In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our reading from chapter 4 of the Book of Acts opens with Peter and John before the Sanhedrin (Jewish religious authorities) where they must defend themselves because of their belief in the power of the resurrection. The arrest of the disciples was at the request of the Sadducees, a party within Judaism which did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. The disciples also appear to be a threat to the religious establishment because they have healed a disabled beggar and have attracted a large crowd of listeners. Peter and John are quick to attribute this healing to God who raised Jesus from the dead.

It is the final verse of our reading to which I draw your attention. Let us listen to it again.
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by they must be saved.”
Now the concept of salvation is central to Christianity. And yet at the popular level salvation is primarily understood or associated with “going to heaven”. I was watching Benny Hinn the other night in an effort to get some tips and this is certainly the way that salvation was articulated. This meaning is also inferred when someone asks, “Are you saved ?” Often what they are asking are you sure you are going to go to heaven when you die.

Christianity then in most people’s minds is a heaven oriented religion.  And for many the only reason to be a Christian is so that you can go to heaven when you die. No other reason can be conceived for following Jesus Christ. The only problem with this dominant connection between salvation and heaven is that our focus tends to be on the next world rather than on the transformation of this one in which we inhabit. It was for this reason that Karl Marx called religion (Christianity) an “opiate for the masses”-promising heaven to the poor as an escape from their wretched lives.
But if we look past the popular understanding of salvation and dig a little deeper into the Biblical tradition we see that the concept of salvation is much richer in meaning. Salvation is very important to the biblical story. However, life after death is not. Belief in life after death was a very late teaching within Judaism and did not appear until very late in the Old Testament. And we see in our passage from Acts there was still a great deal of disagreement between the various parties of Judaism concerning life after death. The Sadducees did not believe in it and the Pharisees did.

So for a lot of centuries in the biblical period, the Israelites didn’t believe in life after death. And even though they talked and wrote a great deal about salvation, going to heaven could not have been their primary understanding. There had to be another meaning and it is reflected in our reading from Acts.

Today’s verses focus primarly on health, the health of the man who had been disabled and the health of the people Jesus came to save. The connection between these two is highlighted by the same Greek word in the original language. And that word is sozo which is translated as “healed” when it refers to the disabled man’s new state in v.9 and “saved” in v.12 when it refers to our need for Jesus to make us whole.

Salvation then does not primarily refer to our heavenly home, life after death. Salvation is really centered here in the midst of our world, in the midst of our daily lives. Salvation actually refers to wholeness or healing now not after we are dead. It is the same root from which we get our word salve-a healing substance.
Salvation is really about overcoming those aspects of our lives that lead to fragmentation and brokeness, those aspects that wound or injure us to the depths of our hearts. Now I know that the issue of health is a major concern for some of you. And it seems that one of the joys of growing older is the physical infirmaties that go along with it. These are then coupled with countless medications and each week filled with doctor’s appointments.

Mark Twain once said, “The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like and do what you would rather not.” But what I have observed is that we don’t have any trouble talking about our physical health. However, our mental health and our spiritual health do not get the same attention. It is almost as if we are embarrassed to talk about these aspects of our selves probably because of the social stigma that is attached.

But if we see ourselves in terms of body, mind and spirit in relationship to make a whole  person then the health of each is important. There has to be a sense of balance, harmony and wholeness here and now in the midst of our daily lives. Now we could follow Mark Twain’s advice and be healthy and miserable or we can look to Jesus Christ for that sense of healing or wholeness in our lives now.

For salvation is really about our life with Christ today. Salvation, healing and wholeness comes from God through Christ through us. It is in Jesus that we see a “whole” human being who found his center in God, his harmony in the midst of the divine. And that way of liberation is open to us as well. Perhaps you have tasted fleeting glimpses of it.
Yet salvation is dependent on our response. Without our response to God’s act, to God’s invitation, little or nothing will change in our lives or in our world. God invites us to walk the road of health today, to reconnect with God who is the ground of our being. To satisfy our hunger at the Lord’s table where Jesus in the bread of life, to quench our thirst where Jesus is the living wine. Come to the table and celebrate your salvation now.
THANKS BE TO GOD AMEN.