Preached in Markham Baptist Church, August 7, 2005

A COMMUNION MEDITATION

“He healed those who needed healing.” It is only a small part of a sentence at the end of verse 11 of our text. Along with verse 10 it almost seems like filler, some narration that is slipped into the text to move us from the previous events of Jesus sending out the 12 to the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. We think, these are the big events that carry the meaning, everything else is filler.

But watch carefully when you read Scripture, there are not throw away lines, no superfluous words, no parts that are there merely for filler.

The disciples have just come back from an exciting time of ministry. Luke doesn’t tell us the results of the tour but Mark tells us that the disciples were exhausted and hungry when they returned (Mark 6:31) and so Jesus wisely suggests that they go to a quiet place to rest. But the crowds, says our text, learn of Jesus’ whereabouts and they follow Him and break in on them.

And who can blame the crowds? Is it any wonder that they followed Him? He healed those who needed healing. Look with your imagination and see the sick coming to Him. We are introduced to a sampling of them throughout the pages of Scripture so it is not hard to imagine the sick who come. Can you see them? There are those hobbling on crippled feet, with only crude crutches to help them maneuver. Some are covered with bandages which hide skin-eating diseases. Their flesh is so disfigured and their disease so contagious that they must stay on the fringe of the crowd. There are others who are being carried on stretchers by friends for they cannot walk at all. Others are moving slowly, feeling their way toward Jesus, with only a stick to keep them from stumbling or bumping into another.

He healed those who needed healing. These are easy to imagine. But there are others in the crowd who need healing. They are not as easy to spot, for they do not have any physical disability, they carry themselves with speed and confidence, without impediment. But if you look closely you will see them. Look into their faces.

Trace the lines of their brow. Look at the slump in the shoulders. And see there one who is worn by the stresses of life. The world has worn her down and she is seeking relief, healing. She has come to experience the healing of one who will reassure her that that birds of the air do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet the heavenly Father feeds them. (Matthew 6:26)

And there is another - you can tell by the way he walks, so full of self, his world consists of himself, his family, his neighborhood, his business, his community. O how he needs healing from selfishness to allow the Master to open his eyes to the cares and needs of the world and to challenge him to give himself to something larger than what he will eat and what he will drink and what he will wear.

And there are others who need to be healed of their anger and hatred and jealousy and bitterness, pride, greed, lust – all these diseases are rampant in the crowd that day. They are not easily discerned – perhaps if we were to spend some time with each one we could see the need, as we watched them in relationship, as we watched them live life we may be able to see it – but each one needed to be healed. And Jesus - well, He healed those who needed healing.

It has been suggested that you could almost trace Jesus’ travels by the changes that He brought to a town. People’s burdens would be gone, relationships long torn apart by anger and bitterness would be mended, there would be a fresh kind of attitude present, a new vibrancy in people’s step a new commitment to God, a fresh vigorous belief in the love of God, the power of God and the compassion of God. So that if you were visiting the town you could sense the difference, from any other town you had ever visited and it would cause you to ask, “Why is this town so different?” And people would tell you, “Jesus has been here, and while He was here He healed those who needed healing.” And so you could trace His progress through the countryside by the ray of sunshine that was left in His wake.

Is it any wonder that the crowds followed Him? For He healed those who needed healing.

And isn’t it true today? Have we not come here today because we believe that Jesus Christ will show up in the power of His Holy Spirit? Do we not believe that He will come and meet us here and address those areas of our lives that need healing? Those infirmities that we have carried with us for so long, those disabilities that have torn apart our relationships with others and with God. We have come to meet Him who is the great Healer in the hope that He will draw close and we will receive healing from His touch.

It is true, some of us come to worship with no great expectations. We come out of idle interest, but there are some of you who are desperate to see Him, to hear His voice, some of you long to have the touch of His hand upon your heart that you may know His healing.

You dare to believe that Jesus Christ has healing power, that it isn’t an old myth told through all the centuries, that He really has rest for the weary, a peace for the careworn life, and a cure for sinful souls. And so you come.

What is it today that you bring to Him? What is it that needs healing in your life? He went through the countryside proclaiming the Kingdom of God and healing those who needed healing. What is it in your life that needs healing?

Perhaps it is your self-esteem that needs healing. We all need the reassurance that there is someone out there who believes in us, someone who cherishes our personality, someone to listen to hear our cry, to wipe away our tears and tell us we are loved.

My friends, hear the Good News - God loves you! We need to take it in, even though we say it often to others and sometimes to ourselves we need to take it in and believe it and trust in it and cherish it.

I have a tape recording in my head that often tells me that God does not love me. I don’t know where the tape came from, perhaps Satan placed it there, or perhaps it’s something I have misheard in my life. But I have a tape recording in my head that often tells me that God does not love me. That His love for me cannot be real, that it cannot be as genuine and unconditional as Scripture says it is.

