I'm reading The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and I just read my favorite section. It's in the last book, The Return of the King, and it's called "The Houses of Healing." In this chapter, three of the characters, who have been hurt in battle, are taken to the Houses of Healing, which is similar to a hospital. And the outcome for their being healed doesn't look good.
Then Aragorn, who is the king, but it's not well-known that he's the king - Aragorn sneaks into the city and to the Houses of Healing, and he heals the people. Then this is spoken, "The hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known."
Aragorn not only heals his three friends, but he leaves the Houses of Healing, goes into the city, and heals more people.
And the word went through the City, "The King is come again indeed."
When I first read that, ten years ago, I thought that chapter was brilliant! I like it even better with the second reading.
The Old Testament has many prophecies about the coming Messiah, the One who would save the people. When John the Baptist is uncertain if Jesus is actually that Messiah, Jesus says:
Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. Matthew 11:4-5One of the ways that the Messiah was to be verified and known would be that the Messiah could and would heal the sick. And Jesus was that One who healed people.
I have people who I pray for each day, and a number of them have illnesses - they need to be healed. And the majority of our church prayer requests are for sick people to be healed.
When I pray for these sick people, part of my prayer is for healing, and part is for them to be comforted with knowing the forgiveness of their sins.
And that's what Jesus came for. I know that, if Jesus were even today walking around this earth, as He did 2000 years ago, He would be healing everyone, just as Aragorn did. But more than that, Jesus would be proclaiming the forgiveness of sins.
And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. Matthew 9:35
We rarely remember that the physical sickness in our bodies is brought on by the sickness of our souls - our sinful nature.
Jesus has compassion for our hurting physical ailments. But He also wants our souls to be healed and for us to know the forgiveness of sins.
Are there Houses of Healing today?
Yes, there are! Every Sunday, when I hear the gospel preached, when I hear the pastor proclaim the forgiveness of sins through Jesus - I'm in a House of Healing.
