When we read the Gospels with an eye to getting to know Jesus, a principle becomes evident: abundance and fullness. Five vats of water turned into wine, food enough for 5,000 with twelve baskets left over. And it applies to healing as well – Matthew tells us Jesus went to all the cities and villages, and cured every disease and every sickness.
And he expected and equipped his followers to do the same:
Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.
Is Matthew just being hyperbolic? None of the gospels show Jesus failing to heal someone in need of it, though at least once his disciples were unable to cast a demon out of a young boy. And once Jesus had to pray twice for the healing of a blind man. "All” and “every” meant just that.
If Jesus healed every disease and illness he encountered, and if he gave authority over disease and demons to his disciples, and if he empowered those disciples-turned-apostles with the Holy Spirit after his resurrection and ascension, and if we carry on the ministry of those apostles through an unbroken chain of laying on of hands In ordination and confirmation… then why don’t we heal every disease and every illness?
Engaging such “why” questions is a recipe for trouble. So much in the realm of prayer is mystery, we can only speculate, based on our reading of Scripture and our experience. I believe we see fewer healings because so often we don’t ask. And sometimes when we ask, it is with meagre faith. Let me be clear – faith needs to rest in the community. I’m not saying each person has to have a full and clear faith – but the community can and should. In my experience, communities that expect healing, that expect answers to prayer, often experience more. The more faith we bring to the exercise of healing prayer, the more healing we see. And where healing remains joined to the proclamation of the Good News, we may see even more positive outcomes.
Healing is fundamental to what it means to be Christians, apostles bearing witness to the power and love of God unleashed in the world through the Spirit of Christ. It is not meant to be reserved to a small cadre of “healing ministers” praying for 5 minutes during a church service. It is to be exercised by all of us, all the time, everywhere we go. I long to see a congregation where it is normal to see people praying with each other at coffee hour, in the parking lot, in each other’s homes, by faith, with thanksgiving.
Perhaps when every Christ follower exercises his or her faith in releasing God’s healing in the sick, the infirm, the despairing, all people will be healed. That’s how the Realm of God becomes visible. Through us.
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