Jesus the Healer: The Healing Process

Just to know that healing is a mystery – that it’s complicated and not all that simple – should free us from any need to give simplistic answers to people who wonder why they are not totally healed.  ~ Francis Macnutt 

Welcome dear friend, to a series on the healing stories of Jesus. The root of the word healing in New Testament Greek, sozo, is the same as that of salvation and wholeness.  (UM Book of Worship)

I invite you to enter into a time of deep prayer with scripture, "Lectio Divina" as we explore one of the healing stories of Jesus.  Gather your journal if you have one, your bible and something to write with or simply use your computer, I've provided everything you need.

When I read scripture I have the distinct impression that healing in the biblical sense is instantaneous.  Words like "immediately" are heard often, especially in the book of Mark.  Life becomes confusing to suffering people when they pray so fervently only to feel that their prayers have fallen on the floor before taking off to heaven.  At least that is how I feel when I take to heart what Jesus says, “Ask and you will receive.”   I think healing in the real life sense is much more complicated.  Healing IS a mystery.  More often our healing comes from physicians and medications, and slowly … that is, if doctors can find out what is wrong with us.  Further disheartening it must be when we know something is wrong and someone tells us it is "all in our head," or worse.  When I consider the whole person, I find that healing is a process.  Even when we are healed from physical or mental illness "immediately," we often still cope with the multifaceted aspects of emotional, spiritual, physical and communal changes. 

Today's passage is in contrast to most healing passages as the text hints at a process which begins with Jesus' intention but is completed with time.  Take a moment to begin with a "Breath Prayer"

Breathing in ... Come, Healing Jesus 
Breathing out ... Heal the world with signs and wonders
Repeat your breath prayer until you feel relaxed and centered

Pray for illumination of the text, use this one or pray what emerges from within you:   Healing Jesus, shine light from within the text and shimmer in my heart with wisdom and grace.  Help me find signs and wonders in the most simple things of life.  Amen.

1.  Lectio/Read:   John 4:46-53 (NET) As you read, perhaps there is a word or phrase that will draw you to it.  Pay attention. Turn the word or phrase over and over in your mind.  Simply sit with your word or phrase and be grateful.  

signs and wonders ... signs and wonders ... signs and wonders ... 

Now [Jesus] came again to Cana in Galilee where he had made the water wine. In Capernaum there was a certain royal official whose son was sick. When he heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and begged him to come down and heal his son, who was about to die. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders you will never believe!” “Sir,” the official said to him, “come down before my child dies.”  Jesus told him, “Go home; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and set off for home.  While he was on his way down, his slaves met him and told him that his son was going to live. So he asked them the time when his condition began to improve, and they told him, “Yesterday at one o’clock in the afternoon the fever left him.” Then the father realized that it was the very time Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he himself believed along with his entire household.

2.  Meditatio/Meditation

Read the text a second time.  You may find that the same word has energy for you, but you may also find that another word has become more alive with meaning.  Pay attention.  Take your word and write freely, in your journal or on your computer.  Don't think about what you are writing as you let God lead you deeper.

signs and wonders ... help people believe ... is that bad?  signs and wonders ... but not all at once ... is that a rebuke?  signs and wonders ... few and far between and simple but yes, we still get them ... do I need them in order to believe?  signs and wonders ... I want them ... come Healing Jesus!

3. Oratio/Pray 

Read the text a third time.  Then read your own writing if you wrote anything.  Are there any connections you can make between what you read and the writing that flowed from your reading?  How do you respond to the depth of belief God is calling you to? Take a moment to write again in your journal or on your computer as a prayer in response to what you have heard.   

Healing Jesus, for some reason as I think of signs and wonders, I think of simple things.  Yes, healing is a mystery, it is not simplistic but at the same time I find deep signs and wonders in the simple things of life.  I think of the time when I was devastated by the news of my niece's impending death from cancer.  It was the simplicity of a tiny acorn and the simple words of Julian of Norwich, "in this is all that is" that comforted me and opened me to God's presence as I made that journey into her passing.  Every day simple things are signs and wonders of your presence, your grace, your love.  I've seen the simple act of love heal the most emotionally devastating wounds.  Love in telling the story of life, love in listening, love in smiling, love in gentle words and touch, love in an acorn ... love, love, love.  And yet it is still a process.  It is as if love has to seep into a person from all the tiny cracks and openings until suddenly a dam bursts within.  That is the way I have experienced your healing on my soul.  Often as I journey with people in the healing process after surgery or accident or illness ... the slowing that comes reveals your presence in surprising ways.  And yet, there are so many others that have not yet begun to see the signs and wonders of your love, they are drowning in their illness without a vision of life in its fullness.  They have not yet begun to see signs and wonders and they are lost.  They need the signs and wonders of your deep, deep love to believe you are real, to believe they can be healed.  Lord, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy.  Lord, have mercy!

The mystic Julian of Norwich, holding an acorn in her hand said of it, “In this is all that is.”

 4. Contemplatio/Contemplation 

Take a moment to pause.  Allow your breath prayer to emerge again.  You can use the same one from the beginning or perhaps a new one will emerge for you.  As you continue to pray, let the words fade away into silence. Spend time simply "be"ing with God. 

Breathing in ... Come, Healing Jesus 
Breathing out ... Show me the signs and wonders of life
Repeat your breath prayer until it fades into silence ... 

Allow your experience of praying with this healing story of Jesus to come to a close when you are ready to move on.  Let the Spirit lead you and guide you into the presence of God as you engage your life as a loving and healing presence to others.

Close with a prayer to send yourself into the world, use this one or pray what emerges from within you:  Healing Jesus, yes.  I do need signs and wonders, but they need not be big.  Help me to see the simple signs and wonders of life.  Help me to rejoice each day in simplicity.  Amen.