August 25, 2009
Healing
Posted by Jack
I thought I would put down a few words on the term “healing,” and what we mean by it in the context of reGROUP. I suppose this applies to the context of the Gospel too.
Healing is a powerful word, particularly when used in the spiritual sense. For some, it may be loaded with images of “healing lines,” where people literally line up to be healed—usually by a preacher dressed in a polyester zoot suit. There’s “fainting in the spirit”, “slaying in the spirit” or just plain hokey-ness involved. See Chevy Chase in Fletch Lives…
Let me say that this is not the kind of healing I am talking about. And it doesn’t mean that there is not physical healing in what I am talking about. Unequivocally, I do believe in physical healing. However, healing in the reGROUP context is a bit more practical and, therefore, a bit more understanding is involved.
For an excellent description of what healing looks like in the context of the Gospel and the Kingdom coming through Christ, read John 7:22-24.
Here we see Jesus bringing healing to the whole man on the Sabbath. To the onlooker, this was a troubling event. Not because someone was healed—believe it or not, that actually happened from time to time when a prophet showed up—but rather because the healing took place on the Sabbath.
The Sabbath. A day when no work was supposed to be done, even by a “Super Rabbi”/prophet. So the religious people got all up in arms. But Jesus, true to form, is way ahead of them. He’s sending them a message wrapped in a proclamation.
The message is this: the Gospel of the Kingdom coming addresses the WHOLE man. It comes to heal and to make Holy. Healing and holiness come together. They are not the same thing, necessarily, but now they come together as a necessity. They are separate no longer. Healing comes to make holiness possible. Holiness is possible because healing has come.
So what kind healing are we talking about in reGROUP?
Healing comes in two forms. The healing of integration, including the physical body, mind, soul and spirit. And the healing of meaning. Both are essential to a whole, healed, put together life (Romans 6:22-23 The Message). Both are targets at reGROUP. As we become more whole, holiness becomes more available to us. We can live the life that Jesus lived. It’s available.
