Lent Day 35: The worship of goodness and life

Why do we go to church? Why do we get together as a community? Why do we partake of communion and why do we listen to the word of God? Is it to adhere to certain time frames and rules? Is it to meet people and talk and share news? Or is it to pray for the well being of one another? If we do not get together for life and life in abundance, woe to us who get together at all!

It would do well for us if we tried to ask why certain people don’t come to church. It would benefit the church greatly, if we asked the youth why they are not so interested to come to the church. The answer to this would be that the church and the communities which constitute the church are not reflecting the community of Jesus. This means that we are not doing anything which has life in it, which supports life and which supports each other. Churches are turning out to be places of individual praise and groupism.

Jesus’ ministry was not like this. He would stretch his arms to the margins and touch the last and the least. He would reach out to the outcasts and those labelled as sinners. He would cast out demons, heal the sick and bring back the dead to life. That he sometimes did this on the Sabbath was natural, because crowds followed him wherever he went. He would go to the synagogue to teach and to discuss the scripture and many people said that they had never heard anyone speak like him.

Jesus stood for life and life in abundance. That was also why he healed and brought back people to life. Life, and not destruction was his agenda and calling. On the other hand, the others were there only to adhere to certain rules, only for the self and only for furthering their own groups and interests. Every healing that Jesus did on the Sabbath was a challenge to the people who were self-centered and group minded.

In St. Luke 6, verse 9, Jesus says, “I ask you, is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” He asked this question to all the scribes and Pharisees assembled there. They could not bear it that he was healing on the Sabbath and was bringing back people to life and to sanity. The conclusion of this is Jesus’ command to the man with the withered right hand. He tells him, “Stretch out your hand.” He does likewise and his hand was restored. This lent, we need to scrutinize our lives, communities, churches and worships. Are our get togethers life threatening or life giving? Can we become places which offer positive energy and positive thinking? Amen.  

Lent Day 33: The community of the healed

St. Mark 6:56- “And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the market-places, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.”

Two of the most significant aspects of Jesus’ ministry was the preaching for repentance and the healing of the sick. Crowds went everywhere Jesus was because of this power of Jesus to heal. Some others made personal requests while many tried to touch his garment for healing. Jesus put forward the power of faith in his healing episodes. There was nothing beyond him. So much that, he even brought the dead back to life. 

Lent is a time of healing. Holy Communion is also a time of healing. But unfortunately this is not happening in our society and community. There are staged healings, marketing gimmicks and forced healings but no true healings. The people are stressed, losing hope and looking on to other things. This is when quacks, medicines and products which promise miraculous changes and untested life style change claims and superstitions rule the roost. 

The desperation of people is taken advantage of and faith and belief are misused. Let there be no doubt that God can heal, Jesus’ healings were genuine and even today healings are possible. But cheating people in the name of healing and recovery is the worst that humans can do to each other. Taking advantage of weaknesses and forcing people to part with money and resources are cruel. Lent should be a time which shakes us up to question such superstitious beliefs and acts. 

There are ideally two ways of seeking healing. One is to consume the Holy Body and Holy Blood of our Lord Jesus with complete faith and belief. Two, is to touch the relics of Saints for healing. Healing is a personal and community act but not one which is forced. God in God’s mercy heals us. The saints intercede for us and offer their remains as a source of intercessory power for us. 

We need to pray more during lent and seek God’s mercy. We need to consume the Holy Body and Holy Blood of our Lord. We need to spend time in church in the accompaniment of saints, asking for healing. Our kneeling in church asking for Lord’s mercy is a recreation of the time of Jesus when people sought healing from him. We are bowing down before Jesus and asking him to be merciful. 

Lent should embolden us to say no to wrong claims of healing, promises from cheaters and quacks and flexes and posters with lies and falsehood about healing. Instead, we should go on our knees, pray in church and have Jesus inside us. There can be no greater healing than this. Amen.

Lent Day 31: The hand of courage

Stretching out our hand is done for several reasons. We stretch out for help, we stretch out to greet, we stretch out as a response and we stretch out to help. There are negative forms of stretching out our hand as well. Jesus usually stretched out his hand to help. In his public ministry that was for healing. The healing in many ways was not just for the restoration of health but was also for the courage of wanting to be healed. 

In St. Mark 3: 5 it says, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.” Our limitations, sickness and weaknesses are also the failure of our community and society to want us to recover and do well. So, when we meet someone who is sick, it is not an individual failure and shortcoming but a community failure and shortcoming. This was also the reluctance of the Pharisees in agreeing to Jesus healing on the Sabbath. The very fact that there were people to be healed, was a failure of the Pharisees and the entire community. Keeping this under wraps would also save them from much embarrassment. 

It was not just that Jesus was healing on the Sabbath, but that every healing was a questioning of the authority of the Pharisees. If Jesus can, why can’t you? Why are there so many people who are sick? Does your lack of ability to heal mean that you are not people of God? No one would have had a problem if Jesus would have healed in secret. But Jesus more than getting a name for himself wanted to show that he is the son of God. 

Those who needed healing also had to understand that they had to question the unjust society they were living in. Questioning is done by raising or stretching out our hand and making ourselves seen and heard. Receiving healing need not be a passive act but is also a stretching out, a putting out and an asking for. It is not a shameful thing but a seeking for one’s right to be healed. Jesus is asking us to stretch out our hand. To stretch it out with dignity and courage. Amen.

