?
MEYER: To boil it down, that advice would be to think of the other person ahead of yourself. “You” becomes more important in marriage than “me.” In this case God Himself is the great “You.” He told Adam and Eve not to eat of the forbidden fruit. They chose B and they did. The relationship with God was fractured at that time. It’s been fractured ever since. Because our relationship with God is fractured, our relationships with one another also experience rupture. That is most painfully seen in the matter of divorce.
ANNOUNCER: Dr. Meyer, it’s probably expected that a young couple just starting out in life might need a little re-orientation in their perspective. When can they expect to finally get this all together and have the proper foundation in their marriage?
MEYER: Well, Mark, how many years have you been married?
ANNOUNCER: 19.
MEYER: I’ll bet your wife Debbie would say Mark doesn’t have it yet. I’m not picking on you. Diane and I are going on 28 years of marriage this June and I’m still struggling to understand it. I think the answer is that it never really does come. There have been times over the years when I’ve asked Diane, “Can I help you?” She’ll shoot back. “If you have to ask you really don’t care.” I didn’t like that answer at first but as I reflected on it, she’s really right. If I would be “you” centered, I would sit with Diane. I would listen to her. I would watch Diane. I would know what things are important to her soul and then I would be able, without asking, to give her a helping hand wherever it’s needed. But that’s not the way I am. That’s not the way any of us are. I think the anecdote to that is to keep going back to the One who was also “you” centered as I tell couples in counseling, God’s love is selfless. In 1 Corinthians.13:5 it says “Love seeks not its own.” When relationships were ruptured by sin, God sent his Son into the world, a selfless act. Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, a selfless act. God the great You, demonstrates what it’s like to love another, to put down our self interest, to serve and love that person to whom we’ve been bound by marriage. You know, any union is really the union of three. It could Mark and Debbie; Dale and Diane plus always the God who forgives us. To answer your question after over 27 years, the answer is “I still don’t have it right. But when I get it wrong, we know there is a third partner in this marriage and He forgives us and that keeps us going.” I think Diane would say the same thing.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Dr. Meyer.