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June 16, 2004
Spiritual healing
Recently I have had the opportunity to look more closely at the whole issue of healing in the spiritual sense. It is one of those areas that is most commonly misunderstood and even potentially abused in Christian circles, yet it is a fundamental part of our faith. So what is it all about? Why does it apparently work for some and not for others?
Most people, asked about the possibility of being healed by prayer, laying on of hands, or anointing with consecrated oils would either say that it works, or that it doesn't - but might make someone feel better about whatever ails them. A small proportion would be openly sceptic and another small group would be openly hostile, usually because they have had what they regard as a "negative" experience of it. Others will think in terms of the "Toronto Kiss" or the bare hands "surgeons" in the Far East who perform "miracles".
Herein lies the problem for us all. The Bible is quite clear (or seems to be!). If you have faith, and you ask the Lord for healing for Grannie, Dad, Mum, or little Johnnie - it should be a matter of instant cure. Or, if not instant, at least a reversal and recovery. So why doesn't it happen?
In part, at least, it does, but perhaps not in the manner that we wish to see. The problem here is that we are asking for what WE want, not necessarily what the person concerned NEEDS. The answer to the prayers is always in terms of what is needed by the individual concerned, not what we (or sometimes they!) ask for or want. Terry Pratchett puts this very well in describing his Witch Granny Weatherwax. The reason people are afraid of her, the reason she is so good is that, from her they get exactly what is needed, not what they want. She is a force to be reckoned with as she moves around his stories, her counterparts doing the nice bits and she doing the tough love bits undoing the damge done by "nice to have" and putting right the things arising from not having what is needed.
There is another reason that healing can fail as well. It may be that the person seeking healing doesn't actually want it. That may sound strange, but consider for a moment the lame man at the pool of Siloam in the Gospel. He'd been there for 28 years. In other words, he has been a cripple and a beggar for all of his adult life. This is why our Lord asks in the Gospel story, "What do you want?" It sounds silly, but consider for a moment. "Do you want to be healed?" Our response would be "Why not?" or "Yes, of course!" and probably "what a stupid question!" Now think of it from the perspective of the lame man. No living relatives, no trade, no skills, no job, no livlihood. Still want to be healed?
Not an easy question is it?
I believe that if we really examine our hearts and our records we will find that our prayers for ourselves and for others have always been answered. They may not have been answered as we would have wished or indeed as we thought we needed, but they have been answered. Speaking entirely from my own experience on this I find that in the many cases where I have appealed for help, I have always had an answer. Sometimes it has taken me a while to recognise the solution or the cure, sometimes I have not really appreciated it either. But it has always been exactly what had to be provided, exactly what I needed at that time.
So I can say that spiritual healing is a given. It happens, but, sometimes we are looking for the wrong kind of healing. Sometimes what we want is not the healing we need, sometimes the body is not what needs healing.
I do not subscribe to the view that illness, disability, or any form of disabling illness is a "punishment" upon the sufferer for some past misdemeanour. To accept that is to deny the message of the Gospel of a forgiving and loving God. Look carefully at the Gospel stories of the healing miracles. Does Jesus say in any one of them - "Well you must have been a real sinner, then!"? No he does not, and neither do the Apostles in the later books. Affliction is not imposed by God; it may well be the result of abuse of alcohol, drugs, or some other "sinful" activity, but it is not imposed by God. In all cases God heals by providing the support that is needed to overcome the underlying causes of the distress that accompanies the ailment. Sometimes, indeed, the person is physically as well as spiritually healed, but sometimes that is not what is needed and we are tempted to see this as a "failure" of faith or of God not answering prayers.
Healing, and the healing ministry, is a difficult one. Even the doctors I know will often say that the medication can only provide a part of the answer, the patient's own body must do the rest. It is just so with spiritual healing; only a part can come through the prayers - the people themselves must do the rest, and this may not be what the rest of us expect. It may well be that the person needed only the ease of some burden upon their souls to slip quietly from this life to the next, and did not want to be physically healed at all. This is why Jesus asked the lame man at the pool, "What do you want?"
We should never confuse our desires with those of others. Often when we pray for someone to be healed we are praying for our own ends - we do not want to let that person go. In our minds, it is a case of "I want you to stay" whereas the people themselves may be in such pain or be facing such a reduced quality of life that they want to go. It is for this reason that our resident "Healing Minister" at the Abbey always stipulates that we should not place a person's name upon the list of those to be prayed for at Healing Services unless we have discussed it with the person concerned.
God is full of surprises, I have found, and the ministry of healing is one of them. He moves and works in wonderful and mysterious ways to achieve His purpose in the wolrd and in our lives - but at every step of the way the question is the same. It is also intensely personal and addressed to each individual.
"What do you want?" Take care how you answer; you may be certain that He will provide exactly what you need in His reply.
Posted by The Gray Monk at June 16, 2004 01:39 PM