Sickness and Healing (James 5:13–20)
Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
– James 5:13-20
Introduction: reality of the supernatural
When my wife and I were first married, we took a trip down to the Great Smoky Mountains. We did a lot of hiking. There’s one trail we hiked on that trip which—although the trail itself is only about 2 miles long each way—gains about 1,200 feet in elevation in those 2 miles. So you’re climbing. We got married in January, so this is winter in the mountains, and it was really foggy. At the top of the hike, the trail just kind of ends at what is supposed to be a grand vista of the valley below. But we were just enshrouded in fog. There are some large rock formations you can climb to get a better view (on a clear day) of the valley below. Steep rock formations; think “hand-over-knee climbing”. I wanted to climb up the rocks just to see … something. (I don’t know what I was hoping to see.) My wife stayed below. So I climbed up these rocks, a good 30-40 feet or so to the top, and stood up. And I have very distinct memories of trying to look around, but the fog was so thick that even your outstretched hand was starting to fade a little. You couldn’t see but a few feet in front of you on the ground. And—this is important—I also distinctly remember walking around on the top of the rock formation. There was a plateau of sorts, maybe 10 feet in any direction. But I couldn’t see anything, crawled back down, and we went on our way.
Several years later we returned to the park and my wife and I hiked the same trail again. This time it was summer, and it was a perfectly clear day. We got to the top, and I climbed up the rocks at the end again. And when I got to the top I looked around … I had one of those really strange, queasy sensations. You know what I’m talking about? The rock formation climbs to a rounded point and then drops off in all directions, most of those directions leading to a several hundred foot drop into the valley. There is no plateau at the top. I have no idea to this day what I was walking around on during that first trip. The only logical explanation I have is that something supernatural was going on that first time in the fog. That, for whatever reason, God wanted to spare me that day from severe injury or death.
Challenges in the passage
Here’s why I share that story. There are a lot of themes running through the passage we just read, and we’re not going to have time to discuss them all. But one of the main themes is that there is a spiritual, supernatural dimension to sickness and wellness. This passage is not trying to convince us that is true, it’s not making an argument to persuade us; rather, that is the assumption of the passage.
For some of us tonight, that’s easy for us to accept. Our worldview is such that we accept the reality of a sovereign being (God) who supernaturally intervenes in our lives. We believe in the supernatural because we are convinced that the Bible is true and reliable, and that’s the worldview it reveals. Moreover, many of us have had experiences that we can only explain in terms of supernatural intervention.
For others of us, however, this is a bit tough to swallow; it sounds a bit superstitious and archaic. People get sick because of germs and viruses and mistakes in genetic replication, and they get well from antibiotics and medicine and the advances of science. That’s it. So we’re a bit suspicious of this passage.
Moreover, there’s another reason we might be uncomfortable with this passage. Many of us have prayed earnestly for a loved one in the midst of sickness, for healing and restoration that didn’t happen. I’ve been there many times. So we come to a passage like this one—that seems to promise healing—and can feel like we’ve been a bit burned here.
Let’s address that last point first. If this passage were the only one in the Bible about sickness and suffering and healing, I think we’d have a big problem. But it’s not. So I want to take just a few minutes and give a broader perspective on what God’s Word has to say to us about this. Just warning you: we’re going to be rushing through these pretty quick and not going into the detail that each would merit. The goal is to just hopefully give some larger perspective; this would definitely be something to discuss in your groups tonight if you have questions or want to dig deeper.
Causes of sickness
Natural consequences of a broken world
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
– Romans 8:18-22
Much sickness is simply a natural consequence of a broken world. The book of Romans talks about how, because of sin—because of man’s rebellion against God—the creation was cursed and subject to frustration. The DNA in our bodies has suffered thousands of years of mistakes in genetic replication, bacteria is not interacting with the environment in the way it was originally intended, weather patterns turn chaotic and destructive. There’s no necessary moral component here. Just because Sally gets a stomach bug and I don’t doesn’t mean I’m more virtuous. It’s just a broken world.
