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Then some Pharisees told him “Leave here! Herod wants to have you killed!”
Jesus replied “Tell that fox that I’m busy casting out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and I’ll be through on the third day. But I have to travel for the next three days because prophets can perish only in Jerusalem!”
LK 13:31-33
African healer Credo Mutwa in “Shaking out the Spirits: a Psychotherapist’s Entry into the Healing Mysteries of Global Shamanism” by Bradford Keeney says this about disease:
“Every one of us exists in two worlds at once. There is another earth existing side by side with this earth. In the other earth, we are all cannibals. When a person develops cancer, we believe it involves the cannibal counterpart of ourself from the other world that is slipping into this world to devour us. When a person is attacked by cancer, he must never show fear or else he makes himself weak. Disease, being a living animal, is ahead when you are afraid. In the religion of the Great Mother, you must not call anything or anyone an enemy. If you do this, you make it stronger. … When you have cancer, you must never panic. You must fight your sickness with a great calm. You must, above all, realize that what kills you is not so much the actual disease itself as it is your own mind that is tempted to surrender to the disease. Take your mind and occupy it fully in a very exciting project or occupation. This will give the body time to heal itself. This I know. I have kept diabetes, tuberculosis, and cancer at bay with this understanding.”
I believe there is a hidden message to this. I believe that this is telling us in a roundabout way how to prevent disease. From learning how to heal sickness, we can learn about how to create health.
Here it is – If you engage yourself in an exciting project, in something of great purpose and meaning, then you will prevent disease from striking at you. Laziness, sloth, inactivity causes disease. It opens the door.
It is when we do not live out our purpose in life that we get sick. We were created for much more than eating chips on the couch and watching reality TV. We were created for so much more than engaging in gossip and worrying about what latest trend we should follow.
God has created us to do good in this world. God has created us to be a force for change. We weren’t created for ourselves.
The prophet Micah tells us – “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8 NIV)
The prophet Isaiah tells us more (Isaiah 58:6-7)
6 Isn’t the fast I choose:
To break the chains of wickedness,
to untie the ropes of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free,
and to tear off every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
to bring the poor and homeless into your house,
to clothe the naked when you see him,
and not to ignore your own flesh and blood?
We are created to heal others – to feed, clothe, and house them, and to rescue them from all kinds of prisons (mental, physical, educational, psychological). We are to be the hands of God.
We have to take care of these bodies that we have been given. They are delicate machines and need to be maintained. It is important to do this so that we are in our top form to be able to do the will of God in this world. Yet we must remember that we must do this only so that we can serve God. We must never believe (like so many modern ideas say) that we should just take care of ourselves. Self-less service is why we are here, not self-ish gain. We were not created to bask in waves of delight for delight’s sake. God most certainly wants us to be happy, but even more certainly wants us to be useful to others.
These thoughts from “The Four-Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Healer, Teacher and Visionary” might help you see a way to help yourself so that you can help others, or a way to remind others how to unlock their own healing from within –
“In many shamanic societies, if you came to a shaman or medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions:
1. When did you stop dancing?
2. When did you stop singing?
3. When did you stop being enchanted by stories?
4. When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of silence?
Where we have stopped dancing, singing, being enchanted by stories, or finding comfort in silence is where we have experienced the loss of soul. Dancing, singing, storytelling, and silence are the four universal healing salves.”
So healing is to be found in dancing, singing, storytelling, and silence. Do those things and you will get well. Do those things and you will prevent sickness. It isn’t really about when you stopped doing these things – so much as starting to do them again right away.
Sometimes you have to work to be healed. Sometimes it isn’t instant. Let us look at two stories – one from the Hebrew Bible, and one from the Gospels.
In John 9:1-7 we read about a man who was blind from birth. Jesus doesn’t just touch him or ask him if he believes that Jesus can heal him, like with other healings.
— As He was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples questioned Him: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. “This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him. 4 We must do the works of Him who sent Me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 After He said these things He spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes. 7 “Go,” He told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he left, washed, and came back seeing.
Jesus smeared mud made from nearby dirt and his own spit on the man’s eyes, and then the man has to go away to a specific pool to wash. One must assume that he had to have help to get to that pool because he was still blind at this point. He doesn’t question what he has to do, he just does it.
Then in the Hebrew Bible, we have this story. This is in 2 Kings 5:1-14
Naaman, commander of the army for the king of Aram, was a great man in his master’s sight and highly regarded because through him, the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man was a brave warrior, but he had a skin disease. 2 Aram had gone on raids and brought back from the land of Israel a young girl who served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my master would go to the prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of his skin disease.” 4 So Naaman went and told his master what the girl from the land of Israel had said.5 Therefore, the king of Aram said, “Go and I will send a letter with you to the king of Israel.” So he went and took with him 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and 10 changes of clothes. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, and it read: When this letter comes to you, note that I have sent you my servant Naaman for you to cure him of his skin disease. 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and asked, “Am I God, killing and giving life that this man expects me to cure a man of his skin disease? Think it over and you will see that he is only picking a fight with me.” 8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel tore his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Have him come to me, and he will know there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 Then Elisha sent him a messenger, who said, “Go wash seven times in the Jordan and your flesh will be restored and you will be clean.” 11 But Naaman got angry and left, saying, “I was telling myself: He will surely come out, stand and call on the name of Yahweh his God, and will wave his hand over the spot and cure the skin disease. 12 Aren’t Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and left in a rage. 13 But his servants approached and said to him, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more should you do it when he tells you, ‘Wash and be clean’?” 14 So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the command of the man of God. Then his skin was restored and became like the skin of a small boy, and he was clean.
Naaman was indignant that he wasn’t going to be healed the way he expected. He wanted a show. He thought he knew more about how to be a prophet of God than Elisha did!
