Good News that Comes To Life
John 5:1-9
The placebo effect in medicine is something that fascinates me. It effectively demonstrates that sometimes we seem to have the ability to relieve our own pain and even experience healing without the intervention of medicine or other therapies.
The placebo effect seems to prove that there is an objective power in what we believe. In the 19th century, a physician named Elisha Perkins invented what he claimed to be a medical device called the “Perkins Patent Tractors.” These “tractors” were, effectively, two three inch rods made of steel and brass even though Elisha Perkins claimed they ere made of mysterious and unusual metal alloys.
They were called tractors because the claim was that these metal rods made of their unusual allows “drew out” illnesses (think of the “tractor beam” from Star Trek). Perkins claimed they cured inflammation, rheumatism and pain in the head and face. He claimed that they could “draw off the noxious electrical fluid that lay at the root of suffering.” Perkins convinced many people, including George Washington himself, alongside other physicians that this method worked—and he made a hefty profit.
Perkins’ “tractors,” ironically, were disproved in a way that revealed the importance of the placebo effect in medical tests. Another physician proved Perkins’ theory aboout “noxious electrical fluids” was wrong by having the same curative outcomes through using “tractors” that were made of wood instead of metal—disproving Perkins assertion that metal had anything to do with why some people were experiencing healing from the “tractors.”
Now, before I go any further, yes. There is nothing new under the sun and these “tractors” were certainly not the last time people tried to sell metal devices with claims that they were curative.
All of this is interesting, not because it is absurd to us now, but because, for some folks… the tractors worked! Their belief in them (and maybe some coincidence, to be sure) led to their suffering being alleviated. And in the absence of information like the test that showed it wasn’t really about the tractors—it was about belief in what the tractors could do.
I dare to say that hope had a lot to do with healing when it came to Perkins’ “tractors.”
When Jesus encountered the man who had been ill for thirty-eight years in Jerusalem by the sheep gate next to the pool called “Beth-zatha,” he asked a massive question: “Do you want to be made well?” I think this question points to the power of belief in our own wellness and healing, too.
Sometimes we can be so tired, so despairing, so numb that we forget to desire healing. Maintaining the status quo, however much suffering it might have, might seem less painful than enduring the pain of change, grief, and struggle that healing sometimes can require. And sometimes, daring to believe and hope in healing can feel exhausting—or we might even be afraid to do it at all.
If we had our way, I am sure we would love for healing to happen in an instant—like Jesus telling the man to get up and suddenly his illness is gone. What made Perkins’ “tractors” appealing might not have been how the mystery of it seemed convincing… it might have also been because simply sitting there while someone waved metal rods over you was easy. It didn’t ask much of you. It wasn’t painful surgery or side-effect laden medicine.
My friends, do we want to be made well? It might cost us a lot. It might require therapy sessions to talk about trauma. It might require establishing new diet and exercise habits. It might require advocating more forcefully for a meaningful diagnosis from your doctor. It might mean hearing some bad news. It might mean adjusting to a different way of living life.
And when it comes to our faith… being made well in our faith is a life long committment. Being made well in our faith is a way to describe what we Christians call salvation. It starts with things like baptism and assurance. But it takes our entire lives to be made well in our faith—and we can’t be made well on our own. We need Jesus, and we need one another.
And underneath all of it, is the power of belief—embracing a vision of the future that seems miraculous and impossible. Desiring and truly believing it is possible to be made well. Talk to anyone recovering from addiction and they will tell you about the power of belief and the importance of not trying to be made well all on your own.
Healing and belief go hand in hand.
