Lutheran perspectives on healing Deeper understandings
God’s answer to prayer is to be with us and give us each other By Courtney Wilder
E
ach week Christians gather for worship and offer prayers on behalf of the sick. Apart from
letting the congregation know who needs help, what is the purpose of these prayers or other, more private prayer? What do we expect from Christ when we ask for healing? Lutherans don’t typically hold to
a tradition of faith healing, although there is a ritual called “Laying on of Hands and Anointing of the Sick” found in Occasional Services, the companion book to the Lutheran Book of Worship. Part of the reason that rites of reli-
gious healing of the sick aren’t widely practiced in the Lutheran tradition is historical. Martin Luther argued in 1520 in The Babylonian Captivity of the Church that the ritual of anoint- ing the sick shouldn’t be a sacrament because it wasn’t established by Jesus Christ. He noted wryly that as it was then practiced, anointing the sick “promises health and restoration” but this often didn’t come to pass. “Who does not see ... that this promise is seldom, or rather never
Author bio: Wilder is associate professor of religion at Midland University, Fremont, Neb. She is author of a forthcoming book, Disability, Faith, and the Church:
Inclusion and Accommodation in Contemporary Congregations, to be published by Praeger.
fulfilled?” Luther wrote. “Scarcely one among a thousand is restored; and even this no one believes to be effected by the sacrament, but by the help of nature or of medicine.” Luther was concerned that prayer
over the sick had become restricted only to those who were dying, and he thought that all Christians ought both to pray for the sick and seek medical care when they need it. His point remains reasonable. We
pray for the healing of the sick, but we also see that those for whom we pray aren’t always made well. The Bible’s healing stories don’t necessarily give us clarity either. What can prayer do? Should our faith be sufficient to cure our illnesses? Why are we suffering to begin with? Jesus rejects the idea that sin
causes impairment in John 9:3, tell- ing the disciples that a man was born blind through no one’s fault but in order to provide an opportunity for revelation. However, in Mark 2 he first forgives and then heals a man who is paralyzed. In Luke 8:48, Jesus tells a woman who has been cured of a long-standing illness merely by touching his garment: “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” Is healing connected to faith or forgiveness? What can we expect from God? Luther offers us guidance on many
of these points. He didn’t see illness as punishment from God for our sins. Repentance won’t cure us. He held that people should seek medical care and look after their health as much as possible. In a letter to Jerome Weller, his student and his children’s tutor,
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Luther wrote to encourage him dur- ing a period of despair and emotional anguish: “Be of good courage ... and cast these dreadful thoughts out of your mind. Whenever the devil pes- ters you with these thoughts, at once seek out the company of men, drink more, joke and jest, or engage in some other form of merriment.” However, Luther didn’t think that
Weller, or the many other people in despair to whom he wrote, could be healed through prayer alone. Medical care and the care of the community are essential for healing.
Called to heal, be healed Recently a friend shared a story that I found helpful. Her oldest friend had, in her 20s, rather suddenly expe- rienced such significant, ongoing pain that her life was dramatically altered. She went from being active and vibrant to requiring so much pain medication that she slept most of each day. Although she sought medical care, numerous doctors were unable to diagnose her; some suggested the pain was all in her head. My friend remembered, “It was terrifying.” Eventually this woman found a
pain specialist who diagnosed her correctly. The physician was able to treat her through a Quaker program that offered access to medical ser- vices at a reduced price. This was cru- cial to her recovery because she had no health insurance. The story doesn’t end there, or
rather doesn’t begin there. A few years before the woman became sick, the friend who was telling me the story had become active in the Quaker community in town. One of her vol-
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