Will Jesus Heal Me?
By Robert Krumrey
There are many healings performed by Jesus in the four gospels. At times, Jesus seems to be a healing machine, doling out health to everyone who asks. We get this feeling in one of the passages that was read in last Sunday’s (3/1/20) sermon:
“And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.”
We learn from this passage that physical healing is NOT a problem for Jesus. He can dispense it as he wills. These kinds of scripture texts beg a question, “Why doesn’t Jesus heal everyone of all disease?” Especially when Christians are asking for that healing. Every person of faith has surely asked this question. We’ve all been there. Whether it has been us that was sick or someone we love. We’ve all asked Jesus to use his power to heal and have sometimes been met with what seems like silence.
Some in the Christian world say that the reason people don’t get healings is because they don’t have enough faith. There are certainly scriptures that would seem to indicate this. Again, from the book of Luke, we see Jesus saying this to a woman he’s healed:
“And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’”
Verses like this and others would tend to bolster the argument that if you have enough faith, you will get the healing that you want from Jesus every time. This may sound good on the surface, but what does it look like in practice. This kind of thinking tends to make Christians superstitious. What I mean by that, is they think that their lack of healing is due to something they are thinking, saying, or doing. For example, in order to show they have faith, they need to not say (or even think) that they are sick, even though they may have a cough or be running a fever. If they slip up, and think or say that they’re sick, they fear they’ve shown a lack of faith which will result in Jesus withholding his healing. This kind of behavior turns into a kind of divination or sorcery that is attempting to manipulate the divine power of Jesus so it can be harnessed for our purposes. This is more Paganism than Christianity. Jesus actually warns us against this in the gospel of Matthew:
“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
In this passage, Jesus is warning us not to “heap up empty phrases”. He’s referring to pagan incantations that were used to try to manipulate spiritual powers to do something desirable in a person’s life. This is NOT Christianity and those who propagate this kind of thinking are heaping up confusion and condemnation in the lives of those who buy into this. Notice that Jesus contrasts superstitious incantation with a relationship with God the Father. Jesus tells us when we pray, we aren’t trying to get God to do something through some kind of magical formulae, but instead we are a child talking to a Father. A Father who loves his children. A Father who knows his children so well that he knows what they need BEFORE we ask him.
This is so helpful. I know when my kids ask me for something, sometimes they themselves don’t know what they need. When they were smaller, they never wanted to go to bed. Obviously they NEEDED to go to bed. The quality of their lives (and their parent’s lives) would be greatly improved if they got a full 8-10 hours of sleep. But they didn’t think they needed it. They thought they needed to stay up indefinitely.
We are like this with God. We think what we NEED is absolute bliss. The removal of every ache and pain. The eradication of every roadblock in our lives. So we pray in this way. Asking God to make our life like an uninterrupted vacation. But is this really what we need?
Of course it isn’t. We need to grow in our love for and enjoyment of God and people. We need our character to be shaped to look more like Christ. We need to grow in our understanding and employment of our gifts and calling within the church. We need to be a gospel witness to others in this world who have not yet placed their faith in Jesus. Does it seem probable that God will use both the alleviation and allowance of suffering in our lives to accomplish these kinds of higher purposes? Of course it does. I think Jesus would concur.
When Jesus finds himself suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before his death on the cross, he prays this:
“saying, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.’”
In this moment, Jesus models for us a godly way to pray. He’s not trying to manipulate something from the Father’s hand. At the same time, he also isn’t afraid to go to the Father and ask for the alleviation of suffering. This is to be our heart towards God as well. Go to him as a child to a Father and ask for anything, including healing, but also know that God knows what we NEED before we ask. He, as the parent, will do what will bring him the most glory and us the most good. Also know that if he chooses not to heal in this life, he will most certainly give grace to bear up under that sickness in ways that will also bring glory to God and good to others. Not only that, know that he will give that healing in a permanent way in the life to come. The reason he can do that, is because he has dealt with the root of all disease and death which is sin.
This is what we see Jesus getting at in many of his physical healings. Take a look at what Luke describes in chapter 5 of his gospel:
“And when he saw their faith, he said, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you.’”
Luke says that Jesus “saw their faith” and based on that faith offered the paralyzed man forgiveness of sins. He seems to be saying something similar to the woman healed of an issue of blood in Luke 7 that I mentioned earlier in this article. She’s already physically healed and Jesus in Luke 7:50 says “your faith has saved you”. Luke is putting a major spotlight on the reality that Jesus’ primary goal was proclaiming the message that he is a Savior for sin so that people could trust in him for forgiveness from that sin. This salvation from sin is much better news than alleviation from a temporal physical malady.
All that said, because Jesus has dealt with sin once and for all, we will experience a complete reversal of disease and death. Because the root of these things has been dealt with, we will be healed and we will stay healed forever. Will Jesus heal you? In this life, it will be according to his will which is always glorious, good, and wise. In the life to come, yes!