For the past few weeks, when people lined up at Jesus’ door, he opened it and offered them three things ... in fact, it was in our mission statement for the month of October.
We are “growing in love, sharing in worship, and reaching out in prayer” with a balance of:
• teaching (passing on information); • preaching (adding a message to the information);
• 3 healing (bringing the information and the message to life).
All three woven together into what noted theologian Dr. Frank Stanger called “wholeness” in his work “The Healing Community.”
First, there is teaching or passing along information, and second, there is preaching or adding a message to the information in Mark. A man with leprosy came to (Jesus) and begged Him on his knees.
“‘If you are willing, you can make me clean.’” — Mark 1: 40
There is no way to grow in our faith until we first know the stories of our faith and what they mean.
The leper in our story didn’t know Jesus, but he’d heard the stories. So, he begins with two questions.
“Can you heal me” is a teaching question. It’s information. “Will you heal me” is a preaching question. It’s a message.
The Pharisees thought Jesus was the son of Mary and Joseph. We know Jesus as the Son of God.
The Pharisees thought Jesus was an itinerant rabbi. We know Jesus as the Lord of lords and the King of kings.
The Pharisees thought Jesus died on the cross. Now, we know Jesus rose from the grave and sits on the throne of the universe.
When Jesus speaks, demons, disease, and death leave!
In “The Immortal Mind,” neurosurgeon Michael Egnor says we are a spiritual mind and soul, a brain, and a physical body.
Teaching is information for the mind, preaching is a message for the soul, and they are two sides of the same coin.
The mind gathers the information, the soul interprets the message, and the physical body is where the rubber hits the road.
Finally, the brain is the intermediary between the mind or soul and the body, and the interaction of mind, soul, brain, and body is called “wellness” or “wholeness.”
Charles “Buddy” Whatley is a retired Methodist pastor serving Dawson Street Methodist Church in Thomasville, Ga., and a missionary to the Navajo.
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