The Divine Universe

 

There have probably been faith healers and exorcists around for thousands of years, and we still have them today. The gospel writers all tried to show that Jesus was the greatest one of all. This was a large part of their argument that he was the Son of God, the Messiah. In fact, the miracles are a significant factor in convincing most Christians of this.

 

Leaving aside the question of Jesus’ Messiahship for the moment, let’s think a bit about spiritual healing in general because I think a lot of people are curious about that. Some are sympathetic to the idea while others are sceptical, even hostile.

 

Health has a psychic (psychological or spiritual) as well as a physical dimension and so we may distinguish between medical healing and spiritual healing, although I don’t think they are really separate. Medical healing is based on patiently acquired knowledge of the human body and living organisms in general. This is what medical science is about, and it is advancing at an amazing speed today. The psychic dimension of human nature has also been studied scientifically for more than a century: since the days of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Psychology is a recognised academic discipline now and psychiatry a respected branch of medicine.

 

Most people agree that physical health and mental health are closely related. We talk about people fighting cancer or some other chronic or terminal illness. Patients themselves have a very important part in their healing. Physicians have marvellous new techniques for treating disease, but their success depends to a great extent on the mental attitude and faith of the patient.

 

Just as a spirit of optimism and faith can aid healing, so unfaith can work against it. Symptoms of unfaith are anxiety, fear, anger and depression. These can cause all kinds of physical disorders: high blood pressure and stomach ulcers for example. Most of us need to ask God for more faith than we have; with faith we can challenge our anxieties, our anger, our depression.

 

Sometimes a recovery happens that is so unexpected that we call it a miracle. The word miracle really only means something that causes wonderment, but we more often mean that we think there has been a direct intervention by God. However, Jesus made the point several times that the cure of those he healed was due to their faith. A patient’s faith in their healer, medical or spiritual, is a very important factor in healing.

 

Healing is not always physical healing. Sometimes there is no medical cure. Healing can sometimes come through acceptance. We know we have to die sometime. Lazarus died again later, and even Jesus had to die. Christian faith holds that death is not a disaster but a consummation. The knowledge that it may be drawing near may initially generate fear, denial, even anger, but, if one can see death the right way, we can become serene and happy – and that is the ultimate healing. That is, ultimately, what Jesus offers.

 

People with a reputation as healers have a sort of charisma, an ability to inspire faith in others. Jesus was supremely such a person, particularly when it was people in need of some kind. He wasn’t so good at inspiring faith in complacent and comfortable people. An amazing thing is that this charisma still attaches even to his name. The name of Christ still has healing power.

 

But I would like to make an important point. Jesus was not a superman with magical powers that we don’t have. Some people think of Jesus in those terms, but that would deny that he was really a human being. There is no separation between Jesus and us. He was not 50% human and 50% divine.

 

In the first four centuries after Jesus ascended there was vigorous and sometimes bitter debate about this.  In AD 325, the Emperor Constantine called the leading Christian disputants to a council in Nicea. They were all gentiles, of course, versed in Greek philosophy and mythology. One party, led by Athanasius, claimed Jesus was God. In the end his party one the day by vote and we recite their declaration every time we say the Creed. We moved on from Jesus of Nazareth to Jesus of Nicea.

 

The healing miracles no doubt contributed to that momentous decision. We must, however, beware of the temptation to keep Jesus at a safe distance by admitting doubts about his true humanity. When people find Jesus’ example too challenging they sometimes say, “Ah, yes, but he was God.” And that’s a cop-out as well as being false theology.

 

Jesus didn’t only teach us about God; he taught us about ourselves as well: he demonstrated our own potential. As he said to his disciples: “Greater things than these shall you do.” And we read of the disciples performing healing miracles in the Book of Acts.

 

The fact that we find ourselves quite unable to reach that potential here and now should not discourage us. God is in the process of making us what we truly are; we’re not finished yet. People often came to Jesus in despair. They’d tried everything. Their faith must have sometimes been no more than a last desperate hope rather than a certainty. But Jesus believed in their essential wellness; his own perfect faith filled the gap I guess.

 

Although we can’t perform healing miracles, we all have some measure of faith in something, including ourselves. Jesus challenged people to have complete faith, not only in God or in him but in themselves as well.

 

To demand that something unexpected shall happen, such as a healing that would defy expert medical opinion, is a bold thing to do. Most of us would be afraid to look a fool. Essential to our own faith is believing that our wishes coincide with God’s will; and that’s hard to be sure about. The best we can do is to lay the situation before God in faith and hope. That’s not a cop-out; it’s the only proper attitude. This can greatly fortify the patient’s faith; and that contributes significantly to healing.

 

All that is not to belittle the marvellous power of medical technology, but my purpose here is to draw attention to the continuing place of faith healing, such as was evidently so powerfully revealed by Jesus, and so dramatically described by the gospel writers. Jesus was not a superman with magical powers, essentially different from us. We are part of the Christ event; we are all sons (and daughters) of God (1 John 3:2).