Truly Healed

"Today's Devotion" For February 23, 2005

Read: Mark 2:1-12
Psalm 20

TRULY HEALED

"Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk?'" (Mk. 2:9)

The news is not good. According to the latest reports there's a potential epidemic of HIV and AIDS getting ready to strike all over the world. It seems that the HIV virus has mutated into a more virulent form, one which even the "chemical cocktails" currently used for treatment won't be able to slow down. According to the reports I've recently read in the newspapers, it seems that the people most susceptible to this new strain of HIV will be "gay" men who, according to the most recent reports, appear to be growing more promiscuous and avoiding abstinence and "safe" relations. What's more important is that the epidemic isn't expected to remain within the "gay" population. Scientists aren't confident that they can find a "cure" or effective treatment for this new strain.

Another major medical and health challenge is facing the world and the United States at this time as well. According to what I read in Monday's newspaper, it seems that there's a new strain of avian flu virus which is expected to mutate into a potential more virulent form of human flu virus than has ever been seen before. Scientists are scrambling to be prepared to meet the challenge, but based on current medical science, they appear to have grave doubts as to whether an effective "retrovirus" can be developed to combat the disease. We're being warned to be alert for this flu to come our way.

At the U. S. Army's Walter Reed Medical Center and at the U. S. Navy's Bethesda National Naval Medical Center, wounded military personnel arrive on a daily basis from the War on Terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq. Some of these men and women will recover from their wounds and injuries and return to duty or civilian life in due time. Others, unfortunately, are in the hospital for long stays for multiple surgeries, recovery regimes, physical therapy, and prosthesis fittings. Their return to duty or civilian life any time soon is in grave doubt. What has happened to them will affect them for the rest of their lives. Total healing and recovery is, in many of their cases, not very likely.

No matter which medical circumstance we face from those noted above (and many others that afflict human beings), the one thing that we can be certain about is that absolute and total healing or eradication of diseases isn't very realistic thinking. Human beings are going to be subject to pain, suffering, injury, illness, and disease for as long as the earth exists. God's intention at Creation was that we would live in a perfectly healthy and blessed relationship with Him forever. When Adam and Eve disobeyed Him in the Garden of Eden that whole intention went out the window. From that moment on, our live, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually have been subjected to all sorts of decay and disease.

Matthew brings this reality of life to light as he recounts, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Jesus' encounter with the paralyzed man of Capernaum. Greatly loved by his friends, this man, after great effort on the part of those friends, was lowered through the roof of the house where Jesus was teaching. Jesus' immediate response was to go to the very heart of the man's condition--his sinful nature. Instead of healing his obvious physical infirmity, Jesus' heals his spiritual infirmity. The scribes present in the house listening to Jesus couldn't get past Jesus' declaration of forgiveness to the man. Their thoughts betrayed their unbelief and Jesus address them, "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk?'" (Mk. 2:9).

The reality of sickness, disease, illness, and the loss of limbs and permanent physical injury will always be with us. We can never escape the ravages of sin and evil that affect the human body. Yet we can take hope and comfort in the truth that Jesus is our Savior and Lord, Who has redeemed us from the power of Sin, Death, and Satan. We no longer are held hostage to these by faith in Christ. While Jesus had the power to tell the paralytic to get up and walk, and he did, it's a power that we don't have. But Jesus also had the power to forgive the man's sins so that the righteousness of Christ might rest on him. By faith in Him, as we bear witness to the Gospel, we are also recipients of the power to forgive sins and provide spiritual healing, in Christ, to others. While we may not be able to stop AIDS, prevent a flu epidemic, or restore lost limbs, we are able to share God's healing grace and mercy in Christ with others. We are truly healed in Christ of the most terrible, most devastating, and most eternal of all maladies known to humanity--our sins. That's what being truly healed really means, and it's a message needed by the whole world.

Prayer: Father, I thank You that in Christ You have healed me of the most devastating of all diseases--Sin. Because of Your forgiveness in Christ, I am able to live a life that is full of health, well-being, peace, and joy, not because my life is perfect but because I have received Your love, grace, and mercy. Lead me to share that same healing with others as I share Your forgiveness with those who sin against me. Strengthen me in my faith that I may live a life that is truly healed and filled with life and hope to share with those in need of Your love and healing of their sins in Jesus; in Whose precious name I pray. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck

Copyright © 2005 Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved.