Finding Healing

Jesus once asked a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years, “Do you want to be made well?” A strange question to ask a sick person, but this story is not about that man or his reply to Jesus. In fact, this isn’t even a story — it is simply a few things to consider when Jesus asks us a similar question. Because at some point in our lives, Jesus is going to ask us, as he once did a blind beggar — “What do you want me to do for you?”

We may think the answer would be obvious — a blind beggar needs to ask for sight, a man on dialysis for a new kidney, a cancer patient to be rid of the cancer — but Jesus wants to give us more than we know to ask for.

Let us first consider the purpose of the healing miracles that are recorded in the Bible. Jesus wasn’t the first to heal people. Among the miraculous healers in the Old Testament was Elijah, through whom God healed and resurrected a young boy, the son of a widow. This poor widow when she first met Elijah, had been gathering sticks for a fire to cook a last meal for her son and herself. The drought had left them poor and unable to survive, but Elijah made a promise to her, according to God’s word to him — if she fed him first, her jar of meal would not be emptied and the jug of oil would not fail until the day the drought ended. The widow did as Elijah said, and true enough, her faith was rewarded — God kept her and her son from death.

But some time later, the widow’s son fell dreadfully sick and she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” Elijah called out to God in despair, who heard him and revived the boy. When she saw that her son had been healed, the widow said, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” [See 1 Kings 17:18]

You may wonder — what a strange woman this is! She already knew what Elijah said was true — she and her son, along with the prophet, had been fed miraculously all that while by a small jar of meal and a little jug of oil, just as he had said. She also already knew that Elijah was a man of God — this is how she had rebuked him just a little while ago, “What have you against me, O man of God?”

So what is different now? What is it that makes this widow see Elijah in a different light? A little while ago, she had told him what she thought of the power he seemed to have — “You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” The first miracle had served to increase the woman’s faith — but a faith in the power of Elijah… not a faith in the love of God.

Where the first miracle made her believe that Elijah was a man of God, it took a second miracle for her to believe that this God of Elijah loved her.

Elijah’s own faith is tied to this widow’s and it is as strengthened in the same manner by these miracles — while the first serves to increase his faith in the power of God, the second assures him of the love of God.

When we stop at receiving God’s obvious blessings, we are in danger of never being able to claim what he wants to truly give us — the peace that comes from an assurance of his love.

Consider the woman referred to in the Bible as the woman with the issue of blood. She had been suffering from ‘haemorrhages’ for the past twelve years. We are not told about the nature of this bleeding, but since it is continuous, she would have been ritually ‘impure’. This is perhaps why she did not call out to Jesus, or ask him directly to heal her. Jesus would not have had to ask this woman “Do you want to be healed?” for it was her deep desire, more than her faith that took her to Jesus.

Now, imagine yourself in the shoes of this desperate woman. You have to deal with an incessant bleeding, you have spent most of your money on trips to all kinds of physicians, but the problem only keeps worsening, which leaves you not only hopeless, but also ashamed. You are presumably alone because of your ritual uncleanness, but you hear of a man who can heal diseases. He is followed by vast crowds, and it is likely that you may be recognised, humiliated and asked to leave — but he is your last resort. So you bind yourself up well — no blood must seep through and show on your clothes — probably hiding even your face, and join the crowd, finding yourself directly behind this miracle-worker. “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.”, you say. And you reach out and touch, very lightly, the fringe of the man’s cloak. Wonder of wonders, you are healed “immediately”!

But what happens next petrifies you to the core. The man turns around and asks who has touched him. You know that he is referring to you, because you feel the immediate change in your body in contrast to the continuous bleeding. What will this Jesus and the people do when they discover that you, who were impure for years, have been in their midst, shielded by the anonymity of the crowd?

Jesus’ disciples were amazed, and as the crowd continued to press against them, they remarked that it could’ve been anyone — but Jesus was looking for someone in particular.

“Jesus said, ‘Someone touched me; for I noticed that power had gone out from me.’ When the woman saw that she could not remain hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before him, she declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. [Luke 8:46]

Just as God had given Elijah and the widow of Zarephath a chance to look beyond the power miracle for the healing miracle, Jesus had just given this woman a chance to extend her faith in the power of God to the love of God. The physical healing she receives empowers her to place her life in the hands of Jesus and he is now able to give her what he had always intended to. Jesus blesses the healed woman, “Go in peace and be healed of your disease.” [Mark 5:34]

The woman had already been healed “immediately” upon touching his cloak, so the blessing for peace is the final element of healing that Jesus offers the woman, and us — should we trust in his love enough to claim it.

When we move beyond a faith in the power of God and express our faith in the healing love of God, we are able to believe that whatever God wants for us is good for us — love, after all, is willing the good of the other. It is only then that we will be able to accept that if God has allowed something ostensibly ‘bad’ to happen, this too must be for our good (whether we can see it in the moment or not) God knows exactly what will be the outcome of every miracle, every healing — he knows who will accept the truth of his love, and who will not, despite the miracle. And yet, no miracle is wasted.

God knows what we need for our faith in his love to increase — a miracle, or grace.

If we know God well enough to trust in his love for us, we will be able to say, as St Paul did, “Your grace is enough for me”. Where grace is, there miracles are not needed — God’s grace will be sufficient for us to not only bear the suffering we are called to, knowing and trusting in God’s love for us, but also to minister to others who are struggling to place their faith in it.

We cannot ask another to ignore their pain and seek God instead of the healing, or to not stop at physical healing, but to step up for spiritual healing — if we are unable to do it ourselves.

And so, sometimes, God will allow us to suffer to show us what we need to seek.

So now, what will you answer when Jesus asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” Will you ask for a miracle to increase your faith in his power…or for the grace to increase your faith in his love?

May you choose well!

Click for Part II of this article to know HOW to get the deep healing that God promises!