Greetings, thank you for reading. I pray you are well.
Today we are going to look at the ministry of healing, citing a couple examples by Jesus, and then finish in Acts chapter 3, with an example from Peter and John. But first, let’s go to the Old Testament in Psalms 107.
Psalm 107 is an exhortation to praise the Lord for his unfailing love. God hears our cries for mercy, while we are in a multitude of different forms of suffering. God hears our prayers, then God saves us. Can anyone say Amen! Psalms 107:17-22,
“Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities. They loathed all food and drew near the gates of death. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.”
This text lets us know that God is in the healing business. While physical healing is what we normally think of first, we can be healed of many things. Bad circumstances (which could mean a number of things, bad relationships, and bad decision making that results in bad circumstances and bad relationships. God also heals us physically, but spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically as well. My point is that God can heal us in many ways, but all of us need healing from our sin.
This passage from Psalm 107, speaks of fools suffering for their rejection of wisdom and discipline. I was healed in this manner. I’m sure some of you were too. I drew near the gates of death, though at the time, I didn’t even realize it. But when I cried out to the Lord, he was there for me. He is there for all of us. He will be there for you too. He truly is there for all of us.. It’s a miracle, every time that God answers our cries, and we cry out so often, and God answers us so often, that we need to be careful to not take his grace and mercy for granted. Which is the message behind Psalm 107, that God deserves our thanksgiving and praise, continually.
But God can use others to heal as well.
Jesus, for example, was healing people miraculously at an incredible rate during his ministry years. The disciples were being trained in this healing ministry of Jesus, though at the time they did not realize this.
I have a couple of powerful examples from Jesus’ ministry. We’ll begin with John 5:1-7,
“Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie–the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’ ‘Sir,’ the invalid replied, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. ‘While I’m trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”’
I love this example. First, the invalid has no idea who Jesus is. He does not see Jesus as a source of healing. His focus is on the water, and it needs to be stirred, but people keep cutting in line. After thirty-eight years his concern has shifted away from healing, to what and where he believes healing to be, in the stirred water at a pool near the Sheep Gate known as Bethesda. And for thirty-eight years people keep bumping him to the end of the line.
If he had three wishes and a Genie, he would be in that pool, with the water stirred, with nobody cutting in line, and he’d be happy, but he would still be crippled. He has lost focus on his needs. After thirty-eight years he’s more focused on people cutting in line than his receiving healing for his form of paralysis. This describes so many of us today. We whine and complain about the circumstances of our lives, losing focus upon the root cause of our circumstances, which some of the time, not always, but some of the time, we are personally responsible for. We need healing.
We miss our Jesus moment because the world has us hoping for a Genie moment. While we are looking for something else, the world has distracted us from our Savior. Well the invalid does not miss his Jesus moment, John 5:8-9a,
Then Jesus said to him, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured: he picked up his mat and walked.
If we take our eyes off Jesus, any of us can miss a Jesus moment. For just a second, we look longingly to the world and not to Jesus, we can miss a miracle, or, just as important, miss being a part of a miracle for someone else. But if you keep your eyes and heart on Jesus, miracles happen. We don’t need Genies and wishful thinking, we need Jesus.
Here’s another Jesus moment, this is one concerning blind Bartimaeus. Mark 10:46-52,
“Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’’
“Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him.’ So they called to the blind man, ‘Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.’ Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ Jesus asked him. The blind man said, Rabbi, I want to see.’ ‘Go,’ said Jesus, ‘your faith has healed you.’ Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.”
In this example, unlike the previous example, Bartimaeus knows exactly who Jesus is. Bartimaeus calls to Jesus, using one of Jesus’ Messianic titles, Son of David. Whether this use of this title in calling out to Jesus is why Jesus responds, we do not know. But Jesus does respond.
Remember, that Bartimaeus is begging, he’s asking for money. Everyone that comes by blind Bartimaeus, knows that Bartimaeus is needing money. But, Bartimaeus realizes that it is Jesus, the Son of David, the Messiah passing by, he instantly knows that this is his chance for healing.
