The One who heals

Here we catch a glimpse of the healing ministry of Jesus as it kicks into full gear.

It starts with Jesus visiting Peter’s home, and healing Peter’s mother-in-law. It strikes me here that this was the first time Jesus healed on the Sabbath, although it was in a private setting, so he caught no flack for it.

Looking back, I kind of wonder about the casting out of the demon back in the synagogue. Would the Pharisees and teachers of the law considered that “work” and criticized Jesus for that too had they been there?

I can just imagine them saying, “Hey, what are you doing? Cast out demons some other day. It’s the Sabbath!”

Jesus would soon get into trouble for healing on the Sabbath, but not on this day. After the Sabbath was over, people flocked to Peter’s house to ask Jesus for healing, and Jesus healed each one.

Matthew says of this,

This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.” (Matthew 8:17)

It should be pointed out that Matthew clearly states that this prophesy was fulfilled in the healing ministry of Christ while he was on earth. There is no guarantee of healing now.

Jesus, of course, can and does still heal. But unlike what some preachers teach, it is not guaranteed.

Anyway, what can we take from this passage? First, the compassion of Jesus. He not only cares about the crowds, he cares about the individual.

Here was a woman in Peter’s mother-in-law, who is otherwise nameless. And yet Jesus took her by the hand and healed her.

You may be nameless in this world. People may not know who you are. But Jesus knows. And when you’re hurting physically or emotionally, he sees and he cares.

Like I said, there is no guarantee for physical healing. Sometimes God has plans that we can’t see that don’t involve the physical healing of our bodies, but Jesus does tell us to ask, and we should.

But where there are emotional hurts or scars, Jesus will definitely bring healing to those if we will just come to him.

While I’ve seen Jesus use physical ailments for his glory, I don’t believe there would be any reason that Jesus would desire you to carry those emotional hurts throughout your life. So bring them to him. And he will heal you.

The other thing that strikes me from this passage is Peter’s mother-in-law’s response to her healing. She immediately started serving Jesus.

We should do the same. When Jesus heals us, whether from physical ailments or from emotional ones, or from the scars that come from sin, our response should be to serve him out of our gratitude and love for him.

Not because we have to, but because we want to.

And in many cases, he asks us to help others who are in the very same kind of trouble we were in.

Jesus doesn’t just heal us so that we will be healed, but so that we can bring his healing to others as well.

Are you bringing the healing of Jesus to those around you?