On the Second Sunday of Lent, March 16, I preached about health and wellbeing. This is an adapted (and a bit expanded) version of the sermon.
Of the 37 miracles performed by Jesus that are recorded in the gospels, 28 of them involved healing people who were afflicted with all kinds of physical and mental illness. That is a full 75%! And that doesn’t begin to count the number of people who were impacted. There are stories of single individuals experiencing healing—like Peter’s mother-in-law. There are also stories of small groups being healed at the same time—like the 10 lepers who were cleansed. And then there are the two healing events that sound very much like the emergency room at Cook County Hospital—dozens of people waiting in line to see Dr. Jesus so he could touch them. Scores of people may have received healing. All of those who came to Jesus were given renewed health. Not once did Jesus ask if they had insurance or if they were documented or what religion they followed or what gender they were. He, in essence, offered free universal healthcare.
All this begs the question. Why? Why was healing illnesses and physical infirmities so central to Jesus’s ministry?
While there may be numerous insightful answers to the question, the Apostle John writes in 1 John 3:8, that Jesus “came to destroy the works of the devil”. Jesus’s mission of the deliverance of humanity from the devil’s realm of disease, death and destruction is central to our understanding of the coming of the Messiah. It is Jesus’s mission—and by extension, it is the mission of the church—to end the works of the devil—which I would define as anything hostile to the abundant life Jesus came to provide (John 10:10). Anything that is opposed to life and human thriving is satanic.
The Apostle Peter adds to our understanding of Jesus’s mission in Acts 10:38: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”
God (aka Jehovah Rapha—’God who heals’) was in Christ, proclaiming the in-breaking of God’s realm not just through words, but through the works of healing—the sign of ‘shalom’ and the new creation. God was in Christ, breaking the satanic chains of affliction and setting the oppressed free. And the forces of hell were powerless to stop it. And Christ shared that anointing with his followers.
When Jesus gathered the twelve disciples, the first thing he did was give “them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases”. He then sent them out to “proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick” (Luke 9:1-2). This was repeated when Jesus sent out another 72 disciples (Luke 10:1, 9). After the Pentecost event, the pattern continued. The followers of Jesus, filled with the Spirit, go out proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and do the healing works of liberation in the name of Jesus (Acts 2:42-43, Acts 8:5-8, 12)
This is not just a spiritual healing of the soul with no connection to the body. It is liberation from the demonic chains of oppression and affliction that are manifested in the physical realm. Those chains of oppression and affliction present in the systems and policies that allow disease to flourish; and in the structures and programs that deny access to healing. I see those chains of oppression and affliction being re-established in the draconian proposals to dismantle healthcare and eliminate nutrition programs for the poor and vulnerable. Limiting access to these life-giving, life-sustaining services is satanic. Period. And every act that promotes health and wellbeing is of God. Period.
Through this understanding, any threat to eliminating Medicaid for poor people is satanic. Any threat to school lunches for children in need is satanic. Any threat to reductions in SNAP benefits for working families is satanic. Any threat to rollbacks in regulations that protect clean water is satanic.
The church must wake up! It must wake up to the demonic attempts to restore the chains of oppression and affliction and oppose them, but it must also wake up to its divine mandate to proclaim release to the captives, dismantle the structures of oppression and work to preserve and promote public health.
Death and destruction are Satan’s domain. Life and wellbeing are God’s realm. Which side are you on? In Christ, we have been awakened from death into life, and now we “live woke”—creating with God a world where everyone can thrive and flourish.
Those with ears to hear, let them hear.
Tongue on Fire 