Oxford Professor Alister McGrath makes the fascinating observation that Christianity, unlike other ancient religions or worldviews felt the need to draw up doctrines. Ov the first few centuries of the church, leaders gathered to draw up precise answers to specific questions that had come up. He writes: "A school of philosophy might focus on propagating the teachings of its founders, yet Christianity seemed more concerned with clarifying the identity of Jesus Christ, before affirming his moral and spiritual vision"
Clarifying who the person of Christ was was seen to be of greater importance than clarifying his moral or spiritual vision. Why was this the case?
It's a fascinating question.
To draw out some reasons why his identity mattered so much let's consider three people who met him and upon meeting him, touching him and seeing him were healed by him but in different ways.
Three people who were healed: physically, mentally and spiritually. Three paths to peace but all with one thing in common; communion with, proximity to, closeness to Jesus.
Physically Healed:
Mark 5:25-34
There was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked round to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
This story is clearly something the apostles felt was important since all three of the synoptic gospels include it. I wonder why?
For twelve years, the age at which a Jewish girl becomes a woman, this woman had suffered. For the equivalent of a childhood she had been prodded and poked and made poor by the attempts of doctors to cure her.
We’re not told what has caused her illness but, owing to her condition and the cleanliness laws of the Old Testament, she had been unable to worship at the temple for this length of time as well. She had been unable to draw near to and experience the presence and blessings of God.
But what she was unable to do because of the law, Christ made possible by fulfilling the law. In him the fullness of God dwells. In him, what was previously contained within the temple, walked the streets. What she (and we) are unable to do, come to God, God did to us - he drew near. He was near enough that she could reach out and touch him and when she does meet him and touch him she comes of age!
“She had suffered much under many physicians and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.”
That is a succinct description of how many people in society still feel today. There are agencies and so called healers, practises, tablets and techniques that offer health but take our wealth, and then don’t even make us better in the process! When you’re sick or in pain you’re desperate, you’ll try anything to find relief. People know this and they prey on it.
We’re a society that may not be particularly religious but we are so called spiritual. The explosion of new forms of spirituality, which is really just religion by another name, are expressions of the need within us for peace and wholeness. There is the offer of physical healing through crystals, cosmic energies, ancestor rites, psychedelics and breathing techniques. Many of them leave you poorer and more confused and afterward your find yourself beholden to a new authority figure with power over your decision making and mental health.
“She had heard reports about Jesus and came up behind him.”
It’s a sneak attack! She’s being stealthy since she can’t believe that she'd ever be permitted to draw near to him - but she does it anyway. Why does she do it? Why risk a public rebuke? Matthew tells us: Because ‘she’d heard reports about Jesus.’
But how do we draw near to someone we cannot see, you might ask.
V28 reads “she said to herself “If I touch even his garments I will be made well.”
That is a brilliant definition of faith. ‘She said to herself’ she made up her mind about him and what he could do. This is faith since it happens invisibly. No one could see what she said to herself, she said it 'to herself'. What do you say to yourself about Jesus? Do you think he’s alive and present by his spirit, do you think he can heal you? Do you think he can forgive you? Do you know him? Whatever you ‘say to yourself’ about him is your faith. Faith then directs the will to act, to speak words and make choices based on that belief.
Can you say to yourself ‘he can heal me’? Then come to him and ask. Where this woman feared rebuke, for she comes trembling to him, she instead is met with the words of a father, calling her his own: ‘daughter, your faith has made you well.’
We cannot heal ourselves but faith that pushes us onto him can.
In his presence, by the touch of faith, she is made well. It is him who heals.
Next we come to the apostle Thomas.
“Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!””
John 20:24
Thomas has been following Jesus for several years, he has been used by Jesus to perform wonders, he has seen Jesus perform miracles and he had hoped Jesus would be the saviour and deliverer of his people. Thomas had left everything, had given him his youth, his money and resources and then… Jesus died. Thomas was left, along with everyone else, with nothing.
He's left feeling duped and despondent and resentment sets into his heart as it begins to harden. Thomas won’t be caught out again, he’s going to make sure of it!
Whenever numbers appear in the Bible we should ask why. Here we read that Jesus appears ‘eight days later’. Why? John could have just said ‘a few days later’ but he gave us a number, 8, the beginning of a new week. This is the start of something new, a new world on the other side of Jesus’ death and resurrection. And in this new world, new creative power is available, new possibilities, new life and hope.
Thomas’ request strikes our modern ears as being a fairly reasonable one ‘unless I see it, I won’t believe’. Except that he adds the word ‘never’ at the end ‘I will never believe it!’ Never believe it?! There’s an edge to this, a defiance that exposes the fact that he isn’t behaving in a purely reasonable or rational way. He's using language that suggests he's simply being reasonable but there's more to it than it sounds. His friends, trusted people he knows well, have told him what they have seen and heard and yet for Thomas it isn’t enough. He clearly thinks himself above them, cleverer than them in some way.