Natural consequences of personal action
A man who commits adultery has no sense;
whoever does so destroys himself. (Proverbs 6:32)Lazy hands make for poverty,
but diligent hands bring wealth. (Proverbs 10:4)
Other sickness and suffering, however, is a direct, natural consequence of living in a way outside of God’s design. The book of Proverbs is full of this. If you are lazy, that can quite likely lead to you being impoverished, and all of the social and physical problems that go along with that. The Proverbs warn the reader over and over to avoid sexual promiscuity, not only because it is morally wrong, but because it very often leads to personal harm as well. Certain destructive behaviors have naturally harmful consequences. Abuse of smoking leads to lung cancer. Abuse of alcohol leads to liver disease. There’s a lot of research going on now making the connection between overuse (abuse?) of social media and symptoms like depression.
Supernatural discipline
For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
– 1 Corinthians 11:29–30
A third reason—and this one isn’t very popular—is that some sickness and suffering is God’s discipline. There are many examples and warnings in the Bible about this. Sometimes the weakness associated with the sickness or suffering is intended to wake us up to a sinful pattern in our lives that needs to be addressed.
Other / Sovereignty of God
This is kind of the catch-all category. Sometimes the reasons are beyond our ability to understand. Last week’s passage mentioned the patience of Job. Job loses most of his family, his possessions, and is in intense physical pain. His friends some to counsel him, but the only category they have for suffering is our third point: this must be supernatural discipline. They spend the entire book trying to get Job to confess what he’s done wrong, because that’s the only way they can understand what’s going on. But Job hasn’t done anything wrong. We know why he’s suffering, because the reader is aware of a private conversation that God has with Satan, allowing Satan to harm Job to prove the point that those whom God has called and saved, he will provide them with faith that perseveres through to the end no matter what. Which is what happens. But even as the book of Job closes, Job is never really informed about the reason behind his sickness and suffering. It remained a mystery to him, just as much suffering is a mystery to us.
Causes of healing
Just as there are a variety of explanations for sickness and suffering, so also with healing.
We are fearfully and wonderfully made.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well. (Psalm 139:14)
Much of our health and healing can be attributed to the incredible design of our bodies. We kind of take it for granted that we get a cold, and then we recover after a few days. But that’s actually a very amazing thing when you get to the biology of it. That cold virus would be fatal to your body if not dealt with. But there’s all this amazing machinery—each of your cells is a factory—that is constantly working to identify and rid the bodies of harmful agents. I’m not teaching biology class here—you guys understand how this works—but take a moment every now and then to reflect on the brilliance of that design.
Human efforts to overcome effects of the fall (nursing / medicine)
“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.… A Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.”
– Luke 10:30,33-34
Another source of healing is the applied knowledge of our community in terms of our care providers and scientific knowledge in the form of medicine. This isn’t mentioned a lot in Scripture, but more of an application of the general principle that it is commendable when we use our gifts and scholarship and abilities in ways that work to overcome the brokenness of the world. Many of you aspire to work in the medical field as doctors, nurses, radiology technicians, etc. Or to pursue scientific research in the academic sphere. Our hope would be that you see that as not only a job, but a calling as well. God absolutely uses those things to accomplish his purposes for healing.
No.
Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus. (2 Timothy 4:20)
Other times in Scripture God chooses not to heal physically or remove the suffering. Sometimes suffering is something God uses to mature his followers. As we saw above, sometimes it is discipline. Sometimes we really don’t know why. There’s a lot of mystery here, but it is important for us to recognize, as we come to as passage like the one in James, that healing in this life is not always the plan.
Supernatural healing
This, of course, is the concern of our passage. God is willing and able to supernaturally intervene in our lives to bring about restoration and wholeness in response to the prayers of his children. Sometimes through the secondary means mentioned above, sometimes in ways that defy natural explanation.
Connection between spiritual and physical wholeness
OK, so now with this background and larger picture, let’s return to the passage in James. Quite apparently, this passage is talking about the type of healing identified in our fourth point, where God is responding to prayer.
