Historical series, 12. Mk 1:40-45. Sermon prepared for congregations of the synod of Manitoba district, 1979

Luetkehoelter, Gottlieb Werner

English

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 32Issue 1 Cultural Reception of the Gospel Article 135-1-2007Arranging a miracleGottlieb Werner LuetkehoelterFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Sermons is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationLuetkehoelter, Gottlieb Werner (2007) "Arranging a miracle," Consensus: Vol. 32 : Iss. 1 , Article 13.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol32/iss1/13HISTORICAL SERIES, 12Arranging A MiracleGottlieb W. LuetkehoelterBishop (Ret.), Evangelical Lutheran Church In CanadaWinipeg, Manitoba(The Rev. Dr. G.W. Luetkehoelter was the first Bishop of theManitoba/Northwestern Ontario Synod of the Evangelical LutheranChurch In Canada, from 1986 to 1994. Prior to that he had beenBishop of the Central Canada Synod of the Lutheran Church inAmerica from 1975 to 1985, and this sermon was prepared for andmade available to congregations of the Manitoba District of thatSynod whose pastors would be attending the District Conference inThompson, Manitoba, 9-11 February, 1979.)Text: Mark 1:40-45In today’s Old Testament reading (I Kings 5) we hear of the healingof Naaman the leper, and in this Gospel reading, Mark tells of Jesusstretching out his hand and healing a leper. The story invites us toconsider the power God has to heal the leper, and us. It will not do tosweep God’s ability to heal miraculously under the rug by callingthese texts old-fashioned. The God here described, and the God livingtoday, is the same God. Yet, how shall we understand these wonderfuldeeds of God? Can we arrange a miracle for ourselves?First of all, we should be clear as to the details of the accounts.Leprosy then was not defined with the medical precision of today.Commentators point out that Hansen’s disease is not the ailment ofthese two lepers. Rather, there is agreement among scholars that theHebrews tended to call ringworm, psoriasis, leucoderma, and vitiligoby this name. This “leprosy” was likely due to a fungus whichattacked clothes and even walls of houses. It is plain from thetreatment of lepers, who were never allowed into the house, that theirdisease was highly contagious, whereas Hansen’s disease is not. But whatever the disease of this leper, it is plain that he isseriously ill. And it’s exciting for us to determine whether we can orcannot organize a similar miracle for ourselves. Is it still possible toscrew up our faith to such a pitch that we can convince God to heal131Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2007us, or to heal someone close and dear to us? We must now becomecareful listeners to God’s word, or else we will bring all to ruin.We have with us a whole parade of people who claim to have thepower to heal and work cures through faith. It may help to mentionjust a few.Mrs. Elsie H. Salmon, wife of a Methodist minister in SouthAfrica, many years ago claimed to have “healing hands.” She reportsin her book, He Heals Today, that she has treated successfully colitis,arthritis, deafness, dumbness, blindness, spinal trouble, paralysis,club foot, fibrosis of the spine, solidification of the spine, cleft palate,leukaemia, tuberculosis, polio, and cancer.Mrs. Agness Sanford, born in China, the daughter of a Presbyterianmissionary, tells of her cure of a Mr. Williams. “His heart had swollenuntil it filled almost the whole chest … every valve had burst and wasleaking like a sieve.” After prayer she “could feel the heartbeatsbecoming more quiet and regular. I could even feel the strange innershifting that reports the rebuilding of flesh and tissues.” A doctor laterconfirmed her opinion that the heart had gone back to its normal size.She concludes, “In this case, prayer with the laying on of hands, was aspecific remedy for a wrecked heart. If there had been no one toadminister that remedy, Mr. Williams would undoubtedly have died.”Oral Roberts is widely known through his television programs.He has organized healing for gall bladder attacks, arthritis, cancer,rheumatic fever, asthma, paralysis resulting from polio, coronarysclerosis, varicose veins, tuberculosis, enlargement of the heart, andgoitre.The Roman Catholic Church also has its share of “faithhealings.” At Lourdes in France, at Fatima in Portugal, at St. Anne deBeaupre in Quebec, at St. Anne de Detroit, and St. Ann’s in Chicago,you can find great collections of crutches, canes, braces, ear trumpets,and eye glasses as signs that cures have occurred.The “snake handlers” of North Carolina and Tennessee believe,on the basis of Mark 16:19, that true Christians should prove theirfaith by handling poisonous snakes during services.So we have a whole procession of people who have everyconfidence that a miracle is possible by arrangement. A certain personat a certain place, plus believing prayer, can bring about a miracle.We should also note that miraculous healing is not a specificallyChristian phenomenon. Christian Science is a Church that is on the132 Consensushttp://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol32/iss1/13fringe, if not outside, of Christianity, and it centres on healing. Themother church at Boston has records of “cures.”Yogis and Swamis practice “black magic,” and Voodoo is