Part of Jesus’ 3-year ministry recorded in Scriptures was healing many people of their conditions. You name it: the blind, the deaf, the paralytic, the bleeding, the mute, the invalid, the dead –all have been healed by Jesus. John concludes even in his book that there were many more miraculous things Jesus did but there would not be enough space to write every single one of it.
When I went over the recorded stories of Jesus’ healings, it made me think that everything, though spontaneous, was really carefully planned so that the end result may be to bring glory to the Father. He heals people not only because He can, but because He wants to and he loves the people. There was not one man he encountered that did not receive some sort of healing, except the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders who were too blind to see their spiritual condition.
I studied some of these stories of healing because I want to learn and gain insight on the kind of attitude they had that made them well. But really, was their healing credited to their attitude, or to God’s? I found that it was both. So why are some people sick or physically afflicted, and others aren’t?
In John 9:4, Jesus tells his disciples, “This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”
That’s a heavy one right there. To believe that what happens to us, whether we are physically sick or going through some other condition, is to display God’s glory.
I don’t for a second doubt that. A while ago, I was praying just this same sentiment, that God would heal me and work in my body that people might see His glory. I know that God is fully away of my condition. He created my body and knows it from top to bottom, from the number of hairs I have to the number of moles. He of all people is most aware of my body.
How did Jesus heal the sick? Well, in some cases, he offers no explanation as to why that person was sick in the first place. He just asks one question: Do you want to get well? Then He instructs the person to do his part, either by GOING (to wash at the pool of Siloam) or GETTING UP AND PICKING UP THEIR MAT. The end result is: they see, they walk. Jesus expects that we also do our part in some form of action. You literally go and do what you have to do to be healed. He takes care of the rest.
To others, He not only explains, but gives fair warnings. To the official whose son was sick, Jesus says, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.” These were the moments when Jesus was rebuking people for always wanting to see miracles first, or results, before they believe in Him. It was supposed to be the other way around. “Believe that I can do this.”
And then, there is that show of faith that Jesus rewards and delights in.
One woman who had been bleeding for 12 years heard that Jesus was in town. He had just healed two demon-possessed men and a paralytic. Jesus was to go see a dead girl when this woman showed up. Probably because she was bleeding and considered “dirty”, she didn’t want to approach Jesus or come near him for fear He would not entertain her. So she decided to just touch the edge of Jesus’ cloak and believe she would be healed. Then Jesus turned to her and in a climactic scene told her, “Take heart, daughter, your faith has healed you.”
In another instance in Matthew 9:27-34, Jesus still again heals the blind and the mute. He asks but one question to the two men, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” Their answer was one simple, “Yes, Lord.” And Jesus replies, “According to your faith, it will be done to you.”
These stories give me the impression that Jesus truly heals, whether it be to display His Father’s glory, to warn people, or to reward faith. Sometimes I think, why doesn’t healing come so simple today as it used to in Jesus’ day? They just believed in Jesus, touched His cloak, and were immediately healed. How’s it different in today’s circumstances?
I want to believe that this same message is for us. He asks us still, “Do you believe I can heal you?” He requires no other answer except a faith-filled YES. But we also have to do our part. And he warns us not just to believe in His miracles, but in Him who does these miracles. I will be healed in Jesus’ name.
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