Another thing for us to remember, Jesus knows Bartimaeus, he knows his father, Timaeus, he knows Timaeus’ father, in fact he knows the whole family line. He knows me and all of my family, and you, and all of your family. He knows what’s right and wrong with all of our bodies and our lives.
But what Jesus wants Bartimaeus to tell him is this, “What do you want me to do for you?”
In other words, ‘do you just want a little money, or is there something else you want’?
Bartimaeus answers, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
Then Jesus restores his sight, saying, “Go, your faith has healed you”.
This last sentence indicates to me that our own faith in Jesus has an important impact on our healing. Yes, there are examples of Jesus healing strangers, with little or no faith.
Jesus was a stranger to them, maybe, but Jesus never met a stranger, because he knows all of us.
We’ve all seen the commercials and billboards with the message “Jesus gets us.” or “He gets us.” I personally believe the more accurate phrase would be “Jesus knows us.” “He knows us.”
Jesus doesn’t just get us, he knows us. He knows everything about us.
While Jesus has spent his time in ministry healing people and performing many miracles glorifying God, unbeknownst to his disciples, he has been teaching them how to heal people.
Jesus has to return to the Father. He has just died on the cross, won victory over death, risen from the dead, defeating not just death, but also Satan. 2 Corinthians 5:21, the most succinct of all Good News messages,
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Let’s see what the disciples have learned about the healing ministry from Jesus and his Holy Spirit. Acts 3:1-2,
“One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer – at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.”
Beggars were always around the temple. Beggars were always around the cities and towns in Jesus’ time. Now, at this time Jesus had returned to the right hand of his Father. Peter and John were on their own, but not alone, for they were empowered by God’s Holy Spirit.
This poor beggar is expecting money, not healing. My guess is that he does not know Peter or John. Most people begging make temporary eye contact, they just want your money, not a lecture or conversation. This poor man, crippled from birth, was probably an expert in begging for money. Jesus might even have seen him at the temple himself, maybe even said to himself no, I won’t heal him, because Peter and John will heal him. Because Jesus knows us. Acts 3:3-5,
“When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, ‘Look at us!’ So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.”
All this cripple at the temple gate called Beautiful was expecting from Peter and John was a little money. But Peter and John were not about money, they were about something else, like Jesus, their healing would be a complete healing, physical, spiritual, and all the rest.
Note their focus on the individual, showing respect and dignity, with an air of empathy, because they knew him. Through the Holy Spirit, Peter and John knew him.
Now, in these next few verses, note the intentionality and the authority in Peter’s words. He had been paying attention to Jesus. Also, the Spirit was guiding him. Acts 3:6-10,
“Then Peter said, ‘Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.’ Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.”
So this man received more than he could possibly have hoped for. Instead of a coin, he was healed.
At my other job, I see those in need of healing. Most, like the beggar who used to sit at the temple gate called Beautiful, they seem consumed with asking for items that are only slightly going to improve their living circumstances. They seek bus passes, umbrellas, a tent or sleeping bag, hand warmers in the winter, maybe an extra blanket or a bottle of water. But all of these are temporary fixes.
The path off of the street for these people leads through Jesus and their sobriety. Those that focus on Jesus and sobriety, for the most part, do get off the street. The rest are trying to regain their focus, or begin for the first time to focus on Jesus.
Jesus knows what each of us needs, not because he gets us, but because he knows us. The question then becomes, as we pray, do we know what it is that we need? Or are we just concerned about our circumstances and temporary fixes.
Let us pray, please agree with me.
Father,
Thank you for your son Jesus. I believe in him as my Savior, king, and Lord of all. Please forgive me of all of my sins, and especially my stubborn resistance to seeking your forgiveness. Thank you for forgiving me of my sins. I thank you for my salvation through my faith in Christ as my Savior. Please guide and direct me by your Holy Spirit so that I may understand what I need to do for myself, for others, and for you. Please heal my mind, body, spirit, and soul so that I may better serve you.
In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God.
Blessings,
Thad Brown
Opportunity House
and Harmony Church
Concord