So far in this sermon series, focussed on the sending out of the seventy-two we\u2019ve been thinking about the preparations for the journey, about how they were to go, where they were to go, what they might expect when they got there, and now today, finally, we get to think about the content of the mission that they were being sent on. This mission action plan is very simple, it can be summarised in three words. Show and Tell. That\u2019s it. Show and Tell.<\/p>\n
Of course, just because something is simple to understand doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s not deep or difficult to do. So, we\u2019re going to take these two aspects of the mission of the seventy-two and look at them over the next two weeks. Before we do this, though, I think it\u2019s wise just to realise that they belong together. Too often in our history we have divorced showing and telling in our sharing of the good news of Jesus. We have split them from each other in a false division. Jesus did not say, \u201cshow or tell\u201d. He said \u201cShow and tell\u201d The force of this phrase could be summarised, \u201cShow whilst telling and tell whilst showing\u201d. When it comes to our engagement with the world, we cannot show without telling, else nobody will know why we do what we do, or where the power with which we do things comes from. Similarly we cannot tell without showing, or there will be nothing to explain, there will be no evidence for us to point to in our conversations. Show and Tell.<\/p>\n
Having said all that, we are going to spend a couple of weeks thinking about these things separately, but only so that we can understand them both more fully, and so that we can allow our deeper understanding and commitment to both to strengthen our witness to Jesus\u2019 love and power to change lives.<\/p>\n
So, to my text for this evening which, I think, is the shortest text that I have ever preached on, the first phrase of v9 \u201cHeal those there who are ill…\u201d<\/p>\n
Another simple instruction. \u201cHeal those there who are ill…\u201d Now, we know that the disciples had seen Jesus healing people, but we have no indication that they had been involved personally in this ministry. I suspect that having seen Jesus do these things with their own eyes, their faith and belief that people would be healed when they prayed from them would have been quite strong, but I suspect also that they might have had the odd nagging doubt. Nevertheless, they followed Jesus\u2019 instruction and off they went. And what happened? Well, skipping a few verses on we come to this in v 17, \u201cthe seventy-two returned with joy and said, \u2018Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.\u201d They had obviously seen people healed and freed from oppression and bondage. They did what Jesus told them to do, and it worked.<\/p>\n
This text might be short, and simple, but in some ways that makes it even more difficult to preach on. There is nowhere to hide. It\u2019s not even as though Jesus said, \u201cPray that those who are ill may be healed.\u201d That would be a far less challenging instruction. No, he says, \u201cHeal those there who are ill.\u201d There is nowhere to hide. What are we going to do with this instruction?<\/p>\n
One option is to decide that it doesn\u2019t apply to us. We could argue that this was a specific instruction to a particular group of people for the purposes of that mission trip. That it was during the time of Jesus\u2019 life on earth, and he gave those disciples the power and authority to fulfil that command on that trip, but that it was limited to that. That would let us off the hook nicely. However, I don\u2019t think that it can be sustained. There is example after example of healing accompanying the mission of different Christians throughout the New Testament, well after Jesus\u2019 death, resurrection and ascension. From Peter and John going to pray at the temple, and healing a beggar there in Jesus\u2019 name, to Ananias praying for Paul and seeing him healed of his blindness, to Paul himself in the reading we\u2019ve heard from Acts, whose healing gift was so profound that even cloths that had touched him brought healing to those who were ill.<\/p>\n
Further than this, it wasn\u2019t just those we might think of as \u201cApostles\u201d, eye witnesses of Jesus\u2019 life and works, that were given a gift of healing or other spiritual gifts. Again in the passage we read in Acts we hear about a group of disciples who had not heard the full gospel. They didn\u2019t fully understand about Jesus\u2019 and they had not received the Holy Spirit. So Paul explains the good news of Jesus to them, and baptises them. At which point the Holy Spirit fills them with power and gives them spiritual gifts.<\/p>\n
The way in which Paul writes about the gift of healing, and other gifts in his letters to the churches seems to me to demonstrate that they were, in some sense, a part of normal church life. There were some problems associated with them, but these were largely to do with the immaturity in faith of the new Christians, not to do with the gifts themselves being inappropriate or dying out in the church. Similarly when James writes his book, he gives specific instructions on what to do if someone is ill. The elders of the church are to gather round, pray over them, anoint them with oil, and \u201cthe prayer offered in faith will make them well.\u201d Again, it\u2019s very simple.<\/p>\n
As far as I can see, the gift of healing was not restricted to Jesus, or to Jesus\u2019 time. It was not restricted to Jesus\u2019 closest followers, \u201cthe Apostles\u201d and the sense of the teaching given to the churches was that it was to be part of church life and mission at that time. But what about now? Did those gifts cease when the canon was closed, once the church had got a good kick start and had got going. Almost as if the Holy Spirit primed the pump with healing and now the engine is running those gifts aren\u2019t needed any more.<\/p>\n
Christians take different views on this. It seems to me that neither case can be proved from Scripture. Depending on the weight you put on certain verses, and the way in which they are read, you can make an argument both that these gifts have ceased or that they continue in some form. It is my understanding that they continue. This is based on how I read the instructions in the letters to the churches and my understanding of the Holy Spirit as having been poured out on all people in the new covenant of Jesus\u2019 blood.<\/p>\n
It is also based on my knowledge of church history and the many examples and witnesses of miraculous healings through the centuries that have been a key part of revivals and Christian mission around the world. From Jackie Pullinger seeing heroin addicts freed from addiction in Hong Kong through the intervention and healing of the Holy Spirit, to Charles Spurgeon recounting the occasions on which he pointed out someone in the congregation about whom he had just received an insight, without any prior knowledge of the person, which proved to be entirely accurate, to the work of the Healing on the Streets prayer movement in this country at the moment.<\/p>\n