Healer

Matthew 4:24 - News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them.

In today's reading from Matthew 4, we get a glimpse into the very first hours and days of the public ministry of Jesus.  Following his temptation in the desert in which he was tested and tried, Jesus began to do 3 things: Preach, call people to follow Him and to heal.  

For many of us, we know the things that Jesus preached and taught.  For many of us, we've decided that Jesus is in fact our Messiah and we have chosen to follow him.  But I wonder how often we realize, and seek, his healing power in our lives?

What kinds of people did Jesus heal?  Well, we see in v.24 that he healed diseases; he healed those with severe pain; he healed the demon possessed; he healed people that were afflicted by seizures and he healed paralytics.  People were amazed by the healing power of Jesus and there was nobody that he couldn't heal.  

We are fortunate and blessed to live in an age where God has given wisdom and ability to men and women to be means of healing in our lives.  But there are limitations to what even the best doctors and practitioners of alternative medicine can do.  

When my wife Jessie was pregnant with our 9 year old son Isaac, an ultrasound late in her pregnancy showed some serious issues with his kidney development.  We met with a cold and tactless neo-natalogist that told us our son would live with polycistic kidney disease for his entire life, and that he would probably never be able to live the kind of life most normal boys do.  We heard about all kinds of things and kidney transplants at some point.  It was one of the most unsettling days of my life.

So what did we do?  We prayed.  Our friends and our church prayed for us and with us.  When we left the hospital with Isaac, we went straight to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh to have some diagnostic tests done to see just how bad things were.  They weren’t nearly as bad as that neo-natalogist had told us they would be.  For the first 9 months of his life, Isaac was followed closely by a pediatric urologist, and had regular ultrasounds done.  At his 9 month visit, as the doctor was doing the ultrasound, he looked at us and said, “This is a miracle.  I never need to see him again.”

When we trust Jesus, and respond to his invitation to follow Him, we are never promised a life free from pain and suffering and illness.  Isaac still gets sick and hurt playing sports.  So do my other 2 kids.  So do I.  But we have a healer in Jesus.  A healer that often heals us in ways that we don’t even realize we need to be healed. 

Healing requires faith.  We see in v.24 that people were healed because people brought them to be healed.  They heard about Jesus.  They had seen Jesus.  And they believed that Jesus could heal their loved ones and so they brought them, no matter what they were suffering from. 

There’s definitely a tension here though.  Does it mean we don’t have faith if we don’t find the healing we seek?  I don’t believe that.  The Apostle Paul struggled all his life with what he described as a “thorn in his flesh,” that most scholars seem to agree was some sort of physical malady.  Paul had tremendous faith, and Jesus used him to heal people with many, many diseases of all kinds.  And yet Paul struggled with this pain.  But Paul also realized that the ultimate healing we have on this earth – the healing of our hearts when our sins are forgiven by Jesus – was a healing work that God had already done in his life.  Paul also knew that complete and total healing would come in Heaven.  It’s what caused him to say in response to his malady, “Your grace is sufficient.” 

Sometimes our healing in this life only comes spiritually and emotionally, and we have to press into the grace of Jesus as we endure physical pain, knowing that our lives are in his hands.  Sometimes our physical healing only comes when we escape these mortal bodies and bask in the presence of Jesus in heaven.  I wish I could explain why it has to be that way sometimes, but I can’t.

But I do know that Jesus is good and that he heals.  Not only does he heal, but he is with us in our suffering.  Hebrews 4:15&16 is a wonderful reminder of this: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.