Healing – Entering Shalom

The third of the Christian practices that Diana Butler Bass identifies in her book, Christianity for the Rest of Us, is Healing. She rightly points out that among all Christian practices, this has been the scariest and least understood by the main-line, liberal churches. The reality of healing is another example of the way that we have effectively deferred to Fundamentalist Christianity to define the essential pieces of the Christian life. We have come to believe that healing is primarily an individual matter, that it depends on the supernatural intervention of God, and that it is brought to bear by means of activities like intercessory prayer (praying for God to intercede in the life of another) or by the “laying on of hands.” Liberal minds respond to the ministry of healing, especially as practiced by television healers, by dismissing it out of hand. It looks like magic and it looks staged, and we liberals “know” that both are suspect.

I suspect that Jesus would not agree with the common definition of healing that is held by the fundamentalists (who affirm its truth) and the liberals (who reject it as nonsense). Diana Butler Bass identifies healing with shalom, one of those wonderful words that can mean so much, including a condition of health and wholeness. But the health that shalom points to must always be seen in the context of community and relationship. It is not an individualistic commodity that some have and others do not have.

Shalom is sometimes translated as peace. This peace (and justice) is the hallmark of a healthy community. A healthy and balanced community does not pit the needs of one group against the needs of others. It demonstrates a broad distributive justice. So, where then does the individual fit in?

To answer this part of the question, I will make use of “Family Systems Theory,” particularly as it has been articulated by Dr. Murray Bowen. In his work with schizophrenics and their families, Bowen observed that dysfunctional symptoms manifesting in an individual were actually the creation of unconscious family dynamics over several generations. . Bowen rejected the notion that the symptoms of the individual belonged solely to that individual. For Bowen, the dysfunction belonged to the family system and its mode of operation. He maintained that if the systemic issues could be healed, then the individual’s symptoms would be relieved, at least in part.

Said in other words, healthy systems spawn healthy individuals, and unhealthy systems identify certain individuals as the “sick ones” in their midst. So, let’s look at a specific example from the life of Jesus. This past Sunday, the lectionary reading (Mark 5: 21-43) included the story of a woman who had been bleeding for many years. No one had been able to cure her, so she remained “unclean” and therefore, untouchable. In effect, she had to live her life cut off from her family and community. When Jesus, surrounded by a large crowd, comes near her, she works her way through the crowd and grabs onto his robe. Immediately, she is healed.

We could simply say that Jesus had the healing power so she was healed by that power. Or we could ask a different question. What gave her the idea to touch Jesus in the first place? Was she looking at it simplistically, that he possessed the necessary power? Or, did she realize that he was about the business of healing the community by breaking many traditional barriers? A woman who was “bleeding” was considered unclean and she could neither touch nor be touched. But Jesus touched people. He went against the common religious tradition by touching the lepers, the blind, the crazy. Perhaps if she, in her “unclean” condition could just touch him, she would experience, first hand, his acceptance of her. She believed that he could heal her by means of breaking through the barrier that separated her from everyone. What Jesus says to her is significant for our discussion. He says that “her faith” has healed her (perhaps that she had faith in his acceptance of her), and he invites her to “go in peace.” In this context, he must mean that the barriers have been broken and that she is no longer an outcast.

It’s important that we hear the larger message: Our “Christian Mission” is to spread healing and wholeness throughout the community by means of breaking down the barriers separating people. Perhaps when an individual experiences the remission of symptoms (like cancer, for example) what is really going on here is the power generated by embracing that person in the collective arms of the community. That demonstration of inclusion is powerful, indeed. And the remission of symptoms need not be the result of magic, nor does it require a special injection of divine power. The power to heal, to live in shalom, already exists within us.

What’s your understanding or experience of healing?

Wayne Gustafson

“No matter who you are or where you are in life’s journey, you’re welcome here.”
The United Church__of Christ