How many times do we think we know how God is going to work? How many times do we pass over the true healing that only God can provide because it seems too simple, too easy?
We want to be healed of our addictions, but we aren’t willing to do the work involved in quitting. We want to be free of unhealthy relationships, but we aren’t willing to leave. We want so much, and God offers the way out freely, and we just don’t take it because it seems like it should be either easier or harder. But when God shows us the way out, we have to get up and walk out the door, and then keep walking. God does part of the work, and we have to do the rest.
God’s ways aren’t our ways, and we always forget that. This is why it is so helpful to have the Scriptures to tell us what to expect. They are our road map for finding God here in the wilderness of our lives.
(All translations are HCSB)
While he walking along, Jesus saw a man who was born blind. His disciples asked him “Teacher, who is guilty of sin to cause him to be blind – this man, or his parents?”
“Neither he nor his parents are guilty of sin,” Jesus answered. “This happened so that the work of God could be revealed through him. We all must do the work of the One who sent me while it is day. Soon night will be here when no one can work. As long as I am here, I am that light.”
After saying this, he spat upon the ground, made a paste of the mud, and then spread this on the blind man’s eyes. He then said to the man “Go and wash in the pool of Siloam.” (Siloam means “sent”). The man did as he was instructed and then returned with his sight restored.
His neighbors and those who had seen him beg asked “Is this the same man who begged?” Some said “Yes, that’s him” while others said “No, but he looks just like him.”
The formerly blind beggar said “I’m the guy!”
Then they asked him “Then tell us how you can see.”
“A man named Jesus made a paste of mud, put it on my eyes and said ‘Go wash in the Pool of Siloam.’ I went there, washed, and my sight was restored!” he answered.
Then they asked “Where is he?”
“I have no idea,” he answered.
JN 9:1-12
Jesus returned to Cana of Galilee, where he had performed the miracle of turning water into wine at the wedding. There was a royal official in Capernaum whose son was very sick. When he learned that Jesus was not far away, he traveled to plead with him to come to Capernaum and heal his dying son.
Jesus said “You people will not believe unless you see signs and wonders.”
The official begged, saying “Sir, please come with me before my son dies!”
Jesus said “Go. Your son will live.” The man believed the message that Jesus had given him and left.
On his way home the official’s servants met him and told him that his son was alive. He asked them when his son had recovered and they told him “The fever left him at seven in the morning yesterday.” The boy’s father realized that this was the very time that Jesus had said “Your son will live.” Then he and his whole household believed.
This was the second sign that Jesus performed after he returned from Judea to Galilee (according to John).
JN 4:46-54
Your body is a sanctuary,
a home to a
piece of the
light
of God.
Just like a regular home,
you have to maintain it.
Just like a mosque
or a church
or a synagogue
or a temple,
you want to make sure
it is clean
and strong.
It is an act of worship,
of respect to God
to take care of your body
– to eat healthy food,
get exercise
and enough sleep,
to not put any poisons in it.
Just as you would not
dump a bag
of trash
in a house of God,
do not do so
to your body.
You wouldn’t allow vandals in,
who leave the place a shambles,
a wreck,
so don’t allow people
into your mind
who attack you
by bringing your down.
You are the keeper
and the guardian
of your sanctuary.
It is a gift from God to you.
How you take care of it
is your gift
back to God.
A strong, healthy body
is better able
to be of service
to God
by serving
the world.
Every bad thing God gives me
is my medicine, not my poison.
Each is carefully titrated, dosed
just for me, at that moment.
But they taste bad, have
unpleasant side effects
so I sometimes refuse,
sticking my tongue out.
So God gives it to me again
later, in a different form
so maybe I won’t recognize it
but this time
it is stronger,
because I’m sicker.
When Jesus and his disciples came to Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to him and begged Jesus to heal him by touching him. Taking the man by the hand, Jesus led him out of the village. Jesus spat upon the man’s eyes and then laid his hands over them.
He then asked – “Are you able to see anything now?” The man looked up and said “I see people, but they look like tree trunks walking around.”
Jesus placed his hands over the man’s eyes again and his vision was fully restored. Jesus sent him home, saying “Don’t go back into the village or tell anyone there.”
MK 8:22-26
Then, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a Jewish festival. There is a pool named Bethesda near the Sheep Gate. There are five colonnades there that shelter many people who are sick. People who are blind, lame, and paralyzed wait there for the rare times when an angel stirs up the waters. The first person who gets into the water after the angel had stirred it up is healed from whatever sickness he had.
One of the men there had been sick for 38 years. When Jesus saw him he knew that he had been waiting there a long time to be healed. He asked him “Do you want to get well?”
The man replied “Sir, I don’t have anyone to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up. Someone always gets in ahead of me while I am trying to get there.” Jesus told him “Get up, pick up your sleeping mat, and walk.”
Since that day was the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders said to the man “It’s illegal for you to carry your mat on the Sabbath!” He replied, “The man who healed me told me ‘Pick up your sleeping mat and walk.’”
The leaders pressed further, asking “Who is it that told you to pick up your sleeping mat and walk?” The man didn’t know who it was because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.
Jesus found the man in the Temple complex later and told him “Now that you are well, don’t sin anymore or something worse might happen to you.”
The man then went and reported to the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.
JN 5:1-15
The Pharisees were watching Jesus closely when he ate in the home of one of their leaders one Sabbath. There was a man there whose body was swollen with fluid because he had edema. Jesus challenged the Pharisees and the experts in the Law by saying “Is it permissible according to the Law of Moses to heal on the Sabbath or not?” They did not answer him. Jesus brought the man to him, healed him, and then sent him on his way. He turned to them and said “Who among you, if your son or ox fell into a well, would not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” They had no answer to this.
LK 14:1-6
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