But let’s ask the question: what types and causes of suffering are in view? This is where, I think, looking carefully at the passage can get really interesting. You may have noticed as we were reading through the passage that there’s a curious interleaving of physical sickness and healing, right along with sin and confession and spiritual wholeness. Did you notice that?
In verse 15, the prayer offered in faith will, we are told “make the sick person well”. The word used here in the original language is actually that the prayer will “save” the person. It’s the same word used elsewhere in the Bible for our spiritual salvation. Then immediately the passage adds that “the Lord will raise them up”. To “raise” here could mean simply to raise up from one‘s bed of illness, but it’s an odd way to state that. It rings of resurrection and eternal life. Then it continues, “If he has sinned, he will be forgiven,” and goes on to talk about confessing sins and then goes right back to healing. So what’s going on here?
This passage assumes a connection between our physical and spiritual wholeness. The lines between those are blurred because being well in the fullest sense is more than being happy and free of germs—there’s a spiritual dimension to it as well.
The word used for “sick” here isn’t just talking about physical illness. It literally means “weak”; perhaps we might define as “unable to deal effectively with the responsibilities of life”. So this includes not only a severe physical illness but things like anxiety, depression, or paralyzing shame.
Now as soon as we step into the mental health area, I need to return to what we said earlier so no one comes away with the wrong conclusions. No one tonight is saying that if you are sick or anxious that you should stop seeing your care provider, avoid any medication, and just confess your sins and pray. There are some within the Christian umbrella who would go there. Hear me clearly: that is a gross misunderstanding of God’s Word. And just like Job’s friends, such a simplistic worldview can have dangerous consequences. We must not over-spiritualize sickness and suffering and healing.
But I think what this passage is getting at is not to under-spiritualize it, either. The type of healing envisioned in this passage is not simply physical, and not simply spiritual, but both, an integrated wholeness that God is after.
Healing in community
Notice also in this passage, and this is really important, that it expects healing and restoration to happen in the context of Christian community. You are not expected to go through this alone. In this passage, the one who is sick or weak calls for the elders of the church—for the sake of our context tonight, think of that as mature believers—to come and pray. And I think the appropriate way to understand this passage is that context of healing in community continues through the end of the book. We pray with and for one another. We confess our sins and brokenness to one another. Where appropriate, others can point out things in our lives that need to be addressed. That’s what those last two verses are discussing. Perhaps in the course of the conversation some lifestyle errors will be corrected, and that is part of the path of recovery. We might call what is going on here “spiritual counseling”.
When you are suffering, don’t go it alone. Get help.
And that’s the last point to bring out in this passage. Notice upon whom this passage puts the responsibility to seek restoration. The one who is sick, the one who is weak, is to take the initiative.
So, personal therapy time. This is an area I personally really struggle with. Seeking help from others feels like a failure. Call it cultural conditioning or just plain old pride, but I feel like I should be able to handle things on my own. So, quite frankly, I’m not really the one to be up here challenging you to seek help, because it’s something I really haven’t figured out yet for myself. I internalize and hide a lot of pain. So take this tonight as an exhortation from God’s Word, and not from the messenger, to seek help when you need it.
I will say this, though. The longer I live and learn about myself and the lives of others, and talk with those involved in a lot of counseling (in general terms, not specifics), the more I realize how common it is to have periods in life, even recurring periods where, due to physical symptoms, emotional stress, some combination of both, etc., we need help outside of ourselves to get back to a path of restoration. Many of us are in those hard places right now. Others are doing awesome—you’re young and invincible. That’s great, but these times will come. If you haven’t had them yet, you just haven’t lived long enough. And it’s important to have a game plan in place for when they do. And I think at the end of the day, that’s what this passage is setting before us: a plan for what to do in our times of weakness. God loves you, and he desires for your complete wholeness, in the integrated sense we just talked about. That involves knowing deeply of his forgiveness, experiencing his intervention in our lives as we pray, and having other believers speak into our lives and care for us in our times of need.