(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)
When I lead healing services or offer prayers for healing, people often come forward asking prayer not for themselves, but for others. They are right in line with the people of Jesus’ day. This is what happened when Jesus and the disciples came ashore after their adventure on the high seas:
When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.
People came to hear what Jesus had to say, to hear his stories and wonder at his teaching. But his healing really drew crowds. For Jesus there was no distinction between preaching and healing. “Proclaim the Good News and heal the sick!” he commanded his followers when he sent them out. Healing and other signs of God’s power demonstrated Jesus’ message: that the realm of God was near, in fact was right here, is right here, coexistent with this earthly realm, and breaking through every time we exercise faith.
Words alone rarely have power to transform lives, but words married to actions that express them can change the world. St. Paul knew this as he went about his missionary journeys. As he wrote to the church in Corinth, “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” (I Cor. 2:4) Indeed. The church neglects the ministry of healing to its own detriment, and to the impoverishment of a world that needs the gifts the Spirit has given us.
Jesus’ power to heal is undiminished. Only now, he heals through us, and we invite people to bring friends to him not on mats, but in the power of prayer. We can use our imaginations as we intercede. Instead of just lifting up a name or a story, let’s imagine Jesus in our midst, and see ourselves bringing those for whom we pray right into his presence. Be attentive to what you see in prayer – sometimes the Spirit uses images to clue us in to an underlying cause, or to where healing is starting. I was praying for someone once and had a picture of Jesus with his hand on the back of her neck, where many nerves come together. I don’t know quite what that meant, but I noticed it and gave thanks.
Who would you bring to Jesus if he was in your town? Want to try a prayer experiment? Get quiet and centered, and ask Jesus where he might be for you today. If a place comes to mind, go with it. What do you see and hear, smell and feel? Do you take time with him before you bring in your friends? When you’re ready, imagine escorting the people for whom you are concerned right into his presence. How do they interact with him in your imagination? How do you respond?
Whatever you experience in that prayer time, know that God has heard your prayer, and that God is not idle. Invite Jesus to add his perfect faith to your imperfect faith, and release the outcome to God as fully as you can. Every time it comes back up, gently say, “I thank you, Lord, that you desire wholeness for all.” And believe that the Word made flesh has the power to transform everything.
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