The Spirit Moving: Healing - Acts 9: 31-43 - June 19, 2011- Cicero United Methodist Church - Everett J. Bassett

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The story of Jesus is told four times in the Bible, by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each tells the story in a slightly different way, accenting the things that are-important to him. But Luke alone does something for which we are eternally grateful; he writes a sequel. The Book of Acts in the Bible is Luke's extension of the story, telling what happened to the disciples after Jesus went to heaven. We call that book 'The Acts of the Apostles,' but really it should be called 'The Acts of the Holy Spirit,' because it is the Spirit that writes this story, inspiring and guiding the life of those first Christians.

Last year, during the Pentecost season, I preached sermons on Acts 1-9, the story of how the Holy Spirit began to form the disciples of Jesus into a church - a community of followers who worked together for the cause of spreading the Gospel. In those early chapters of the Book of Acts, we read about their passion for Jesus, and their amazing power. We read how they took care of each other, and shared all that they possessed. We read how they did amazing miracles, and how they stood boldly against dangerous opposition. Finally, in Acts 9, we read about the dramatic conversion of one key person - Saul, who was a vicious persecutor of the Christians, and then a devoted follower of Jesus.

That's where we left off last year, and this year, here in the Pentecost season, I'd like to pick the story back up, because I think it's our story - it's what we're living today. It seems to me that our society is more and more like the one those first disciples faced; where the Christian faith is merely one voice among many. Society isn't built around religion anymore, so much as around secular forces - like politics, and economics, and nationalism, and entertainment, and science. You could argue that any one of those things is more influential now than any religion.

And that shift creates a great spiritual vacuum. People are spiritually starving today, so they try all kinds of things to satisfy that hunger. They get excited about predictions that the world will end; they go to Hogwarts and get fascinated by witchcraft and sorcery; they go New Age, and meditate around aromas or crystals; they try to open their minds with drugs; they pay attention to atheists, and so on. People are hungry and searching desperately for something that will make sense of their existence.

And many people despair about the seeming decline in the role of the Church in all that. But I believe the Christian faith is entering into exciting times. Because I think we're back into the Book of Acts, when the Gospel of Christ was one voice among many, surrounded by atheists and scientists and other faiths and all kind of superstitions. In that environment, only real faith survives. People no longer believe because they're supposed to, or everyone's doing it, or any other superficial reason. People believe because it's real, and because it's wonderful. When Peter, in our scripture lesson, walks up to a hurting man and says, 'Jesus Christ heals you. Rise and make your bed,' he was bringing grace and spiritual blessing to that man in a way no other power on earth could match. And because of that, the scripture lesson says, people who witnessed it turned to Christ in droves. And the world is still hungry for that grace and power that will authentically revive and excite their lives. They want to know if the Spirit is still moving. I believe the answer is Yes, in more powerful ways than ever. I believe there is an answer to the spiritual hunger that is on the faces and in the hearts of so many people today.

So over the next few weeks I want to look at these middle chapters in Acts to see what the Spirit of Christ did in chaotic, changing times. And today's scripture stories remind us of one of the Spirit's activities that were present throughout the Bible, and are still longed for today - and that is, when the Spirit is moving, the Spirit is healing. In today's scripture lesson, the disciple Peter helps a lame man named Aeneas rise up and walk for the first time in eight years. Then he helps a woman named Tabitha come back to life after being pronounced dead. This of course sounds very much like the kind of miracles Jesus performed. And Peter is very clear that that's where the power comes from. He says to Aeneas, 'Jesus Christ heals you.' And that's the kind of thing you can say when the Spirit is moving. That's the kind of power that Christian people can witness and exercise in their lives. We are healers in the name of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit is moving, healing takes place.

Now, we need to chew on that. Because the fact is that the idea of healing, rather than being a vessel of Spirit-power, has often been an intellectual obstacle for many people. And the reason for that is that the kinds of cures that seem so easy and available in the Bible are not so much so in our experiences of real life. Why is it, someone could ask, that Jesus could restore somebody's sight as if it was easy, and then could promise that we His followers would do even greater signs and wonders? And then a churchful of people could pray for a beloved member's healing from a degenerative eye disease, as one church I'm familiar with did - and - no cure. That woman lost her sight. And, no doubt, more than one person in that church lost his or her faith in the power of prayer. How can that happen?

People have made all kinds of attempts to explain: Maybe we prayed wrong, and needed to say this instead of that. Maybe we didn't believe enough. Maybe healing could only take place in the Bible - or could only be done by the Son of God. Maybe only a few gifted people can heal. Maybe the healings in the Bible were the results of their not having our scientific medical knowledge. Or, just the opposite, maybe our scientific medical knowledge gets in the way, and closes us to the healing power of God. And so on. I think you could find plenty wrong with most any of those explanations. But they are honest expressions of something that puzzles us: Jesus promised that we would have the power to heal. When the Spirit moves, the Spirit heals. Here are two stories of Peter exercising that power. Why can't we do that kind of thing today? Or, lest, why do those miracles seem common in the Bible, and rare in real life?

