“And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.”

Jesus was, first and foremost, a Healer. Today’s gospel speaks of a huge crowd seeking healing in mind, body and spirit. The apostles were there, a great gathering of his disciples were there, and people from all over the country had come to see Jesus and to seek healing. It’s a powerful scene.

If you read through the gospels, you find that Jesus healed people of physical ailments and diseases and of psychological problems. He was a Healer who recognized that there was no one technique that worked for everybody. Some people he touched, and they were healed; some he did not touch and they were still healed. Others he healed by words alone, and one he healed with a smear of mud.

Throughout the four gospels, you hear over and over again the healing words that Jesus spoke that changed life for people. Here is just a sampling of those healing words:

- Daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace.

- Do you want to be made well?

- I do choose. Be made clean.

- Stand up, take your bed and go to your home.

- Unbind him, and let him go.

- Woman, you are set free from your ailment.

- Your faith has saved you, go in peace.

- Get up and do not be afraid.

The words he spoke to them are words he still speaks to us. Jesus came to heal us and to save us. Often, we focus so narrowly on the word “save” that we miss its larger meaning. We think of being saved as a heartfelt belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior. We know that belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior means that we will ultimately go to heaven. That is certainly true, but to focus on believing in Jesus so we can get to heaven is to miss the larger meaning and more important meaning of being saved.

Over and over again in the gospel stories, when we read the word “saved”, it is a translation of the Greek word “sozo”. That word has a variety of meanings – including to be saved, to be made whole, to be healed, to be made well, and to be restored to health. Jesus as our Lord and Savior wants to make us whole. The ministry of Jesus mirrors God’s intention to restore all people to wholeness and health. Jesus must have been thrilled to have seen such a large crowd gathered on that day, described in Luke’s gospel.

I have no doubt – no doubt – that we want to be made whole too. We’re a large crowd, like the one in Luke’s gospel, and we too come seeking healing in mind, body and spirit. It’s an ongoing journey for us – this call to wholeness and health.

I believe that we totally trust that God’s intention is to restore us all to wholeness and health, except when it comes to why some people are physically healed and why some are not. We pray for loved ones to be made well, and it doesn’t happen; we pray for a physical cure and it doesn’t come. Perhaps it is important to remember that all physical healing is temporary – if you remember the Bible – all those who Jesus healed physically would someday die. One writer said, and I personally found this very helpful, “Sometimes the human body does not respond to any kind of therapy. However, when the container in which we live is hopelessly flawed, the contents can be wonderfully whole.” I can think of so many people I’ve known, suffering from cancer or a host of other debilitating illnesses, who were, nonetheless, wonderfully whole. I know you know such folk too.

Jesus offers us healing, but amazingly enough, he also calls us to be healers in his name. That’s what being the Body of Christ is all about – to carry on the work of Jesus. As members of the church, we’re to allow the healing power of Christ’s love to flow through us in the time on earth we’ve been given, here in the 21st century. “When Jesus gave the ministry of healing to his disciples, he intended Christians to serve as instruments through which God’s healing love can flow, God’s wholeness can be realized, and God’s salvation can be completed.”

I got to thinking about the healing ministry that exists at St. Andrew’s, and it astounded me when I “counted it all up.” We offer a Healing Eucharist on Tuesdays with anointing and the laying on of hands. We have an associate rector in Bob Hamilton who is the essence of what it meant by the word “pastor”, and whose life work is centered in prayer and healing and pastoral care for those who are sick. We have a Pastoral Care Associate in Debbie Dowd who is both a psychologist and a person of prayer. We have at least two parishioners who are trained as adjunct chaplains and work at Moses Cone.

We have a Prayer Chain of about 30 members that regularly intercedes for those who are sick or hurting. We have over 20 Stephen Ministers who desire to accompany people through difficult times, and who are committed, as faith friends, to lives of intercessory prayer. We have a very wide Care Net that participates in the ministry of healing through practical, hands-on acts of caring.

We have parishioners who are doctors, nurses, psychologists, and counselors. We have parishioners who are art therapists, physical therapists, and occupational therapists. We have parishioners who, as Lay Eucharistic Ministers, carry the Eucharist – the healing body and blood of Christ – to those who are sick or unable to get to church. And that doesn’t even count all of you who pray for others, and who are instruments of Christ’s healing love through your words and through your actions, day in and day out.

St. Andrew’s is a place of healing, it is a place for healing, and it is a place full of healers. In our worship today, we’ll offer ourselves up as channels of the healing power of Christ through our prayers, but we will also be offered the healing power of Christ in our Eucharist. “The body of Christ, the bread of heaven. The blood of Christ, the cup of salvation.” We’re fed with the life of Christ himself and it is healing food.

The amazing grace is that Christ uses us just as we are – imperfect, broken, in need of healing ourselves – and uses us nonetheless to be a channel of healing for others. And so we now pray,

In the name of God and trusting in his might alone,

May we receive Christ’s healing touch to make us whole. Amen.

May Christ bring us wholeness of body, mind and spirit,

deliver us from every evil, and give us his peace. Amen.

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ grant us

the riches of his grace, his wholeness and his peace. Amen.

May the almighty Lord,

who is a strong tower to all who put their trust in him,

whom all things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth obey,

be now and evermore our defense.

May we believe and trust that the only name under heaven

given for health and wholeness; for salvation and healing

is the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

AMEN.