Journey with Jesus #16

Hello again! Haven't been posting for a while but now we're back on line. Here are the next two Journey with Jesus summaries. These are from our October meetings -on the theme of healing....

NT - Healing 10/08/09

Inherent in the way humans make things is some element of destruction. Humans make things by destroying things –even at our most artistic and creative. Our meals, art, and architecture involve the gathering and using of raw materials. Even the raising of children involves a subjugation of sorts, a surrender of your freedom for the good of the child. Violence is a deep part of the human imagination – how we see things, feel things. Even the way we heal others has an element of violence. We use pharmacotherapy to bring about a desired alteration in the way our bodily systems function –but often at the cost of adverse effects and interactions. Surgery can remove disease or repair bone, but is not without risk. It is in essence an assault on the body even though the results may be beneficial. Human life is a compromise – an agreement with death. We live but not fully. The light we live by has darkness in it –it is not yet fully light.

Some would say that is the nature of life. To be human is to affirm both death and life equally. Creation and destruction – an endless cycle, You have to accept the killing as well as the life. This is an ancient view that lies deep in human thought and experience. It also speaks to modern times – as is evident in the writings of Nietzsche.

Healing is common to all cultures – how is healing by Jesus different? He did not use shamanistic practices – no shouting, talismans, magic potions or ritualistic formulae. There was no violence in his practice of healing. He didn’t counter evil with violence but with absolute self-giving affirmed in the resurrection. In Mk 3:20 Jesus is accused of casting out demons by violent power – the power of Beelzebub, king of demons. Jesus replies with a parable -a house divided against itself cannot stand. Instead of attacking evil and trying to destroy it with lethal violence, he neutralizes it by tying it up. The same passage in Mt12:24-29 reinforces the point by turning it on his attackers: “By whom do your own exorcists cast them [evil spirits] out?” Satan cannot cast out Satan – if so you remain within the system of violence. His accusers accusations are based in the worldly paradigm – that violence is necessary to bring about good.

Jesus healing is always a sign of absolute life. It is connected to his overthrowing Satan.
An early healing is described in Mk 2:1-12. Jesus and his disciples are in Capernaum where he cures a paralyzed man. In this healing forgiveness of sin comes first. The paralytic’s alienation from God is what causes his illness. This was a totally shocking thing for Jesus to say – only God can forgive sins. Jesus doesn’t say he is God, but that he is bringing God’s forgiveness into the world. He overcomes illness by overcoming the alienation and darkness that cause illness and death. Death entered the world thru sin. It is this system of sin that prevents us from complete wholeness and endless life. Jesus illustrates his authority to forgive sins by asking the man to get up and walk –which is easier to say? So he does not forgive in a legal way, but in a direct life-giving encounter with the wounded person.

Jn 11 gives the account of the raising of Lazarus. Jesus refuses to go at first to heal his friend. Lazarus does not have the illness that leads to death. It is the fundamental illness that Jesus has come to deal with. This illness is the violence of the world which produces death. It is sin, the way we structure our lives that leads to death. Jesus talks of Lazarus’ death as sleep – he is going to wake him (and us) up. As he nears Jerusalem, Jesus approaches his final confrontation with the forces of the world.

The raising of Lazarus is the last and greatest of Jesus’ signs in John’s Gospel. His healing overcomes alienation and brings life. He is the resurrection and the life!

A popularly held perception is that if I am healed and whole I am right with the world. It is a worldly standard. Often this is perceived as a desire to be someone other than who we are: more athletic, more beautiful – the ideal of perfection. In this way healing and health become yet another commodity. Health is also understood as the absence of illness. We battle against cancer, struggle against disease. In contrast healing from Jesus’ point of view is being fully yourself. Instead of a stripping away – of disease, years, decay - healing is a taking on, a filling up with spirit, love and life. Love is more than enlightenment or bliss. It involves darkness and suffering. It is loving to the depths of Jesus that leads to joy. We have no competitive expectations from others, but are instead fed by our relationship with God. This relationship completes and fulfils us. Healing replaces alienation and we find endless life. Despite scientific advances that delay the aging process and make a disease-free existence a possibility, it is more important to make this spiritual change. Without love and real transformation prolonged life would be experienced as hell. Christian community creates space for true healing to take place. It is often the pilgrimage itself, rather than the final destination, that allows the healing process to occur. The journey and companionship create space, time and rest that let the whole person be healed.