The centurion in our story this week knew what it meant to give an order. When he hears Jesus is on the way to his house to heal his servant, he sends a messenger to forestall him:
‘Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, “Go”, and he goes, and to another, “Come”, and he comes, and to my slave, “Do this”, and the slave does it.’
Somehow this Gentile could see what Jesus’ closest companions could not: that Jesus wielded spiritual authority over everything. Perhaps he had heard the tales of Jesus’ healings and exorcisms and miracles with food, water and wine. He understood that Jesus didn’t need any ritual or apparatus to restore health to his servant; he didn’t even need to be in the same space. He needed only command the cells to be well, to speak wholeness into the body.
I often think of this when I hear people talk about training in various energy healing modalities and prayer “techniques.” We don’t need all that – we have the name of Jesus. When we invoke the name of Jesus, we invoke his presence, and that means his power to heal is right here, available through us as we give the Spirit access.
It is a lesson I need to learn over and over. Last summer, in my crisis with my cat’s health (she’s still doing well, thank you, God!), I was often beseeching God to heal her, praying specifically for her heart and kidneys and blood sugar and fluid levels… and one day when she seemed in distress, I cried out, “Jesus, please heal her!” And right away I heard (in my mind) Jesus say, “You heal her.” I was somewhat stunned by that, and then realized what he meant: “I have given you authority to heal in my name. Just do it.” In other words, “Only speak the word.” I felt a rush of Holy Spirit energy in me, stretched out my arm toward my cat and said, “In the name of Jesus, little heart, be healed.”
I cannot know fully the result of that prayer– she still has the heart condition and takes about five medications. But she's on a lower insulin dose and, perhaps most important, she has continued to be healthy in all the markers that matter – appetite, alertness, agility, affection. AND God gave me a big lesson in healing. Every day I lay hands on her and pray, “Fill her with your life, Jesus.”
It can be scary to pray in this way. We’re wired for doing. But listen, if Jesus could heal this servant just by affirming the master’s faith and speaking the word of life, when he wasn’t even in the same place, how much more can he heal by speaking the word through us now that he sits at the right hand of the Father?
No answer is the same, but today the God who spoke creation into being invites us to bring to him those needs for healing and wholeness, small and big, personal and global. He invites us to exercise our faith. Just say the word.
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