“Healing for the Chosen”

Scripture: Luke 18:1-8

Have you ever felt that no one was listening to you? Whether you are attempting to express a concern, or a warning, or seek assistance for an injustice, or simply trying to make your voice heard,
it is the worst kind of struggle when you are being ignored and have no hope whatsoever of knowing that anyone cares. And it is even worse when the deaf ear belongs to the very one who can be of the most help.

Read Luke 18:1-3

Moses gave a charge to the judges he appointed to be fair and just in their actions.

Read Deuteronomy 1:16-17

Judge fairly, regardless of who is before you; do not be prejudicial; do not sit in fear of anyone who is powerful or of any decision that is right; God is the ultimate judge.

This parable is offered after Jesus has been teaching about the coming of the Kingdom of God – a time filled with right judgment, perfect judgment, fair judgment – a judgment that will be unlike any that we could possibly find on earth. The woman in the parable not only can’t get a fair judgment, she can’t even get the judge to hear her case! And the plight of a widow was one of the most dire cases a judge could hear. She had no assets, no income, no support of any kind. Many widows had to depend on the generosity of family and close friends for survival, or at the worse, to resort to begging on the street. The judge had an opportunity to ensure that she was cared for, and he wouldn’t even hear her out.

Read Luke 18:4-5

The woman, even though she was living at a lower level of society, never gave up. And eventually, even a man who has no love for either God or other people gets worn down. He makes the decision to grant the woman justice in her situation.
And since this parable is, in truth, about God, we know that the justice she would receive is more than sufficient, and is not simply a matter of law. Her case is resolved, her life is saved, and she is healed from the wrong that has been done to her.

There is the story of a man who came to a holy person seeking healing. The holy person listened patiently as the man listed his complaints and then asked, “Do you really want to be cured?”
The man was shocked by the question and said, “Of course I want to be cured. Why else would I have come?”
To which the holy person replied, “Most come, not to be cured, that is too painful. They come for relief.”
-- Joan Chittister, The Rule of Benedict (New York: Crossroad, 1992), 128.

Why would anyone claim that healing is “painful”? Isn’t it the disease, the illness, the injury that gives us so much pain? Probably because complete healing requires more than just a change in health – it requires a change of heart. Not just a removal of disease, not just a mending of bones, not just the knitting together of a wound, but an entire change in life. As some of you know, my wife Diane has Multiple Sclerosis. For a number of years, she was always trying to prepare for the time when she would lose her mobility and independence. Not only did the disease have a hold on her, but she had a hold on it. Then one day, she was able to claim that she had been healed – not in body, but in her heart and mind. She now witnesses to the fact that, while she still has a few symptoms from time to time, she no longer has fear of the disease, and no longer fears the future. MS no longer has a hold on her, and she has let go of the MS. She has claimed the healing.

Some would claim that this is not the kind of healing that they would want – they want “relief”! But when the heart and soul and intellect are healed, the body is also in a much better condition. When we can finally let go of the pain, when we can claim that the struggle no longer has control over our life, it is then that the healing begins! The widow in our story today didn’t simply receive redress for the wrongs perpetrated against her, but she received justice with all of its ramifications. She would have to begin to accept responsibility for her life, she would have to receive the judgment with grace, she would have to be forgiving and let the past remain in the past, she would have to begin living in the freedom of today and not in the pain of yesterday.
Healing isn’t always easy.

Read Luke 18:6-8

Will the Lord keep delaying the restoration that you have been promised? No, He will not! He will see that you receive justice, and at the perfect time. But we must still persevere in our prayers for that perfect healing – we can never give up, we can never lose heart.
It’s all about the depth of our faith. It isn’t that faith will bring healing, even though it is a big part of it, but the central point of faith is that it sustains us until the time for our renewing finally arrives.

Read Romans 5:3-5

We aren’t expected to rejoice over the fact that we are sick or injured – we are to rejoice in our faith for what God is and will be doing on our behalf through His Holy Spirit.

Today is a day for our healing to begin. And our Lord God, that Judge who wants only the best for us, that marvelous Spirit that is filling us and sustaining us, is listening, and is caring, and is giving.

At this point in our worship, we held a healing service, with an invitation for all who desired to come forward for anointing and prayers.