Glimpses of Grace: A Sermon Series
Grace in Healing
Mark 5: 25-34, by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
January 17, 2016
Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?” ’ He looked all round to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’ – Mark 5: 25-34
Her story of healing has long been an inspiration to me. Through the course of twelve long years she searched for healing. She not only searched but she persevered through great suffering and tough challenges. She had a deep strength but she was growing tired as her illness caused her to feel great isolation. She spent all of her resources and endured much under a number of physicians. Then she heard Jesus was nearby. We do not know if she was desperate for any means to be healed or if hearing the stories about Jesus’ restorative power shifted her trust in God as healer and redeemer. Whatever caused the shift, she then persevered once more and pushed through a large crowd of people with the hope that just touching Jesus’ clothes would bring healing.
The search for healing whether it is physical, emotional, or spiritual is common to our shared human story. And the search itself always brings questions: What will healing look like? How long will this pain endure? How can a loving God allow suffering in the world? These are questions with no easy answers, if any answers.
I want to assure you that God does not cause suffering in the world. There are the sufferings we experience in natural disasters and the sufferings we experience physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We do not fully understand why suffering, pain, and death are a part of the human experience. Many theologians believe our sufferings evidence the broken world we live in. The Christian faith does not protect us from sufferings and hardships. Instead faith shapes our ability to persevere through them with hope.
The whole of Scripture reveals God is working to heal the brokenhearted and bind up our wounds. Reconciliation and restoration are always God’s intentions. Through Jesus Christ and the Spirit’s power God promises to take our broken bodies, our broken relationships, our broken spirits and restore them into a mosaic of healing, wholeness, and new life. The broken pieces of our lives are mended by trust and grace; trust in God’s power and grace that fosters peace. And that peace makes a path towards wholeness.
In my limited human understanding I have to lean into the wise faith and stories that others have shared about the journey of healing.
The Rev. Dr. Steve Hayner was the ninth President of Columbia Theological Seminary, my alma mater. Steve was also one of my professors, a mentor, and friend. His wife Sharol is also a pastor and friend of mine. This couple has inspired many over the past forty years of their ministries. It was near Easter of 2014 that Steve was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was 66 years young at the diagnosis. Steve and Sharol shared their journey of perseverance and healing through Caring Bridge journal entries which were published into a book last year, entitled “Joy in the Journey.” Steve’s healing ultimately came through God’s eternal wholeness. He entered the Church Triumphant January 31, 2015. I have found Sharol’s and Steve’s words so authentic and inspiring and feel they speak into our shared search for healing – not just cancer.
Sharol – One word that describes my inner life is quiet. I’ve experienced amazing peace and the ability to take one day at a time. I’ve felt sheltered (even hindered) from looking ahead and have had a profound sense of the importance of each day. This could only be a gift from God – that ‘surpasses human understanding’ kind of peace described in Philippians 4.
In the midst of quiet, I’ve thought about so many things. I’ve pondered the ways we talk about hope. We hope for this and we hope for that as if the fulfillment of our hopes will be a positive outcome or the measure of our contentment or success.
I’ve wondered what to hope for. Complete healing? Long life? A few more months or years? But I’m newly aware of the many places in Scripture, especially in the Psalms, where hope is centered in God alone. God is the one secure place for my hope because it’s not dependent on my changing circumstances. God is so much bigger and more powerful than my circumstances. How very freeing (Joy in the Journey, p. 39-40).
Steve – One person told me how disturbing it is to her to watch so many prayers on my behalf and yet (so far) to see minimal physical evidence of healing. Does God really heal?
Honestly, while I understand the importance and logic of questions like this, most of these questions are not ones that are important to me.
I truly don’t know what God has planned. I could receive “healing” through whatever means, or I could continue to deteriorate. Of course, what we would love to see is significant healing. With God, nothing is impossible and I would certainly welcome a miraculous intervention.
But life is a lot more than physical health. It is measured by a lot more than medical tests and vital signs.
More important than the more particular aspects of God’s work with us (in the physical, social, psychological, spiritual, mental realms of life) is God’s overall presence with us, nourishing, equipping, transforming, empowering and sustaining us for whatever might be God’s call for us today.
Today my call might be to learn something new about rest.
Today my call might be to encourage another person in some very tangible way.
Today my call might be to learn something new about patience, endurance, and identification with those who suffer.
Today my call might be to mull through a new insight about God’s truth or character.
The prayers and support of people along the way are also about God’s call to each of them (and me!) today. As people pray, we are all changed, and we are all called to focus in a new way. We are all changed as individuals and as a community (Joy in the Journey, p. 61-62).
And in listening to many stories in this congregation I have been inspired by a common thread among your many voices that gives me hope. As we search for healing and wholeness, there is a liberating truth that enters our brokenness – whether it is physical, emotional or spiritual. That liberating truth is that God loves us just as we are. It is the knowledge of God’s love for us that causes a shift in our spirit to grow in our trust of God’s presence and promises. God’s love nurtures a growing trust in God as our healer and redeemer.
It is God’s love that breaks the isolation we feel in our times of need. We are assured that we are a beloved child of God, that we are valued, and that we are never alone. We experience God’s love in profound ways in the community of faith. We sense Christ is drawing near to us through cards and phone calls of concern, casseroles of care, and prayers lifted on our behalf.
The gift of faith is a never-failing resource for us as we search for healing. And we cannot spend it all. Our trust is in God alone – the one we belong to in body and soul, in life and in death. And in the moments when our faith feels depleted then God’s gift of faith and trust upholds us by the grace of community. The sisters and brothers in our community of faith trust God’s power for us when our questions and doubts overpower us. The gift of faith and prayer changes us as it creates a space to be held in God’s grace.
In our search for healing we are ultimately changed knowing that Christ embodies the full measure of God’s love for humanity. Christ also identifies with our suffering. Christ knows the isolation that is common to our brokenness. Christ knows the full endurance of our pain for it is by his wounds that we know the full measure of God’s healing. Christ’s death and resurrection point to God’s sure and certain promise of hope that God is making all things new.
As we wait for healing…waiting for the cast to come off, waiting for the last chemo treatment, waiting for the broken relationship to be more fully mended, waiting for surgical recovery… as we wait for healing we trust that God desires healing for us. Always.
When I have the privilege to pray with someone who is in need of healing I have found myself praying two specific blessings over their hearts and time of need. I always pray that this individual and family may lean into a deeper trust of God. And I always pray that this individual and family may feel God’s deep embrace in the journey ahead. In every story of healing that I have heard so far in this privilege of ministry, the ability to trust God and the knowledge of God’s intimate presence are two of the most important things in the life of faith.
While we trust and pray for God’s healing to bring a sense of peace and restored health, mended hearts and renewed spirits, we do acknowledge the limitations in our human understanding. We may not know what healing will fully look like, what the journey will entail tomorrow, or when healing will become fully realized. We trust in receiving glimpses of healing in our earthly home and we confess our certain hope to fully experience God’s healing and wholeness in our heavenly home.
May we receive glimpses of grace knowing that God goes ahead of us and hems us behind. May we lean into a deeper trust that God is with us every step of the journey and may we feel God’s deep embrace in the journey ahead.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
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