“Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. A prayer of a righteous person, when it is brought about, can accomplish much.”

Today’s passage is one that is often debated and picked apart by scholars to pull out specifics about healing. Some denominations and Christian circles have used this passage to make claims about how God heals His people and what our role in healing is. As I studied for this devo, I came across more potential interpretations and applications than we could ever possibly cover with the time we have together. Suffice it to say, if you are interested in digging deeper into this passage, I encourage it. But there is a lot of controversy, opinion, and rhetoric surrounding this passage for you to sort through.  

With all this information, as I asked God what He wanted to say to us specifically, I felt like He drew my attention to one aspect of this passage in particular. What He highlighted for me was the communal tone of this passage. James leans into the healing of the sick in a way that is deeply rooted in the greater body of Christ.  

First, he tells the person who is sick to call the elders to come to him/her. I don’t know about you, but when I am sick is when I want people in my home the LEAST! Usually, when I am struggling, that is when my house is the messiest, my appearance is the worst, my laundry is piled up, and my sink is filled with dishes. So, the idea of inviting people in, especially leaders of my church, to pray over me is a huge ask. But James encourages just that! He encourages authenticity and inviting people to meet you in your worst moments.

James tells the church body to confess their sins to one another. Again, this is Gospel lived out in community in a way that often makes us uncomfortable. The idea of confessing my sins to God is hard enough. Even worse is confessing to my leadership. But to confess my sins to other members of the body is incredibly hard and intimidating. Yet, James includes this as a remedy and a precaution against sickness (and this could be both physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental sickness.) Why? Because a body of believers who can live in total honesty and openness with each other is a body who can walk in true provision, care, companionship, accountability, and oneness. And that is an amazing guard against sins and sicknesses taking hold and causing issues.

And finally, James calls us to pray for one another. Again, the community aspect cannot be missed here. When we are suffering, we often tend to suffer alone or with only a few select people. But James paints a different picture here. We are to pray for each other. We are to lean into the needs of others by lifting them up in prayer with a prayer of faith that put’s God at the center of our healing and deliverance. We are to continually bring the needs and cares of not only our close friends, but our community to God in earnest and faith.

I will be the first to admit that this is challenging and convicting to me. I have struggled through the years to be open and vulnerable with people because there is this innate fear that if they really see all the junk under the surface they will reject me, discredit me, mock me, or belittle me. And it hasn’t just developed from my own imagination.  

As a person who was bullied as a kid, I learned early on that people can be downright ugly! They can find every flaw, every crack, every chink and use it to drag you down so they can build themselves up. I wish I could say that only happened outside of church circles, but I would be lying. Unfortunately, people inside the church can be just as judgmental if not worse! In fact, many people leave the church not because they are upset with God, but because they can’t stand to be around His people. (How sad is that!?!?)

It seems every other month we are hearing about another issue with leaders or people of the church doing something they shouldn’t, hurting people, and making a bad name for Christians everywhere. It can be so easy for us to feel jaded and bitter toward the church. Or, even worse, we can get wrapped up in the pride, self-righteousness, and arrogance that causes us to be one of the people to hurt someone.  

So, what do we do about this? And how do we begin to build the kind of community that James envisions in today’s passage? First, I think it starts with us getting our minds straight about the church. Church is made up of broken people who are (hopefully) trying to become more like Christ but are not yet there. If we expect every believer to be perfect from the moment of salvation, we would have to expect that of ourselves as well. In the same way that we are growing and learning, so is everyone else in the church. And that means we make some mistakes.  

Second, we have to separate the actions of believers from the God we follow. Just because someone in the church hurt you, does not mean that God hurt you. I heard an analogy that really helped me. If someone sat down to a piano and tried to play Mozart but they missed a bunch of notes, the timing was off, and the piano was out of tune, would you blame Mozart? No, you would blame the person who played it. But you might also look at what they did and realize that they put in effort, at the skill level they were at, in hopes of representing something beautiful in some way. Maybe it wasn’t perfect, but they are trying and with each failed attempt, they will improve.

The same is true of the church. We are all sitting down, sometimes with instruments of grace that need to be tuned, and we are trying to represent something beautiful. We often fail. We often hit wrong notes. We often miss the beat. But we are growing and we are learning. However, the less-than-perfect version we are “playing” is not God’s fault. It is ours. We don’t blame God for the mistakes we see in the church. We thank Him that He is patient and kind and willing to use faulty people to sing His song to the world- imperfect as it might be.  

And finally, I think we need to be brave enough to be the one who takes the first step. Sometimes we are so busy waiting for other people to be transparent and authentic and we fail to see they are all waiting for someone to make the first move too. If we take a step, we can know it will be hard. People may not always react the way they should. But in the end, God is the one who cares for us, and He is always faithful.  

Healing has never been something that is “private”. God calls us to a place of community, a place of healing, a place of growing together. As we watch Him work mightily in other’s lives, we too are moved and changed. As we see healing happen, we are strengthened. As sins are confessed and forgiven, it gives us courage to do the same. Community is a tool the Master uses to heal all of us. It is a glimpse of paradise, the promise that one day all our sins, our hurts, our brokenness, and our pain will be wiped away. But in the meantime, He calls us to live in a way that fills in the gaps for one another, lets down our guard, and abandons judgement.

Jesus,

I admit that I am always hesitant to lean into community when I am at my worst. But You created Christian community to be the balm You use to soothe our souls. You created it to be the thing that fills in the gaps where we are lacking. Help me to surrender to that, to put down my pride, and to engage in the kind of community that You designed. I trust You.

In the name of Jesus Christ,

Amen