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"The Mystery of Healing"

 Rev. William G. Lamont, Pastor

A leper came to him begging him and kneeling, he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was made clean.” Mark 1:40-42

Human illness is a mystery. In spite of the fact that we live in one of the most medically advanced countries in the world, human illness is still largely a mystery. There is much more that we don’t know than we do about illness. The TV show "House" is built around this whole mystery. The only difference between it and real life is that Dr. Gregory House always solves the medical mystery of his patient by the end of the show. Real life isn’t so!

Back in January there were 12 high school girls from LeRoy Junior-Senior High in New York who all were suffering from a Tourette-like illness. Each girl displayed some form of involuntary muscle contractions--shoulder shrugging, head twitching, arm jerking, eye darting movements which came on suddenly and have not gone away. One doctor who is working with 11 or the 12 girls suggests this may be a case of mass hysteria – where the psychological pressures of life manifest themselves in a group of people in similar ways. He assures us they are not faking their illness. Mysterious.

To add to the intrigue, Erin Brockovich has become involved in this case recently believing there is a connection between their illness and a spill of deadly chemicals in a train wreck near the school about 14 years earlier. Brockovich was ordered off the school property when her people tried to take soil samples from the school.

So illness is mysterious -  still much to understand and discover about disease, and sickness, and its symptoms, and as a result we have much to learn about healing. It too is a mystery--how does it happen and what precipitates it. So when we talk of a miraculous healing we are really only pointing to a mystery.

The summer I turned 18 years of age, I worked as a camp counselor at Glen Mhor Camp, a Presbyterian summer church camp.  It was a lot like our own Makemie Woods, a conference-style camp with a main lodge surrounded by a number of individual cabins.  And like Makemie Woods, Glen Mhor tended to have difficulty finding enough male counselors each summer to meet the demand for male campers. It meant that some of the male counselors had to work alone--nine kids and just one counselor instead of two. 

Because of my age and experience, the camp director gave me the oldest group of boys and I was on my own--no co-counselor. It was no problem until about half way through the second week of camp when I started to get sick. I woke up one morning with a sore throat. It wasn’t terrible so I kept going that day, but as the day progressed, so did my symptoms. The next morning I woke up with a sore throat, headache, and feeling very sluggish. I pulled myself out of bed and kept moving anyway.

There was a staff meeting after breakfast that day I told the director I wasn’t feeling well and perhaps I should go home for a few days, see my doctor and recover from this.  He encouraged me to go see the on-site nurse before doing anything like that.  Well, I didn’t have time to see her right away, because I had to go teach a sports class, so away I went to the sports field. Before lunch the director caught up with me and asked me how I was feeling. I said to him, actually I’ve been feeling a lot better than I was earlier this morning. He said, "Well I told the senior staff about you and we prayed for you this morning at our meeting." I was encouraged by that  new--to know that others cared enough to offer up prayers on my behalf was inspiring.    

As it turned out I never did go home to recuperate. I woke up each morning after that feeling better than I had the day before and by the end of that week of camp I was completely better. I know it’s not much, but if you ask me to cite a personal example of personal healing, that one comes to mind even after all these years. I suppose a medical doctor might argue that it only proves that viruses run their course and people get better, but for me, it points to the mystery of healing and says something about the power of prayer in healing.

In spite of all the knowledge afforded us in this country by the medical community, I think we can all agree that there is still an element of mystery to the whole healing process. And part of this mystery is due to the multifaceted nature of healing. Healing is so much more than a physical thing. Anyone who has ever had a bruised elbow or scraped knee made better by mother’s kiss, knows this is true. And how else do you explain the military serviceman who comes home for war without so much as a scratch on his body but is so deeply wounded that he can’t go to work until extensive healing takes place. Bodily healing is only one aspect of healing and there is also a need for psychological healing, emotional healing, spiritual healing, even social/societal healing. And discerning which healing a person needs when they have been injured is a difficult thing and introduces a certain amount of mystery to it all.

Frederick Buechner comments on the multifaceted nature of healing in his book, “Wishful Thinking”, “Ever since the time of Jesus, healing has been part of the Christian tradition. In this century it has usually been associated with religious quackery or the lunatic fringe, but as the psychosomatic dimension of disease has come to be taken more and more seriously by medical science it has regained some of its former respectability. How nice for God to have this support at last.” That support has been manifest as much in the church as outside of it.    Healing and wholeness services are becoming commonplace in mainline churches, indeed we held them monthly last year and the Longest Night service at Christmas is really a healing and wholeness service. 

Jesus understands the complexity of human healing as evidenced by his response to the leper in today’s passage. It’s the last story told in the first chapter. A leper comes up to Jesus, kneels at his feet and says, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Now, it should not go unnoticed that the leper has broken the number one rule for lepers here! Lepers are unclean and as such were supposed to keep a distance of 20 feet from everyone else. So lepers didn’t roam freely in the towns and villages, they kept residence on the outskirts and kept their distance from travelers and others when begging from them. This leper violates the distance rule by approaching Jesus, in fact coming right up to his feet. But Jesus isn’t repulsed by the actions of the leper, he’s moved with pity. Instead of recoiling, he stretches out his hand and touches the man saying, “I do choose. Be made clean!” And in that choice, Jesus risks his own state of cleanliness. He could be declared unclean himself! 

In those days, cleanliness was not something that was self-declared. According to the law of Moses, only the priest could declare a person clean or unclean. That is why Jesus sends the leper away after the miracle. His physical healing isn’t enough, the man also needs social healing...to be restored to his rightful place in the community, among his family and friends. Healing is not complete if it’s just physical. To be whole is also to be restored to community.

So there is mystery involved in healing, because healing is multifaceted... involving much more than the restoration of our physical wellbeing. But what is not mysterious is this--our Lord desires healing and wholeness for us. It is clear from the sheer volume of healings Jesus performs in the gospel, it is clear from Jesus’ response to this leper who says, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Jesus says, “I do choose. Be made clean.” Christ chooses us to be healed and whole--which is the desire of God for us all. 

And because Christ is concerned about healing and wholeness, so is his church. We Presbyterians have a longstanding connection to medicine--Presbyterian Hospital in NY is just one obvious connection. And our longstanding support of chaplaincy and hospital visitation is another. And as the leper was bold to come forward and ask for healing, so we can come boldly before God with our requests for healing. Why? Because we know that healing and wholeness is God’s deep desire for us all.    

I have been offering prayer for people in hospitals, nursing homes, and in their own homes for many years. And I have joined in prayer with the prayer chain for those who use the prayer request cards or email their requests. In my 29 years of ministry I have found a surprising openness of all people to prayer. In all the pastoral visits I’ve done over the years only two people have ever declined prayer when I’ve asked them. Even non-religious people prefer to have prayer than not!  And I have not been afraid to ask for healing no mater what condition the person might be in, because healing is a complex thing and God knows best the healing that we need at any given time.

I remember being called to the hospital once some years ago now. The family were all there ahead of me, and according to them we were closing in on the end. They’d all been in to see him, they’d talked to the doctor, the situation was grim and they were all pretty sure this was the final chapter of the person’s life. I even heard some talk about funeral arrangements which I thought presumptuous.

When I finally got the chance to see the patient, it was true, he didn’t look so great. But I never count anyone out because not even a doctor can predict anyone’s ending with 100% certainty. Our life is in God’s hands. Period. So I prayed as I always do, for healing...and lo and behold the person got better! He left the hospital, went home, started living his life all over again...maybe a little better actually. A prayer for healing and he was restored! Mysterious.

The next time he went into the hospital I visited him then too. I prayed for him again--for healing. This time God took him home. It’s what he wanted, he said and he was ready this time, he said.

We gathered to celebrate his life a few days later. It was a huge crowd, he was well loved and dearly missed and everyone was there. We sang at his funeral. He liked the old hymns the best so that’s what we sang. “The Old Rugged Cross”, I remember that. And “Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven”.  I remember that too. You should have heard us. “Praise my soul the king of heaven, to his feet thy tribute bring. Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, who like me God’s praise should sing?” 

Imagine singing about being healed and restored at a funeral! We did...we sang it because he was. Our God not only creates life but heals and restores it. Our lives are forever in the hands of our Lord, who hears our prayers and chooses healing and wholeness for each of us. Eternally.  Amen.