     I don't claim to be able to unravel the mystery of something that has puzzled people for thousands of years. But I believe there are some things we know, and would like to share five of them:

1.      God wants everyone healed. The very nature of God is to desire the best possible life for each of us. 'In all things God works for good,' said the apostle Paul, as a way of saying that God is always on the side of wholeness; of healing. No one wants your healing and mine more than God.

2.      God doesn't always get His way. This is the insight that made a bestseller out of Rabbi Harold Kushner's book When Bad Things Happen to Good People -that even though God is omnipotent, His power can be limited by the situation. There are times that God is limited, for example, by our own free will. There are times when God is limited by the laws of nature, and the balance of one thing against another. Three people who dealt with this in popular entertainment were the writers of the movie Bruce Almighty, a comedy about God allowing a man named Bruce to take over his job for a couple days, just to see what it was like to be God. And Bruce likes it pretty well, except for those millions and millions of prayers that keep whispering in his head, from all over the world, every second of every day. Finally, he just puts out a frustrated, blanket, Yes, to every prayer, and washes his hands of it. Except suddenly, the world is totally out of whack. Weather and climate are all messed up; violence breaks out everywhere as people feel entitled to
everything they want; sports games are chaos as both teams expect to win; people are selfish and callous, and never learn the lessons of patience and suffering. And so on. Rabbi Kushner, and the writers of that movie, are saying the same thing - God has to hold in balance things that we can only imagine, and so sometimes God doesn't get His own way, and for reasons beyond us, suffering continues.

3.      Even so, God never abandons us. When we suffer, God suffers, too. That is what Jesus is all about. God hears those millions of prayers, every one. They break His heart. He never washes His hands of them. And He sent His own Son Jesus to carry the weight of that suffering on His back - to suffer with us. In our worst moments in life - even if such moments are chronic and agonizing, we can be sure of this - Jesus walks beside us, full of compassion and grace, and understands what it is to be stifled by pain, physical, mental, emotional. He bore it all, and still does.

4.      Healing always comes. Jesus, the Great Physician, the Good Shepherd, always brings healing. I have no idea why it comes sooner or later; why sometimes it can only fully come in heaven rather than on earth; why it often comes on the other side of frustration rather than this side. I only know that when the Spirit is moving, the Spirit is healing. And there are some things we need to keep in mind. For example, we should never take for granted the healing that takes place every day in the thousands of hospitals and clinics around the world. Just because we can understand it medically doesn't mean that it is not a God-given miracle every time cancer goes into 'remission because of chemotherapy, or a person finds a new lease on life because of laparoscopic surgery. It is a miracle every time. We should also never take for granted the healing power of kindness, and love, and prayer, and the ministry of dedicated people like Stephens Ministers, and pastoral counselors, and caring friends, and prayer warriors. Over and over again we witness the healing power of what we might call 'ordinary' moments of grace and kindness - but of course they are not 'ordinary' at all. They are beautiful gifts of God. We should also never confuse curing with
healing. Just because a disease is not cured, doesn't mean healing is not happening. As the
apostle Paul realized, when his prayers for a cure for his affliction seemed futile - God's grace was still sufficient for his needs, and God's strength was still seen in Paul's weakness. And finally:

5.      We should always remember that there is a place and a time in God's plan of full healing. There is a place and a time where what could not be perfected here on earth will be fulfilled in heaven - where there will be no such thing as Alzheimer's or cancer or chronic pain. I have absolutely no doubt that many, many people I have prayed with are in that place now, because I have no doubt about God's healing Spirit.

The world is hurting. There is physical sickness; there are broken relationships; there is emotional anguish; there are desperate spirits. There is no room in such a world for superficial religion. Churches that are just going through the motions will not survive the next fifty years, thank heavens. But churches that strive for an authentic voice of faith - churches that are open vessels for the Spirit to move - these will be places of great healing and faith. The world is longing for what is real and powerful. And that is God's Spirit. And we can all give thanks -- a great new generation is rising; God's Spirit is moving; and amazing things are going to happen in this world. And healing will be one of them.

And if you are in pain this moment, take heart. I can't explain the mystery of it; I wouldn't dare to try to trivialize it with trite sayings or shallow promises. But I do believe that there is a Great Physician who is eager to draw near to you with power. That's why we have a healing service this evening. That's why we have Stephen Ministers and a busy prayer chain. Because even though we can't predict it, we can't explain it, we can't understand it or order it -- there is still nothing more powerful or more true that we ca n say to one another: Jesus Christ heals you. And God's grace will be sufficient for the needs of this day.