Incomplete Healing

For the past couple weeks I've been meditating on the ministry of reconciliation and focusing especially on the guidance the Apostle James gives,

"Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. ¹⁴Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working" (James 5:13-16).

 I pick up today's meditations at v. 15, "the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick. . ."


Obviously prayer of any sort cannot save anyone. Our eternal salvation rests forever upon our Lord's sacrificial life and death (Acts 4:12). James certainly knew that. What then did he mean to say? The word save is part of our problem. We are talking about sickness, most especially sickness of heart and soul. This is far more important than the physical illnesses any of us may suffer. At stake is our eternal destiny. Should we lose our faith in Jesus, we have nothing to offer in payment for our sins—nothing. Our salvation rests completely upon our trust and faith in Jesus (Romans 3:21-25). So James speaks about the prayer of one who believes in the one and only Savior. In Jesus that believer finds forgiveness. In Jesus he receives renewed life and an outpouring of Christ's Spirit. His prayers for mercy and forgiveness turn into praise and thanksgiving.

James continues, "and the Lord will raise him up." 


Jesus can and does raise us up from our sickness, just as he gave the paralyzed man renewed strength to rise from his bed and go home (Matthew 9:5-7). For that we do indeed pray, but Jesus gives us an even greater gift when we throw ourselves upon His mercy. That more significant life is received when we die with Jesus in baptism and rise with him to a life that will never end (Romans 6:4-9; 8:11). That dying and rising happens each time we confess our sins and receive forgiveness. Healed by the presence and power of Jesus, our physical being is often restored and raised up. Yet even if the Lord allows our faith to be tested by continued illness, we find peace and hope in our hearts because our sins are fully and completely forgiven and we are the Lord's.


"and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven." 


When faith has been weakened by idolatry, lust, slander, shame, fear, doubt, the loss of vocation and on and on, the believer needs to hear Jesus speak to him/her individually, "Your sins are forgiven. Go in peace." It is not enough to hear some general absolution spoken in Sunday worship. The forgiveness longed for must be spoken to the specific sinner and to his or her specific sins. And then joy comes. And with that joy comes renewed strength for the next task. Listen to James.

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed." 


As I said in my previous blog, more often than not further work remains. The sins confessed have broken and destroyed relationships and lives. Before moving forward the pastor knows he must be reconciled with those who slandered and maligned him. The adulterous husband longs for forgiveness and peace between himself and his estranged wife and children. The schemer who has bilked clients out of thousands of dollars wants more than to pay off his debts. This is the healing James speaks about and it takes hundreds of different shapes and forms, but healing can and does happen when we open our lives to Jesus. He is the healer of all our diseases (1 Peter 2:24).

Yet all too often the pastor who has been driven to despair by conflicts with congregation members, accepts a Call to another congregation. His sickness has not been healed. Wounded and only partially healed of his heart illness, that pastor may carry his disease into his new congregation. Wounded and damaged by their conflict with that pastor, those same former congregation members no longer trust any pastor. When a new pastor arrives in their midst the same conflicts break out and the illness continues.

The wife offended, hurt and severely damaged by her husband's unfaithfulness, sues for a divorce. She wants nothing less than never to see him again. The pain and suffering in her heart continue. Her husband, in turn, continues to carry guilt and shame for what he has done, even though he has confessed his sins and received forgiveness. The healing for the relationship and the family is certainly incomplete.

The schemer who tricked fellow Christians out of their life savings may have repaid his debts, but he has not and cannot heal the soul sickness that he has caused. Much work remains.

Only when sinners confess their sins to one another and learn to pray for one another, can there be healing, the healing that comes only from the Great Physician. He said, "I came that you may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10).

I will discuss this process in more detail next time.