Many years ago,
back in the 1970s, some of the notable figures of the Charismatic movement- the
popular “neo-Pentecostal” movement that spread across all denominational lines-
would address the burning question “why does God not heal everybody?”
The truth is, miracles of healing can and do happen every once in a while, but,
to be honest, not most of the time. The reverse question that ought to have
been obvious, but that no one seemed to ask, was: “Why, considering that ‘all
have sinned,’ has God ever healed anybody?”
In popular
religious movements it is all too easy for false doctrine to arise.
Furthermore, one of the insidious results of false doctrine is to hide true
doctrine from view. People become obsessed with the demands of false teaching.
In the case of the healing and faith emphasis of popular Charismatic ministers,
the concept was introduced that people can receive healing for any and all
ailments (as if they could never die) if only they would embrace methods to
work their faith up to such a level that all things would be possible on
demand. This mistaken notion of faith carried with it no moral implications,
and this kind of faith itself was the substitute for all of the virtues. In
this whole mess of confusion, the truth that was lost was the Gospel itself. I
am not saying that everyone in that movement was guilty of this; however, the
right question was not asked. Why has God ever healed anybody?
Indeed, why did
Jesus heal this man in this portion of the Gospel of Mark? Why does He give to
him ears that hear and a tongue that speaks? Why did the Lord heal people? Why
did he show compassion? If He had handed out what was due, he would have slain
everybody; “for all have sinned.” But, instead we see His ministry described in
the words of St. Peter: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and
with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of
the devil; for God was with him. (Acts 10:38).” The purpose of the Incarnation
includes this fact: He does not deal with us as our sins deserve. If we repent,
He forgives us.
Some people
misread the Lord’s words: “Thy faith hath made thee whole." All too often,
this is presented as if faith worked like some kind of magic charm, or, as if
faith becomes the one work that brings salvation. Such an idea would invert the
great teaching of St. Paul
In today’s
Epistle reading we see two curious phrases: “the letter” and “the Spirit.” We
learn that the letter, which refers to the Law, kills; but the Spirit, which is
the life of Christ given to us in the New Covenant, gives life. The letter, the
Law that God gave in the Covenant of Sinai when He revealed His commandments to
Israel in the days of Moses, is “holy and just and good," as St. Paul
tells us in another Epistle, the one to the Church in Rome. The glorious
ministry of the Law is condemnation, and the severity of that condemnation
justifies no one. Our Lord is the one who brought this fact out most clearly.
For example, in the Sermon on the Mount each of us learns that he has received
the sentence of death, utter condemnation- damnation. The parable of the
Pharisee and the Publican that we looked at only last week demonstrates the
folly of anyone pleading for life by the letter that kills. Only a
self-deceived man living in a fantasy of self-inflicted and extraordinary
delusion, pleads the Law of God, expecting to be justified by it. The Pharisee
deceived himself into believing that he was not a sinner “even like this
Publican.”
The
glorious ministry of that Old Covenant revelation of the Law is that it slays
each of us; it condemns each of us. “All have sinned, and come short of the
gory of God.” So, then, why did Jesus go about and do good to sinners? Why did
he heal anybody ever? Because the glory of the ministry of the New Covenant is
even greater than the glorious ministry of condemnation. In
the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord spoke of the blood that would be
shed from his own body as “the blood of the New Covenant which is shed for you
and for many for the forgiveness of sins.” The disciples understood this from
the prophecy of Jeremiah, in which the greater glory of the ministry of the
Spirit of life was foretold:
“Behold, the days come, saith
the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with
the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land
of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them,
saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward
parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be
my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man
his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least
of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD; for I will forgive their
iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” ( Jer. 31:31-34)
The promise of
forgiveness was demonstrated by the works of Jesus, and supplied only by way of
the cross. Not one person that Jesus healed deserved that healing. But by
healing Jesus showed that he forgives sins. Every time he healed someone,
and every time he spoke the words of forgiveness to a repentant sinner, he knew
that it was all due to the pain he would endure as he would pour our his soul
unto death, with the nails through his hands and feet, and the thorns piercing
his brow. It was not free of charge, for he would pay the price. The burning
question “why does God not heal everybody?” can be answered only by
saying, in terms of God's perfect will, "but he does"- if only
because all who believe in the Son of God, all who eat the Bread of Life, all
who live by the Food and Drink of eternal life, will be raised up on the Last
Day, when Christ comes again in glory.
We need the
ministry of condemnation in order to appreciate and understand the mercy of God
in Jesus Christ. Jesus never approved of sin; he was far more condemning than
Moses, speaking of Hell in a way no other preacher ever did. Forgiveness
requires condemnation. Churches that approve of sin cannot meet the greatest
need of the human heart; and they cannot bring healing. For, there is no
acknowledgment of the wound among them. Forgiveness itself is very condemning,
for what is approved cannot be forgiven. Jesus condemned all sin on the cross
in the most powerful way possible. Justice and mercy met where the cross
intersected, where he hung beneath the charge of the Roman governor. But, St. Paul
And that my
friends, is why God has ever healed anybody.
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