To Heal or Not to Heal...

"Daughter, your faith has healed you".
(Mark 5:34 niv)

Recently I seriously injured my back...again, for the third time in the past six years. It's no fun when you can't put on your own pants. And don't even talk to me about tying shoe laces. There's nothing quite like spending an entire Sunday with an ice pack on your back and chuggin' down Ibuprofen like they were Peanut M&Ms. The irony of this pathetic scene was that I spent a good part of the summer trying to make myself stronger, only to break myself in the end. But I prayed to Jesus about it and he has not only started the healing process but has almost completed it; I expect to be at full strength within a few weeks.

Some people are not so lucky. Some of God's children have been afflicted, painfully suffering with disease or defects or dismemberment. You know their family is praying for them and their church is praying for them and their friends are praying for them, yet in many cases, there appears to be no cure. They continue to suffer.

Why? Why does Jesus answer some prayers of healing and not others? Why are some people blessed with miracles and others linger on, hoping for a cure? I believe that every Christian human being on this earth has asked that question at one time or another in his lifetime. We know he is a God of love; the Bible tells us so. So why?

My answer to this question is simply: "I don't know." If I entirely understood the mind of God, I would be God and there would be no need for me to continue this earthly existence. However, I do keep a couple of cards up my sleeve to help me try to endure this puzzle:

1. "...I will bring (them) into the fire; I will refine them like silver, and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them" (Zechariah 13:9).
   The refining process requires that a sample be exposed to great heat in order for impurities to be removed from the core element. God calls upon his people to be strong in the faith. Some of us will be exposed to great heat but in the end, our faith will be so much stronger. (This precept echoes the phase of "That which does not kill you will only make you stronger.")
    
2. "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36).
   Jesus declares plainly that this earth is not his kingdom. Our reward is in heaven. There are no guarantees for a non-suffering worldly journey and there hasn't been since the fall of Eden. We have to take our lumps along the way and unfortunately, some of us are going to have to endure harder lumps than others before we reach the Promised Land.

I recently attended a festival where there were many families present. One of the families had several children tagging along but one of the girls was on crutches. I recognized the cruel symptoms of MS (one of my nephews is afflicted with Multiple Sclerosis) and I can state without shame that there are few things that can bring a tear to my eye and lump to my throat faster than to see a disadvantaged child. I immediately cried to God, "Please help her; Jesus, please heal her." I felt such pity for her. But this young girl was smiling. In fact, she was beaming. Her whole face was lit up. She wasn't sad. She wasn't feeling sorry for herself. She wasn't cursing God for unfairly inhibiting her life. She was ecstatic to be out in the world with her family attending a festival on a beautiful day.

I believe there is a lesson to be learned here. No matter what our ailments, no matter what our troubles, as children of God, we can smile every day knowing that if we only trust in Jesus, we will one day spend our eternity with a loving father in paradise. That is guaranteed.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Let us never lose sight of the fact that by His wounds, we have been healed. Thank you for the gift of your son Jesus. Amen.

Contributed by Donald
Monday September 17, 2012
Liturgical Year B: Week 43
Liturgical Color: Green
Sunday Gospel reading:
Lectionary 24 (Proper 19)
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost