The Healing Touch Of God

 The Healing Touch Of God

“A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse.” Mark 5:25-‬26 NLT

The woman with the bleeding disorder brings to mind the rising costs of medical care as well as one of the dilemmas of modern medicine - doctors can keep patients from the jaws of death but at the expense of much financial loss, pain and suffering. But the healing touch of God is free - all that is needed is to be connected with the power of God that is revealed in Jesus Christ. The story of the healing of the woman with the bleeding disorder gives us a picture of the power of God’s love flowing like electricity. Jesus was the perfect conduit of God’s healing love and he felt power draining away from him when he was touched by the woman. But God’s healing grace is blocked when our hearts are stony.

In the face of the COVID 19 pandemic, the world is in dire need for healing and deliverance from fear and the sins of pride, envy and greed. Like the woman with the bleeding disorder, we need the healing touch of Jesus Christ. The COVID 19 virus has exposed the fears, greed and the spiritual bankruptcy of our political, economic and social systems. At the same time, it has revealed the kindness, goodness, courage and love of the many individuals caring for the sick and dying.

The COVID 19 pandemic has shown us how economic factors can affect adversely policies with regard to health matters and vice versa. In the gospel of Mark it was recorded that before Jesus healed the woman with the bleeding disorder, he had delivered the man possessed by demons in the region of Gerasenes by sending the demons into a large herd of about 2000 pigs. Like the people in Gerasenes, we may reject God’s grace if it requires a change in our lifestyles and if financial considerations are our top priority.

After healing the woman, Jesus went on to raise Jairus daughter from the dead. This miracle teaches us two spiritual truths, Firstly, Jesus did not come to turn sinners into instant saints. He came to raise the spiritually dead to eternal life. The ways of the world leads from life to death but Jesus leads us from death to life. Instead of turning stones to bread, Jesus became our Living Bread and Living Water to satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst for eternal life. Jesus came that we may live the abundant life in the kingdom of God.

Secondly, the miracle of raising Jairus daughter from physical death demonstrated the power Jesus has over death and Jesus himself rose from the dead after his crucifixion. This transforms the ritual of  baptism from a religious act of repentance into a spiritual event to signify the death of our old self - our “worm” like existence that is controlled by sin. It marks our transformation into the life of a “caterpillar” with the hope of new life in the resurrection power of Jesus Christ:

“For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.” Colossians 2:12 NLT

After being a doctor for 50 years, I have seen many patients who are cured of their physical illnesses but are not healed of their inner emotional and spiritual pain. But over the past thirty years, caring for the dying have shown me what true healing is - many who were not cured of their physical illnesses had experienced emotional healing of their pain, sorrow and wounds in the past and the spiritual healing of a restored relationship with God. 

Far from being a depressive ministry, caring for the dying has been the lived experience of God’s presence that turns tears of sorrow into tears of joy. In the midst of pain and suffering, God’s wonderful promise comes to life:

“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” Psalms 56:8 NLT

It is a miracle when God turns our tears of pain into tears of joy washing away our spiritual cataracts to see the amazing grace of God’s S.O.S. (Story of Salvation). It was therefore such a wonderful privilege to companion the dying and to suffer vicariously with them.

Contemplative prayer or meditation is another way to experience the miracle of transforming our minds. In silence we learn to die to our self and to A.C.T. on the negative thoughts, feelings and actions of our stony hearts that keep us from the healing touch of God - Acknowledge them, Commit them to Christ, and Trust God to use them. Like the caterpillar being transformed in the chrysalis or pupa stage of growth, our spirits are being renewed in the face of death:

“That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” 2 Corinthians 4:16‭-‬18 NLT

The dichotomy between physical cure and spiritual healing blinds us to the truth that true healing involves the whole person and involves the restoration of our relationship with God. When our hearts and minds have been touched by God’s healing love, we will see that everything in life is a miracle. To quote Albert Einstein:

“There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” 

In this season of Lent, let us prepare ourselves, not to be a miracle seeker nor a miracle worker but to live a life of miracles as a wounded healer in the kingdom of God here and now.