The World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. It is a state of wholeness and perfection in every area of human life. Similarly, healing is not merely curing the sickness or disease, it is an act of restoring a person to the wholeness that has been lost. In the biblical understanding, healing is the ongoing work of God in repairing the world and restoring it to its original perfect function and purpose that was in the beginning. Let us briefly explore the meaning and significance of healing in relation to the overall narrative of the Scriptures.
In the Beginning, God Rested
The Bible opens with the beautiful narrative of God creating the heavens and earth, beautifully and artistically. The land that was wild and waste has become fruitful, purposeful, functional and attractive pointing us to the character of God in setting things right. Human beings are created in the image of God, meaning royal ones, to rule and establish their dominion on earth in partnering with God. Humans, though fragile, weak and humble creatures, are created as the crown of the creation to function as the stewards, guardians and governors of the good world as they rule over it. After the creation, God rests from His work on the seventh day.
In the ancient worldview, Divine rest is about God’s enthronement over the created order and perfection. It is also about God entering into His temple. In the ancient world, the temples are regarded as the resting places of the deities from where they engage in maintaining and governing the society. It is a place where the divine space and human space overlap one another. In the Book of Genesis, the temple is not a building built with human hands and efforts at the instruction of God; instead, it is the whole cosmos – the heaven and the earth – which are created with order, function, purpose and perfection. God’s rest simply refers to His disengagement from the act of bringing order and engagement in the act of maintaining the order. It is just like a king taking up his throne after bringing an end to the chaos in his kingdom. The day of rest (Sabbath) observed by God’s people not only reminds of the order and perfection in the past but also points to the eschatological reality.
Royal Priests and the Dark Cluster
God has created human beings as the royal priests – the ones who exercise Godlike dominion over the creation as well as serve the Creator as His creatures – wanting them to continue with this royal rest of God. However, continuing with the story of Genesis, we could notice the narrative becoming more complex, dark and paradoxical. Humans have become vulnerable to the consequences of their own choices and actions. They have become tyrants and beastly rulers destroying the goodness of God’s creation, unaware of rushing towards their own destruction ultimately. The narrative becomes darker and darker as sickness, evil, suffering, sin, curse, pain, grief, ungodliness, violence and oppression create a dark web from which humans could not escape on their own. The world desperately needs healing. It needs a great grand restoration.
The suffering ones weep along with the groaning creation. Weeping is the primary criticism of the way the world is going on. It is the first step of disagreeing with the realities and paradoxical system of life by regarding this present chaotic darkness as not normal but abnormal. It is a cry and lament to the creator not to be silent in dealing with the unhealthy state of this world. It is a call for God to rescue and reclaim the world back to Himself. Such laments are strongly based on God’s trustworthiness and His reliability. On the other hand, time and again, God is constantly engaged in the work of redeeming, restoring and renewing the world that is becoming wild and wasteful. He manifested His faithfulness in the past in setting things right and bringing back order and perfection. He elected people and worked through them by making them His covenant partners. Nevertheless, Jesus Christ is the ultimate manifestation of God and His trustworthiness in restoring and renewing the world.
Good News of Healing
Jesus is the perfect embodiment of God and the visible image of the core characteristics of God. It is inescapable to divide Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. The whole point of Jesus’ story is the inauguration of God’s reign on earth as in heaven. Jesus’ story is told as the good news – the good news of God becoming in charge of the world. The message of Jesus is the announcement of God's righteous rule beginning in and through Him. Every point of Jesus’ life is a signpost to God’s faithfulness that He has not abandoned this broken world; instead, He is in the work of healing it and setting the things right.
Once, John the Baptist had sent some of his disciples to Jesus to inquire whether He was their expected Messiah or should they wait for someone else. Jesus asks them to report the things that they have witnessed – the eyes of the blind are opened, the deaf heard, lepers cleansed, the dead rise and the good news is being proclaimed to the poor. (Matt. 11:1-5) This is the summary of the whole good news that God has come to rescue, to heal and to reclaim the world back to Himself by establishing His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. All this is happening here and now, in our time and our space in and through the person and work of Christ the healer.
The whole story of Jesus fits, in fact, shapes, the big picture of the vision of God for the world. Imagine, He is not relaxing on His throne, inattentive to the real crises and issues that are disturbing the healthy state of the world at an alarming rate. Rather He is so keen, sitting at the edge of His throne, to observe and to deal with the evil things and is at the work of bringing an end to all of those. With Jesus Christ, things begin to become new. Whenever Christ heals the people, it is pointing out the fact that God has not abandoned the world but is engaging with this world. It is showing that God is not busy inviting people into another world rather is in the work of renewing the world. Christ’s healing is the demonstration of God’s compassion and faithfulness. It shows that God takes human vulnerability so seriously. He also brings light and life where things seem to be chaotic and lifeless.
Healing and New Beginning
Chris’s healing is not all about marking an end to the physical sickness but it is also about bringing wholeness and completeness to human life and the creation. Jesus not only healed the people’s physical diseases but also transformed the people into new beings so that in and through them the new creation starts to form and ultimately changing the shape of this present world. Christ’s healing is also about giving the identity, function and purpose for the lives of many who happened to lose their health – the holistic wellbeing – because of the social and spiritual powers that deprive them of their basic rights to survive. The death of Christ is a channel of healing the world that has been stuck in sin and evil. Resurrection is a signpost to God’s ongoing faithfulness in leading the world towards the new creation.
Healing is always a new beginning. It is not simply about putting an end to the condition of disease but also about transforming the people into new beings by offering them a new life. It is the experience of fore-tasting the new creation. At the same time, those who are healed and transformed become the channels of God’s life and light as they are set right to partner with God in restoring the world. This is what it means to be justified. Those who put their trust in Jesus the Messiah, show their allegiance to God and His mission and thus become His instruments in reshaping the world. Healing is the milestone in our journey towards the new creation. It is the foretaste of the experience of the new heaven and the new earth. It is a glimpse of life when God is at rest. In fact, the biblical narrative concludes not with the image of the end but with the vision of the new beginning – the restoration of the world to the state as it was in the beginning.
Task that Remains
As we live in this broken and dark world that is in desperate need of healing, and as we groan along with the creation hoping for the day when the Lord returns to set the things right and renew the world, let us look at Christ the Healer – the ultimate evidence that God has not abandoned this world to its sufferings but is at work of restoring it to the original goodness. We, who are set right and experienced the healing of Christ in one or the other way, are entrusted to continue the mission of Christ. With the attitude of Christ, bearing the fruits of generous love, compassion, justice, righteousness and goodness, we are supposed to participate in God’s work of healing the world. The communities of faith must become the new creation's foretaste and ultimately point to Christ the Healer.
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