How dare you be healed at church! I mean, don’t you know we are in a pandemic? You could get others sick. You are so selfish! Wait, before you click off, let me explain. There is obvious division in the church right now over whether it is “moral” for the church to be meeting in person. Ignore that most churches only meet once a week anyway, which is a subject for another day. But the answer to this question is not hard to find. All you have to do is look at Jesus.
The Pharisees and the Sadducees continually harassed Jesus for doing what He was here to do because He broke all their rules. Three of the gospels tell the story of Jesus being in the synagogue on the Sabbath and healing the man with the withered hand. In Luke 13, Jesus is again at church on the Sabbath and heals a woman who had been bent over for 18 years. Why would anyone be upset if someone is healed? The answer is simple. The one accusing of wrong lives a life of lip service and not people service. You may just be a Pharisee.
It didn’t stop there either. You’re fooling yourself if you think it will stop there for the church as well. The church is the beginning. They will complain about what you do in your home too. Jesus was in a house teaching when four people were brave enough to offend the owners of a home by opening up their roof to lower down a man to be healed. Get this. Instead of rejoicing that a bedridden man could now walk again, they were upset that Jesus told the man he was forgiven. Their attack came not just with healing but on the words Jesus said. This is happening right now in our nation. Our choice of words and freedom of speech is under attack.
I saw a post from a friend the other day telling what a wonderful day of ministry they had just had ministering to the homeless. People were healed, delivered, and set free. On top of that, they fed them to fill their bellies as well as their spirits. She posted pictures to show God’s goodness. And wouldn’t you know that the first comment on that post was from a woman who said, “You mean there wasn’t social distancing there?” I wanted to scream what Jesus had said to the Pharisees. “You hypocrites!”
If you are more concerned about laws and regulations than people, well, then you don’t know Jesus. You may just be a Pharisee.
Ministering to the needs of people was the reason Jesus came. He came to heal, deliver and set free all those who were sick and oppressed. And if you are a follower of Jesus, then that is your mission too. Especially in a pandemic. Jesus didn’t run from contagious lepers. And neither should we. He laid His hands on them, and they recovered. If the church would just be the church, we would not worry about a pandemic. We should be telling all those with Covid to come to the church!
In fact, it would be hard for any government to keep you silent and shut up if we were the cure. How are you supposed to call for the elders of the church to lay hands on you and recover if you can’t go to the church where the elders are supposed to be. And if you are a pastor and don’t believe that Jesus still wants to heal, deliver and set free, then you have more significant problems than opening your church. Instead, if the church is open, we take temperatures to tell the sick to stay away. I can only imagine what Jesus is saying about this. Where is the holy reverent fear of God?
It’s time for the church to be the church and stand up! It’s time for the church to be the answer and the cure to the sickness of this world. It’s time to quit bowing to rules and regulations that hurt people, follow Jesus’ example, and keep doing what we are here to do. It’s time to stop giving lip service and be about our Father’s business.
If you are sick, go and find you a church that actually believes the Bible and let them lay hands on you, and you will recover in Jesus’ name!
Blessings to you and yours,
Jaime Luce
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