stillsupposed to be a potent curing force.Recent research has indicated that health is closely associatedwith the “assumptive world” of a person. What is this “assumptiveworld”? Jerome D. Frank defines it as follows:In order to be able to function at all, everyone must impose an orderand regularity on the welter of experience impinging upon him. Todo this, he develops out of his personal experiences a set of more orless implicit assumptions about the nature of the world in which helives, which enables him to predict the behaviour of others, and theoutcome of his actions. The totality of each person’s assumptionsmay be conveniently termed his “assumptive world.”1To put it briefly, all of us carry inside of us a picture of what theworld is like. If what we experience and what actually happens arethe same, we feel good. If they are different, we feel anxious,nervous, and weak until the picture inside us and the world around usare again brought together and harmonized.For instance, there is an authentic report that 50 soldiers weresuffering from an unknown affliction. It was a minor ailment, but thedoctors were confused by it. Because of this confusion on the part ofthe doctors, 43 soldiers could not recover until the doctors told themthat they had at last discovered the cause of their affliction and thatthey would soon recover.In another instance, three women with very different problems(gall bladder inflammation, cancer, and a post-operative infection)were told that a faith healer would be praying for them at a certainhour, and all three made remarkable progress.I am relating this to indicate that healing is closely tied to ourown inner feelings, and that these feelings are powerful factors inachieving a cure. Much can be done by doctors, clergy, faith healers,revivalists, psychiatrists, and friends to affect these feelings, and helpus to better health. Feelings can be influenced by our Christian faithand by a host of other factors.What is important for us today, as we ponder this text in which aleper is healed, is that Christ has the power to heal. Also, within theleper, there is the strong conviction that Jesus is able to do so: “If youwill, you can make me clean.” But there is an equally clear emphasisArranging A Miracle 133Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2007that Jesus does not desire to be known as the great healer: “See thatyou say nothing to anyone.” Jesus does have endless compassion forus in our afflictions, but he wishes to be honoured for somethinggreater than his healing abilities.To listen carefully to the text means that we will hear what ismore than curing a leper. As we have shown, cures of all sorts occurnaturally and supernaturally, slowly and suddenly, with faith andwithout faith. (It is interesting to note that in 20 instances of healingin the New Testament, there are three cases where faith is entirelylacking [John 5:2-15, Luke 13:12, and Mark 5:25-34]. In three otherinstances it is not the sick person but friends and relatives who havefaith, as in the account of the paralytic let down through the roof byfour friends. At other times faith is very faint [Mark 9:23, 24]. Onlyin eight instances does faith precede the cure.)Healing and arranging a cure are certainly important to us if weare sick, but if we are true to our text we will be moved to go beyondthis desire to that which is greater. But what could be more wonderfulthan being healed of sickness? Why, being blind to the presence ofGod, and now seeing God!What concerns Mark, and should concern us, is that this leper goesaround telling everyone, “Look, I was leprous, and now am clean,”rather than, “Look, the Messiah is among us!” Of course, the man alsopoints to Jesus as the cause of his cure, but healers had already beenpresent, and would continue to be present. Mark wants us to know thatthere is something more valuable than our health, greater than a faithhealer, and more wonderful than a sudden cure! God’s inbreaking intotime by his Son, to forgive and to redeem, is much, much more!But people then had trouble grasping that anything could be moreimportant than their own personal and temporal advantage. Yourecognize that this healed leper is no longer living; he eventually dieddespite his cure. So also with the rest of those who were healed, andwho will be healed today.We are tempted to snatch from the hand of God some little giftthat we see in his hand. But Mark, through this Gospel, asks us notjust to grab some little advantage, but rather to put our hand in God’shand, and walk with God in time and eternity. I wonder if we willhear the really great thing that is happening in our text as the leper ishealed, or will the miraculous cure blind us to the fact that in ChristGod does not only heal, but grants us the Kingdom!134 Consensushttp://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol32/iss1/13We asked at the beginning, Can a miraculous cure be arranged?That is possible. What is not possible is to arrange membership in theKingdom. That is a gift given through Christ. God grant you a healthylife, but, more importantly, participation in his Kingdom! Amen.Notes1 Jerome D. Frank. Persuasion and Healing (New York: SchockenBooks, 1961), p. 20. Arranging A Miracle 135Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2007

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