Yesterday I spent some time with a family whose child had a very serious illness, an illness that could be life threatening.
I can imagine no greater grief than a dying child and few longings stronger than that they would be well. And I know for many of us our greatest fear is something happening to our children. I wonder sometimes how I would respond if I were in the shoes of the family with whom I was speaking, deal with my sense of powerlessness, exhaustion and grief.
In the gospels we have many examples of parents bringing their children to the Lord for healing – Jairus, the Syro-Phoenician woman, the synagogue ruler, the man of little faith at the foot of the mount of transfiguration, and others [Mark 5:21-43, 7:24-30, 9:14-28, John 4:46-54]. None He turned away, and all received the healing that they sought for their child.
And in the gospels we have many good promises about prayer, not just that the Lord would hear us but where we pray in Jesus’ name we would receive what we ask. But nowhere, including James 5, do we have an unconditional promise of healing. And praying in Jesus’ name is not a magic formula for us to get whatever we want if we have enough faith. It is a promise about help as we are on about Jesus’ business, acting in His authority as we seek to make disciples of all nations [John 14:12-14, 16:26-27].
We know that in this overlap of the ages every believer is still subject to the death of this body, and to the frailty and illness that works that death in our bodies. Since Christ ascended every believer has died the death of this age. And we know that our children, the children of believers, share in living under the judgement that was imposed on Adam, in the death that is at work now in our earthly bodies. We have no guarantee of being spared the frailties and the suffering of this life. We know that in His earthly ministry Jesus did heal and restore. But He came to die and rise to give us the life of the new age, to ensure our resurrection through our reconciliation to God. He did not come to give us more of the same, the life of this age; He did not come even to give us the best possible life in this age, if best is understood as sickness free. The healings He worked were demonstrations of His power, of the presence of the Kingdom in His presence, and signs that pointed to His power to undo the effects of sin and bring us the life of the new age. They were not given to create an expectation that the life of His followers would be spared sickness and death in this age.
So what do we have to comfort our hearts in the face of the suffering of this age? What can address the fear many parents feel in their hearts for their children? What can we share with our children to equip them to face the reality of life in this world which is still subject to bondage to decay?
Let us start with the promise we do have in the gospel. It is no small promise. It is the promise of the defeat of death entirely – the destruction of the last and greatest enemy. And with that comes the promise of resurrection to a body that knows none of the frailty and pain we know now, a resurrection body that is fit to live in the new heaven and earth where there is no pain, no grief, no tears, no death [Phil 3:20-21, John 11:25-26, Rev. 21:1-8]. That is a day to long for, and we should not let the glory of this hope be obscured by the passing preoccupations and fleeting pleasures of this life.
And this promise is for our children too as they accept what we share with them of Jesus, and sharing the Jesus we meet in the gospels with them is at the heart of our sharing, for it is the heart of our own comfort.
Our Lord Jesus lives and He is, even in glory, the person we meet in the gospels. He is kind, gentle and humble. We can come with confidence to Him, come with our fears and hurts, and He will deal gently with us. And He is almighty. Those who have entrusted themselves into His hands are safe even in the midst of our confusion, perplexity and powerlessness. He keeps His word. He has said He will be with us in this life, and He has said that we will be with Him forever.
Perplexed and anxious at the thought of Jesus’ departure and at the thought of their own weak faith as they heard Jesus assure Peter that Peter would deny Him, the Lord said
John 14: “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also."
We have His word. He has prepared a place for us by finishing on the cross the work the Father gave Him to do. And He says we will be where He is, eternally, and He will take us there by His grace, love and might.
In this life, with all the things we can’t control, with all that threatens our peace and safety, with all its trials, our comfort and hope is in doing as He commands – trusting Him, trusting Him with the trust the almighty God deserves, trusting Him with the trust One who has loved us to the end, loved us with a love that cannot be greater – giving His life for us – deserves [John 13:1, 15:13]. Trusting Him, we can also entrust our children to Him knowing He will welcome them as He did when He was on earth – never too busy or too great to take them in His arms and bless them [Mark 10:14-16].
