Is anyone among you sick? (James 5:14)
The text starts with a question, “Is anyone among you sick?” Is anyone weak, feeble, without strength, needy, powerless, or poor?
The problem I see with many physical ailments and the believer is the denial of sickness to prove our faith. Here’s what I mean, in March of this year, we celebrated Tracy’s birthday and invited family and friends over for dinner. One young man who came was sick and you can see it all in his face. He didn’t want anything to eat so he went into one of the rooms to lay down for a while. As we were talking, he came in and the question was asked “Are you sick?” He responds, “I’m not claiming that!” My immediate response to him was: “You don’t have to claim what you already have”. I wasn’t trying to be a jerk but for some strange reason many people think that acknowledging physical sickness is a sign of spiritual weakness and a lack of faith. Not true! The point is this, I’m a Christian who gets sick and my faith is not in question because I’m sick.
What I love about the book of James is the practicality in which spiritual maturity is measured. Your response to trials and how you view God’s blessings in Chapter 1 is a measurement for spiritual maturity. How you treat others in chapter 2 is a measurement for spiritual maturity. Controlling your tongue in Chapter 3 is a measurement for spiritual maturity. Your participation in fights in chapter 4 is a measurement for spiritual maturity. And, your prayer life is a measurement for spiritual maturity. No where in James is the denial of sickness a measurement for spiritual maturity in the life of the believer.
The reality of our existence is that Christians get sick too.
To really understand sickness, I believe there are two (2) categories of sickness: Physical and Spiritual.
Physical Sickness
John McArthur in his bible study lesson on “The Temporary Sign Gifts-Healing, Part A says; “I think we are aware that sickness and disease is the most tragic human reality. Disease is the number one human problem. It is that which hits hardest and hurts the most, especially when it culminates in death”. Many people, Christian and non-Christian, are fearful of getting sick. So we don’t go to the doctor for routine checkups because of the fear of receiving bad news. However, in search for a cure people tend to look in all the wrong places.
Since the Fall of man in the Garden of Eden, disease and death have been a reality. Since that time, the search for cures to alleviate the reality of illness and suffering continues. In the darkest part of an aboriginal society, witch doctors have potions and approaches to curing disease. Even the most sophisticated, complex hospital in the world today is doing the very same think. The primitive beginning of medicine occurred centuries ago in Egypt. Throughout the history of Western civilization, man has continually searched for cures for the terrible reality of illness and disease (The Temporary Sign Gifts-Healing, Part A by John McArthur, p. 2).
The first step to physical healing is acknowledging your sickness not denying your sickness. You can’t pray effectively if you don’t first acknowledge there is a problem or need.
I’m fascinated by Scripture (especially in the Gospels) that people realized their sickness and did not try to down play it as if it didn’t exist.
- The woman with an issue of blood pressed through the crowd
- Jarius went to Jesus so that his daughter could be healed
- The lepers saw Jesus passing and cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us!”
- Friends lowered another friend through a roof who was paralyzed to receiving healing
- Mary and Martha went to Jesus on the behalf of Lazarus who was dying from sickness
- The impotent man laying at Bethseda’s realized his disability but didn’t anything about it for 38 years
- Many people who were sick and diseased were brought to Jesus
As Christians, we may break a leg, have diabetes, cancer, HIV/Aids, ulcers, the flu, etc because it’s the reality of life. People get sick and being a Christian does not exempt you from this reality.
In the context of James writing in the 5th chapter, the believer is not to deny sickness but to pray about the sickness.
“Is anyone suffering? Let him pray.”
“Is anyone sick? Call on the elders and let them pray over him.”
“And the prayer of faith will heal the one who’s sick.”
I don’t want to get ahead of myself and this well be discussed in detail later but allow to state my claim upfront; “Prayer is the medicine for healing”. Why? Because prayer takes your mind of sickness and directs your focus towards God. I know this for a fact. All night I prayed, Tracy and I prayed, and I prayed some more for my son. Soon, I started to focus on God which prepared me for what was about to come.
There is one other truth under physical illness and disease that frightens many of us, DEATH. We don’t like death but the truth of the matter is that some sickness and disease does result in death. In Acts, Luke records in chapter 9:32-37 after the conversion of Saul:
Peter traveled from place to place to visit the believers, and in his travels he came to the Lord's people in the town of Lydda. There he met a man named Aeneas, who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you! Get up and make your bed!" And he was healed instantly. Then the whole population of Lydda and Sharon turned to the Lord when they saw Aeneas walking around. There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha (which in Greek is Dorcas. She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor. About this time she became ill and died. Her friends prepared her for burial and laid her in an upstairs room (New Living Translation).
These verses show two pictures of sickness: healing and death. Tabitha, according to the text, did no wrong, got sick and died. The question becomes why is that? How could one receive healing and in the very next verse someone dies? This was my struggle with my son’s passing. I could not understand how a life so promising could be taking away before it ever got started. Still to this day I don’t know why. But as I stated earlier, God makes no mistakes, as well as, healing isn’t for everybody. I recognize that this is a harsh statement to make and comprehend but I believe it to be a reality of our Christian faith. Everybody won’t receive healing in this life.
To be continued...
I just went to church!!
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