For: The Institute Of Contemporary And
Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s
University, Essentials Blue Online Worship
Theology Course With Dan Wilt
My friend brought something strange up last night while we were discussing the gospel: “Isn’t it amazing that Jesus physically healed people?” I immediately found this to be a very strange question. I thought, “Yes, of course it’s amazing…it’s a miracle but it doesn’t really amaze me any more really.” It’s something I guess I’ve just come to accept. Jesus was God; He could and can do anything. She then went on to expound upon this by saying that she finds it amazing because Jesus took time to individually heal people…their bodies. He wasn’t just here to teach people truth so that they could improve their thought and spiritual lives, but their bodies as well; holistic healing. And we know that God’s promise entails healing for the earth and the animals as well. Setting all to rights and bringing peace. I hadn’t really considered this fully from her angle until she brought this up. I had just kind of assumed that Jesus healed as a sign to point to His divine message and role as the God-man, the Messiah; a way of proving that He had authority way beyond the other teachers who may have risen up during that time and gained followings. Of course, this is all true as well. Just as His resurrection from the dead was the ultimate sign that He was the real thing. But, there’s also this other side to it all which I hadn’t fully considered. His miracles proved that God is not only capable of these things, but pointed toward the reality of God’s intension to do these things fully, for all those who believe, in the future. At the appointed time when Christ returns and His Kingdom is fully and finally united with a restored universe, these things will be accomplished. God really is about re-humanizing us. Restoring us and helping us to fully live more and more fully. The wages of sin really are death. Without Jesus’ redemptive love at work in us, this world and the sin we all commit, deaden us a little more each day. When God begins to peel back the dead layers of our lives, it hurts but once we feel the healing begin, we can’t help but truly worship Him. He reveals His goodness as Abba Father by helping us live again so that we can be restored to right-relationship with Him.
