Thankful, healed bodies and hearts

I enjoyed last weekend on vacation. Here is the message for the healing service Wed. Oct 6. 

Luke 17:11-19

There are many healing stories in the gospels, and this is one of the more famous ones.

I think it’s unfair to talk about people as if they are their diseases. For example, we don’t talk about the cancerites, we talk about – and pray for – people with cancer. So, lepers are people suffering from a disease.

People in the Bible with leprosy had contagious skin diseases, which may or may not have included what we now call Hansen’s Disease. They were other diseases, also grouped under the title of leprosy. Many of these diseases had an “ick factor” to them, like pus and oozing and redness.

At that time, the best way to protect the rest of the community from contagious diseases was to isolate them from other people, including their families. They would have depended on their families and the others in the community to feed them and care for them.  

Jesus and the disciples, as they went from Galilee to Jerusalem, walked through a border area, near Samaria. They encountered a group of people, both Jews and Samaritans, suffering from skin diseases, living on the fringe of their communities, enemies joined together by their common illness.

They must have heard about Jesus, because they knew his name, and that he had healing powers. They called out, asking for mercy. Usually, mercy included gifts of food. Their hope was that mercy from Jesus meant healing. This group of sick people got their wish; Jesus did heal them.

Only one of them thought to say thanks. I think the rest were more focused on obeying Jesus' words – “Go, show yourselves to the priests. They can declare you clean and send you home to your families.” The Samaritan – maybe he was the only Samaritan in the group – would have gone to a different priest, and that may have caused him to think more about the source of the healing. He turned around to say “thank you” to Jesus.

During his time on earth, Jesus healed many, but by no means all people. Today, when we pray for healing, I’m not sure we really expect it to happen. And, so, we spiritualize it – healing is maybe not for our bodies but more (or only) for our spirits.

Especially as our bodies get older, we have more aches and pains and body parts that don’t work well, and we know our bodies will die – and we are getting closer and closer to that day all the time. Our bodies tell us that!

Certainly, healing of our bodies doesn’t always happen; but sometimes it does. Medical miracles as simple as an epidural shot in the back, or a shot in the eye for macular degeneration, or a replacement knee give us renewed energy, and more years of service in Jesus’ name than we thought possible.

For this kind of healing, we can and should give our repeated thanks not just to the doctors but to the Lord who makes healing possible.

There comes a time, however, when our bodies can no longer be healed, and we need to turn our focus to the next life – the life when we assume we will have our old, healthy body back, our youthful energy restored, and all the time in the world to give thanks to God who loves us enough to bring us into eternal life.

Let us not forget to give thanks along the way, whether we are being healed in body or not. We know that our spirits have already been healed by the Lord who came to give us life, abundant life in his name. They continue to be healed as we turn to God with thankful hearts each day. Amen