In the West we like to pride ourselves on being rational people who ‘trust the science’ and believe only what can be shown to us using the scientific methods of data, analysis and physical proof. We pride ourselves on it but, of course, it isn’t true for any of us. Rather than arriving at our conclusions about the world through a rational analysis of things all of us instead believe the things we do about the world based on trust. We trust the people around us to tell us the truth and we trust scientists to report their findings accurately. In fact even in the most important parts of life, the things that science doesn’t cover, we trust people.
Science and rationality can answer for us all kinds of questions but not really ones that really matter to our lives. The kind of questions that really matter, who am I? am I loved? what should I do with my life? who should vote for? Should I marry? Those questions can’t be answered by science, but by trust - by faith.
Thomas’ defiance displays a wound that he’s using his intellect to cover up. He’s hurting but out of fear he’s protecting himself using cynicism and scepticism to keep pain at bay. Being sceptical can be a good thing, it keeps us from being conned by every salesman who calls us, but scepticism can also hold us back and stop us from living. We cannot truly experience wonder and joy since if we're not careful we might even distrust ourselves to feel those things accurately. Scepticism is like armour since it keeps us safe, but it’s also cold and we can’t grow in it. We can’t dance.
Thomas is healed of his scepticism by touch.
Notice that for him sight isn’t enough. He’s clever, he knows that his eyes can deceive him and so he insists that only touch would do. That way he could be sure Jesus wasn’t a ghost, sure that he wouldn’t be conned a second time. Except that he wasn’t conned in the first place, not once, never by Jesus. Everything Jesus ever said to him was true and brought life to Thomas and now, upon touching Jesus, he realises this for himself. His exclamation ’my lord and my God’ is one he cried no doubt with tears in his eyes.
His eyes were opened, his mind was healed by communion with Christ. He was in his presence and he was made whole.
Lastly we come to someone who was healed in a different way by being in Jesus’ presence.
Healed Spiritually
From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.” And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
Matthew 27:45-54
God created humanity for himself, to know wholeness and love within him and by him. We turned (and turn daily still) away from our creator and look instead to the creation. We take created things and devote ourselves to them, we turn good things into ultimate things and so we make idols for ourselves.
There are spiritual forces in the world, elements and gods (with a small ‘g’) that fight for our attention and devotion. The centurion, the guard at Jesus’ crucifixion, was someone who would have been a devotee of these gods. Raised in an environment of pagan worship he would have known how to recognise spiritual authority and power and would have been familiar with the blood of sacrifice. As a soldier he would also have been familiar with the blood of war as well living his life, no doubt, on the threshold of death.
The centurion would have trusted himself to the luck of the gods and no doubt done whatever he could to keep himself alive and safe. He knew that at any given moment violence could break out around him and in the blink of an eye he could find himself in the shadow world of death.
Spiritually he was like a lot of people in our society. He trusted his physical strength to get things done but he tried everything else as well! He would have been used to praying prayers, making offerings and doing deals with various spirits. Why do I say he’s like people in our society? Mostly because our world is one that’s open to trying anything spiritual that might work. We’ll embrace meditation and yoga, tarot cards, hypnosis, chanting and (increasingly) psychedelics and shock treatments. We'll try anything that might bring us spiritual peace even for a moment. We’re like someone who feels around in the dark for a light switch trying anything they come across they think might work, anything that is but Jesus who offers himself as the light of the world.
This man needs spiritual healing, and again his words are recorded in all three of the synoptic gospels. Matthew would have said to himself ‘I know that Mark’s said this already, but I should say it as well.’ And Luke would have said likewise.
This centurion’s reaction is important for several reasons.
As a Roman centurion this man is a gentile, part of the great mass of people outside of the covenant people of God - and yet his eyes are open! The Jewish leaders have killed Jesus but the nations see him for who he is.
It also demonstrates that Jesus is the ruler of the spiritual world, the one true king and lord, more powerful than Zeus or Mardook, or Jupiter or Venus. He’s the conquerer of Artemis, the subduer of Cybele and the true God of all gods the one before whom all spiritual powers must bow.
At the cross as Jesus’ body gives out and his blood drains away along with his life, a man’s spiritual blindness is healed.
“Surely he was the Son of God!”
He’s spoken more accurately than he could have known or intended. He recognised righteous and spiritual authority as he stood there that day surrounded by a crowd of mockers and haters.
This is what happens when someone gets close enough to Jesus and communes with him in some way. Healing, you see, comes from being close to Christ. It comes from Christ drawing near to us and it comes from us reaching out to him.
No wonder the psalmist could say “In your presence there is fullness of joy!”
Three different people, three kinds of healing. Three examples of what happens when we draw near to Jesus in faith or (in the case of Thomas) not in faith, but as a result of Jesus' kindness to us!
As we take the bread and wine of communion he's among us. As we sing and pray and celebrate, he's among us. As we serve and proclaim, declare and delight he's also among us then just as he is when we're confused and calloused in heart, cynical about all this 'religion' stuff.
Religion is about mankind's search for God, Christianity is about God's search for us.
Let him come near. Reach out by faith and touch him and know him working in the deepest parts of your life today.
Maybe that, all that, is why the early Christians spent so much more time discussing who Jesus was than what Jesus said. He's our healer and our saviour and that really matters!
Amen.