One of the names of God is
Jehovah-Rapha.
The word “rapha” is typically translated
“heal”
meaning, “The God who Heals.”
But, the heart of this word means
“to mend, repair, or restore” something.
Healings in scripture are much more than stories
about a person on his or her luckiest day.
They are also compass points,
mile markers,
notches in the tree trunks along the path,
laser pointers,
marking and illuminating
the ways and places the God of Mending,
the God of Repairs,
the God of Restoration breaks into our world.
There are dozens of powerful healing stories
in the New Testament
in which people on their luckiest day
encounter Jehovah-Rapha.
Bent-over women stand up.
Leprous skin becomes fresh and whole.
Fevered women arise.
Demons plunge over a cliff.
Bodies exit the tomb.
And yet,
despite these miraculous stories of
mending, repairing, restoring,
we know that Jesus was unable to heal
everyone.
And we know that each person Jesus healed;
each person brought back from the dead,
each person restored to health and wholeness,
Eventually died.
All healing this side of eternity
is temporary and partial.
So, the healing stories,
like the one we encounter today,
must be primarily about Jesus
and who He is.
They are encounters with the living God.
Encounters that offer a small glimpse of heaven.
Encounters pointing to
the richness and abundance of the Kingdom.
Encounters that shout the Good News
that the God of Mending is with us;
the God of Repair shares our pain;
the God of Restoration longs for us
to become whole.
Jehovah-Rapha breaks into human life
and human conditions,
shattering bonds,
removing barriers,
unlocking chains
and setting captives free.
But these healing stories are more.
Much more.
They go far beyond the issues of wellness,
healing, abundance, and glimpses of new life.
Healing stories are also provocative,
even subversive at times.
They usually place Jesus directly into the
margins of society,
face-to-face with people and places and situations
that challenge and disrupt business as usual.
His healings,
like this one today,
raise difficult—
even dangerous questions of shame,
Prejudice,
Purity laws,
Boundaries,
Sin,
Resource allocations,
Power structures.
Serious illness does more
than wound our bodies—
it cuts deep into our souls.
Chronic and acute pain
can sever relationships and poison love.
Disease can weaken us,
even as it constructs barriers,
erodes finances,
generates fear and anxiety.
Illness has a long reach.
Its grasp extends far beyond the patient,
taking up residence with family and community.
It can generate disruptive memories
and troubled conditions that linger
long after physical health is restored.
Jesus, the embodiment of Jehovah-Rapha,
wasn’t as interested in curing disease
as he was in mending,
restoring,
repairing lives to wholeness,
and constructing and sustaining
communities of wellness.
These healing stories remind us
that there are public consequences to illness
and public blessings in wellness.
His healing ministry took direct aim
at issues that isolate us from each other,
in issues that poison love and fracture relationships.
Issues such as prejudice,
racial hatred,
purity laws,
inequity,
indifference,
poverty,
toxic leadership,
mis-use of power.
Jesus healed people
that society rejected as worthless.
He touched people
that the world labeled as unclean.
He spoke to people
that others shunned.
He walked those lonely paths
that lead directly to the borders.
He stepped into the margins
and brought healing
into dangerous and forgotten corners
where the demons of broken lives flourish.
These healing stories invite us to consider:
Which leprous bodies are visible in our world?
Whose cries do we hear?
What boundaries do we dare to cross?
Who in our world
receives medical and pastoral care?
Who is refused?
Cast aside?
Left behind?
Like Jesus,
we cannot heal everyone.
But that doesn’t mean healing is unimportant.
We cannot focus so narrowly
on the next world,
that we ignore the needs
embedded in this world.
God became incarnate.
God took on flesh, and bone, and sinew;
God became weight and color and form.
God became embodied.
And because of this,
our bodies matter.
They have value.
Like our spirit and our sparks of creativity—
Like our joy
and hope
and faith,
our bodies connect us to God
and reveal a glimpse of the divine.
Healing stories invite us
to bring an embodied faith
into the world--
to imitate the healing ministry of Jesus
by valuing wholeness and restoration.
Healing stories invite us to see that
individual suffering affects the community.
That the illness of one body
affects the whole Body of Christ.
In the end,
healing stories are almost always
sending-out-on-mission stories.
They often conclude with the leper,
the demon possessed,
the newly sighted,
the standing upright person
evangelizing,
witnessing,
proclaiming a new story.
Their witness reminds us that
the blessing that comes with healing and restoration
is not a personal privilege,
it is rocket fuel,
launching us back into the community
to share the Good News that Jehovah-Rapha,
the God of Mending,
continues to break into our world.
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