O how I, we, need to take that tape recording out and put in a new tape – that assures us again and again that God’s attitude toward us is always love. That Jesus loves us. It is a message that we read again and again in Scripture. It is Paul’s prayer for his fellow Christians that we would be able to “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” (Ephesians 3:18) Or in Romans 8, Paul asks the question, can anything separate us from the love of Christ? And he goes through a whole array of situations and possibilities in heaven and on earth – and we read them all and even add some of our own, situations we are sure separate us from the love of Christ – a horrible sin, or when we dishonour His name, or when we fail to speak a word in His favour.

And Paul answers each situation with a hearty “no” and states, “Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:39).

I believe that it was the brilliant theologian Karl Bart who was asked by a journalist what was the greatest truth of all of Scripture – Karl Bart answered, “the greatest truth? The greatest truth is this, ‘Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.’ ”

Jesus healed those who needed healing. What is it that you need? Is your self-esteem wounded, have you been told that you are not loved, have you entrusted your love to another and had it rejected or even abused? Jesus Christ will never do that. His love for you is consistent and constant.

Jesus healed those who needed healing. Perhaps it is your self-worth that needs healing. Our society is full of people who live in both extremes, those with an inflated sense of self-worth and those with no self worth at all. But I have come across those with little or no self-worth more and more these days. People who feel that these small drab lives of ours are of no interest to God.

But again and again Jesus says this is not true. O the stories che told about the ONE son, the ONE lamb, the ONE coin that was lost, how they were so important.

And He demonstrated this again and again in His circle of friends. Consider, there were mighty men like John and Peter who shone out in the group of 12 with devotion and bravery. But there were also those lesser folks like Bartholomew and Thaddaeus (known as Judas, son of James, in Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13). And Simon, also part of the 12 who never said a word (Matthew 10:3-4). And yet they were Christ’s friends too. No less important and no less depended on that Peter and John.

The question we must ask ourselves when we think we are not worth much is, “Can anyone be unimportant for whom Christ died? He did that for you.”

Can anyone be insignificant who means so much to Jesus Christ? Or can anyone be insignificant to God – who feels that if you are not there – if you are absent from your place at the heavenly banqueting table He feels great pain and loss for His one child who is lost in the darkness. There is an emptiness in God’s heart only you can fill, not John, not Peter, nor anyone else. So Jesus says “I have come to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me.” (John 6:39)

Clearly you are of immense worth to Jesus Christ.

He healed those who needed healing. What is it that you need healed? Self-esteem, self-worth? Perhaps something else – know that He is able to heal.

O, but you say, He isn’t here. It was so much easier for those people two thousand years ago. He was there. Perhaps. But He is here today. It is the great truth of the resurrection. Jesus is alive and here today. It is the reassurance that he gave to His church – “I am with you always to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

And are we not reminded of His presence every time we come to this table? It seems that it is in the breaking of the bread that Jesus often makes Himself known. We weren’t able to read all of Luke 9 but notice right after the feeding of the 5,000 we see Peter confessing Jesus to be the Saviour sent from God.

And so it has been through the centuries, that it is in the breaking of the bread that we see Christ pouring Himself out for us so completely. This is my body, Jesus says, looking at you. All that I have and it is yours. If there is anything at all in me that meets your needs, take it; I have no other use for it, it is all yours.

I don’t know how it is with you but I can’t think of any other part of worship that consistently and constantly makes Christ as real as the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup.

He is here among us and ready to heal those wounds that keep festering and breaking open, ready to bath those scars with his love, ready to help and encourage the downhearted.

He healed those who needed healing.

We need to bring it to Him - here is my pride, self-centeredness, broken relationship, sin-stained life.

Ultimately we all need to be healed from our sins, our ingrained sinful habits. Every one of us need to be know again His power to cleanse our sin and make us clean. We come as wounded people to Jesus Christ needing the healing that only His sacrifice for our sin can bring.

Sometimes, His power to heal us acts quickly, a man or a woman is lifted above themselves and they slough off their former nature and live in the sunshine of God’s grace, they are new creations, miraculously and quickly. And I pray that that has happened for some of you this morning that for those of you who feel unloved, and insignificant will have been reassured of your worth and of God’s great love for you and your attitude has been changed. I pray that some of you today will know that your sins are forgiven through faith in Christ’s sacrifice and that you are indeed cleansed.

But there are times when Christ’s healing seems slower – but always sure. He does not always heal this disease with a touch. Rather, year follows year and we seem only what we were. But much more is happening than we realize as we give ourselves to Christ. A new you is being formed beneath the waters and you are not aware of it. Others are. They can often see the change in you before you ever are able to recognize it. He is slowly making you into His image, He is slowly transforming you with His powerful Spirit and mighty word.

This morning we come to the table to break the bread and take the cup in remembrance of Jesus Christ. I have tried to call to our minds one particular truth of Jesus Christ – as we come to this table, so take a moment and consider what it is you need healed, and invite Jesus to heal it.