The Hand of the Lord Who Heals the Sick

Text: “2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” (Matthew 8:2–3).

This could be the most challenging of the themes in our Lenten series.

“The Hand of the Lord Who Creates and Saves”— you have some idea about the evidence that is all around us that God is the creator. That statement has a few challenges that go with it, but it’s not too much of a stretch.

“The Hand of the Lord Who Casts Out Demons”— you do not see the same sort spiritual conflicts that are described in scripture, but you do not expect to see them, either. It may not come naturally, but it’s not necessarily a challenge.

“The Hand of the Lord Who Raises the Dead” and “The Hand of the Lord Who Holds All Things”— again, those are not things you see every day, but you have been catechized well enough to accept them by faith.

But the focus, tonight, is on “The Hand of the Lord Who Heals the Sick.” What do you do with that one? That is a statement which you not only have to accept by faith. It actually goes against what you see regularly every day.

You and I are no strangers to illness. Whether it is a serious illness or a passing cough and fever, it is a routine part of daily life. And, through it all, God— who is able to heal the sick— does nothing. You pray. You ask others to pray. We have whole groups of people organized to pray. And still you wait for the doctors to do their work. You wait for the medication to take effect. You wait for your body to heal itself. I suspect that you empathize with the leper who came to Jesus with that gentle reminder, “Lord… you know… just hear me out… if you will, you can make me clean” (Matthew 8:2). You probably empathize more with him than with the centurion who sent to Jesus and boldly asked, “Lord, just say the word” (Matthew 8:8). That is what makes this aspect of Jesus so challenging.

Still not convinced? Let me ask you: Is there a time when you feel further from God than the moment when you are desperately trying to pray for healing for yourself or someone you love, and realize that there is nothing you can offer to God, nothing you can bargain with, nothing you can promise Him to persuade Him to give healing.

Even if you sold everything you have and gave it to the poor, it all came from God to start with. How would that gain him anything with God? If you promised to devote his life to helping people, isn’t that just what the 10 commandments demand: love your neighbor as yourself? There is nothing can offer, nothing you could promise God to try to ensure that healing you desperately need.

Even when He seems unwilling to help, He is the Lord who heals the sick. He does not promise that you will get better, at least not in the sense that you mean it. But He does promise that, even after this skin has been destroyed, yet in your flesh you will see me—you, yourself, will see Him with your own eyes. Everything that He permits in this life is to draw you closer to Him and to that destiny. All of it is according to my plan to bring you to His side where you will dwell with Him, where He will be your God and you will be His people, where there will be no death or mourning or crying or pain because He has made all things new, and where He will wipe every tear from your eyes.

Even when God seems impossibly far off, look at the hands of the Lord Who Heals the Sick. It may seem as if you need to persuade God to care about your son, to beg Him to do something. The truth is that, before the creation of the world, He knew you by name, chose you as His own, and planned for your salvation. He decided that He would send His own Son and give His Son’s life for yours. He decided that, on the cross, My Son, Jesus Christ, would be pierced for your transgressions and crushed for your iniquities; that upon Him would be the chastisement that brings you peace; that with His stripes you are healed.

That healing looks deceptively simple. How can you not sympathize with Naaman in the Old Testament Reading? He was sick. He was told that this man, Elisha, could heal him. When He asked Elisha to heal him, Elisha commanded him to go take a bath. Did this foolish prophet think that they did not wash in Syria? Was this a joke, a prank? Was this the Old Testament equivalent of telling Naaman to go jump in a lake? There were so many better places to wash than the Jordan River. Thankfully his servants persuaded him to do as the prophet commanded. He discovered the power of water combined with God’s word and command.

Did you notice how Jesus healed the leper in our reading? The centurion was correct. A simple word would have been more than sufficient. But He did not just speak. He reached out and touched the leper. He touched him and made the unclean clean.

Baptism brings those two thoughts together. When you were brought to be baptized, just as He commanded, His Son, Jesus Christ, was there. It was not only the hand of the pastor pouring that water. It was the hand of Christ. It was the Hand of the Lord Who Heals the Sick. In fact, you were joined to Him, there, in His death, you were buried with Christ so that you also share in His resurrection. That water was not plain water, it was the washing of rebirth and renewal by my Holy Spirit, ‘so that being justified by his grace [you are] heirs according to the hope of eternal life.’ (Titus 3:7)

When you come to His altar to receive His holy meal, it is not simple bread and wine, it is the living bread that came down from heaven. It is the very body and blood of Jesus Christ and, ‘Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.’ (John 6:58)

Thankfully, in spite of how hesitant God might seem to heal; in spite of how distant He feels, the Hand of the Lord Who Heals the Sick is just as present and active now as He ever was.