Prayer for health

Gracious God, we are your handiwork and your creation. Not a moment goes by without your care and grace in our lives. We pray for good health and quality of living. May every day we spend on earth be done for your glory and in happiness and truth. Touch us and assure us of your presence and your healing. We pray O God, for our near and dear ones who are in pain and sickness. Look at them with compassion and make them whole. May your gaze and your voice make them happy and on to the way of recovery and contentment. May we together get many opportunities to pray to you and be satisfied in your care and mercy. We pray for us and everyone we know, that pain and suffering may be replaced by love and happiness. You Lord Jesus have suffered for us on the cross that we may live life in its fullness and in spirit. Bless us O Lord, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen.

Don’t discount the miracle of touch for healing

Touch and touch therapy have been found to be one of the most effective ways of healing. So much that many hospitals these days are teaching nurses touch therapy and many governments are releasing funds for more research and training of touch therapy. This touch is also called therapeutic touch involving touch with and without actual coming into contact with the body. The energy field of the body and the coming together of the energy fields of two bodies and the resulting healing using touch and channelizing of energy has been talked about for many years now. But what about the church and is the church using the power of touch or has the church discounted the power of touch and through that the power of healing?

The priest in church is asked to pray for church members and this is usually done by touching the forehead of a believer or a person who has come to church or whom you have seen in an outside setting. I have come across many people from other religions who have requested prayer even though they were seeing me for the first time. I have come to understand that this is not my greatness or power but the positive energy of spirituality through touch that they are seeking. It is not the power of my hands but the power of touch which Jesus has so effectively shown us through his ministry. This power is so much there and effective. It does not belong to the priest to use according to his whims and fancies but rather to be given freely just like the grace and mercy of God is given to us by God freely. In Daniel 10:18 it is written “Then this one with human appearance touched me again and strengthened me.”

Touch also in church includes much more than the touch for prayer and blessing. It includes our looks, gestures and all that we do while conducting ourselves in church. This leads to touch. Touch is not what we should be ashamed of or reluctant to give but should rather be a part of our conduct in and outside the church. If we are reluctant to touch it means we are reluctant to accept the person we come across and that means we are discriminating against people. Touch has now become such a difficult thing in church because people are watching when two people use the magic and miracle of touch to heal each other. They may pass comments or view touch with judgment even when it is one of the most powerful miracles we can initiate on a regular basis. It is amusing that the church does not allow women to be a part of the ministry of the church and at the same time will also judge a priest who is using the healing power of touch irrespective of gender in the church.

There is also the problem in society of abuse using touch when men without permission touch children and women leading to abuse. The fear of abuse is also making the church and its people paranoid about touch which is such a shame. Touch can only be upon the comfort and the permission of the person we are touching. Any other touch is not acceptable as it will not bring about healing. Even the touch between husband and wife and parents and children has to be with comfort and permission as otherwise it will only be the touch and expression of power and not healing.

What was so special about Jesus’ ministry? Was it that he healed so many people? Yes, but what did he do before the healing process was initiated. He touched people and in all cases he touched the most unlikely people including women, lepers, the blind and the lame. They were all people Jesus was not supposed to touch. In Mark 8:22 we must note what the people did “And they came to Bethsaida and they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him.” In Luke 18:15 touch even brings discomfort to Jesus’ disciples as we see “And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them.” In Mark 7:33 “Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva.” And in Matthew 8:3 “Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” There are many other examples which prove that Jesus touched and touched and touched and thereby the miracle of healing was so prevalent among different kinds of people. He did not leave anyone out.

Today a priest, a missionary, a lay leader and any person who has any role in ministry is given a list of people who are not supposed to be touched. Of course this is not a written down official list but a list which is culturally passed on and expected to be followed. What happens in the process is that the power of healing is lost in church and in the area of ministry. This is sad and wrong. Jesus’ touch was acceptable to the people he touched. He did not touch inappropriately and unwantedly from the perspective of those he touched. He also submitted himself to touch. Such is the healing of touch!

Touch does not just come from above from the bishop, then to the priest, then to the deacon and then to the lay leader. The healing power of touch plays around in various kinds of relationships. This is what we have to revive in church and in the sphere of the church. For that we have to see people equally as otherwise touch will become a very difficult thing to practice. The father and mother have to touch their child/children, the wife her husband and the husband his wife, the child the parent, the siblings, friends and in all kinds of relationships touch will enhance healing and happy living. Even while praying we are unknowingly touching. Folded hands mean that one hand is touching the other. Some hold on to the table, some to the book and some elsewhere. We are all touching because it is part of the healing process of the body.

Isn’t it time we brought back touch? Why are we reluctant to practice healing through touch? Isn’t it because we have unequal relationships, discriminatory relationships and the sins of gender, caste and class posing hurdles? This needs to be corrected in the church context and we have to become Jesus people who use the power of touch to question wrong notions in society and through that perform miracles. Each one of us is a miracle worker. God has given us the unique power of being a miracle worker and the power is in our hand. But unless we exercise it and unless we use it unabashedly without any hurdle we can’t become Christ’s church. We will just continue to be collectives of people who come and go without following Jesus in particular!




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