You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
Jesus set out to proclaim the Good News of God’s mission to restore and renew all of creation to wholeness, and to demonstrate that mission by healing every ill person he encountered. As he went, he also responded with compassion to what he saw – people who were harassed and helpless, rudderless, leader-less: Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
The ones he encountered lived in poverty and fear, under the thumb of the Roman occupiers and further oppressed by their own religious leaders. Who do we encounter, who is harassed or helpless? Who is awakening your compassion? How might God be sending you to that person with a message of promise and life? People we meet may more often be harassed by the demands of wealth and stress than poverty, but many are also seeking direction, to be led to safety and green pastures and still waters. They are hungry for meaning, thirsty for purpose and the kind of love only God can give. We have access to these gifts – will we share?
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. 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.
Perhaps Matthew is being hyperbolic, but 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?
Such “why” questions can get us into trouble. So much in the realm of prayer is mystery, we can only speculate, based on our reading of Scripture and our experience. Maybe we see fewer healings because so often we don’t ask. And sometimes when we ask, it is with meagre faith. Faith needs to reside 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 the more powerfully the Good News is proclaimed.
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 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.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
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