Healing Virtue

Desperation reaches, stretches…

Healing of any kind is a mystery, but that’s no surprise because the human body is a mystery: its complexity, multiple functions and systems, why it works at all.  The body is pre-programmed to monitor itself, heal and repair itself, fight off invaders, keep everything according to original specifications. Of course, the body, like all creation, is under the curse, the universal law of decay. Separated by sin from our Creator, our molecular structure lacks the power to renew itself, and so it breaks down slowly, even though it was “fearfully and wonderfully made.” It is a strange contradiction that we were made in the image of God, but we die (Psalm 82:6-7).

To solve this paradox, the Creator God takes on human flesh and is anointed by God the Holy Spirit and in the power of the Spirit heals the sick. One day, Jesus is en route to heal a 12-year-old girl. He is swamped by disciples and curiosity seekers. In fact, the huge crowd is pressing in from every side.

A desperate woman who has been bleeding internally for 12 years, weak and pale, crawls through the crowd among the moving feet and legs. She has missed the opportunity to talk to Him face to face, but if she can just touch Him, even the fringe on His robe…

She does.

At that instant, “healing virtue,” the power of the Holy Spirit (the Holy Spirit Himself?) flows from Jesus into the woman and instantly she feels the bleeding stop. She is healed without going through proper religious channels or asking permission, as everyone else has. She is amazed and joyful but a little worried that perhaps she did something wrong. Jesus also feels the “flow” instantly and  turns to reassures her, “Your faith has healed you.”

I enjoy scenes like this, because I like to try to meditate on Bible things that cannot be visualized or understood rationally. That’s how I get “God glimpses.” First, I think about forms of power and energy that we know about, like fire or electricity. Both can be used to cauterize a bleeding wound, but such a procedure would be painful and leave a horrible scar.

Not so with God’s power, the Holy Spirit of Healing Virtue, stops the bleeding and restores the woman’s body to original specifications in the twinkling of an eye. That means that the “power” is not fire or electricity because it is intelligent, carries the knowledge and authority…in fact, the Person of the Creator via a healing “Ointment.” I can’t wrap my finite mind around that any more than I can understand the Virgin Birth, but that’s how miraculous healings happen. That’s a glimpse of Jehovah Rapha, “I am the Lord, your God, your Healer.”

The touch of faith.

Persons of the Trinity: Each Refers to/Defers to the Other

Sorry, I couldn’t find a picture of the Trinity.

The Trinity is one of many mysteries that no one is ever going to understand fully, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t meditate on it. Three-in-One. One God in Three Persons. Co-equal, co-substantial, and yet each Member plays a slightly different role. There is really nothing to compare it to, and even when we do–like to a triangle or the ice/water/vapor illustration–the comparison is always woefully inadequate.

Trying to understand the Trinity is like trying to fathom infinity and eternity. How big is God? How long has He been around? Forget it. “His greatness no one can fathom” (Psalm 96:4). Every time I try to take it all in, I just get confused, frustrated. We cannot wrap our finite minds around it.

But as I read scriptural references to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, I do see this odd “otherness.” God sent the Word via the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s purpose is to exalt the Son. The Son honors the Father, but the Father gives all authority to the Son. Each member of the Trinity seems to refer to or in some way defer to another Member of the Trinity, the “other.”

“Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Well, it sounds like the inhabitants of Heaven will be doing the same: Deferring to each other, referring to each other. Our attention, the attention of angels, the attention of the Trinity all are focused on lifting up and ministering to “others.” We will minister to God in praise. He will minister to us in love. We will minister to and love each other. Don’t ask me to describe exactly what that looks like, but I think that it sounds like love. A place where all serve and humbly submit to each other. It’s not all about me. It’s about them. It’s about us. In our separateness, uniqueness, and individuality we will all be bound together in perfect love.