Word for the day by Christian Education Forum
Jesus the Healer
He
said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in
peace and be freed from your suffering.”
These verses
depict another incident of Jesus’s great healing power. This woman had suffered
from her illness for twelve long years. Her cure is sometimes referred to as a
“stolen miracle.” Her deep desperation probably added to her great
determination to ignore the huge crowd, public humility and embarrassment, and
to reach out to the one whom she believed in. Her decision not to ask Jesus to
heal her, but just to touch His cloak is compelling evidence of her
unchangeable faith. Her willingness to believe that this man could make her
well again was promptly rewarded. A heavy burden was lifted off of her, and she
achieved the healing she well deserved.
To His
disciples and the rest of the crowd, Jesus’s question “who touched my clothes”
was indeed a strange statement, coming from a man who is moving along within a
huge crowd. But Jesus had a deeper meaning to that question. The question was
meant to show that those who come to Christ are not deprived of any good thing
that those who come to Christ are able to drink from the fountain of life. It
was not necessary for her to ask Christ for healing and for Him to say “Okay.”
Rather, it was only necessary for her to have true faith, allowing God’s grace
and mercy to reach her. In verse thirty-four, Jesus Himself makes the statement
that she was healed because of her own faith. This may also imply that although
there were a large number of people around, they might not have such strong
faith, rather just joining a crowd. As we see, there were no special rules to
follow or steps to take for the woman to get well except to have the
conviction. Martin Luther King Jr. once said “faith is taking the first step
even when you don’t see the whole staircase”.
Healing comes
only from Jesus, not from within us. We often talk about inner peace and
balance, but the real power flows from Jesus through our faith in Him. Saint
Thomas Aquinas says “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one
without faith, no explanation is possible.” Having faith allows us to receive
the grace of God. A person cannot see the beauty of a sunrise without opening
their eyes; in the same way, a person cannot see and receive the grace of God
without opening their heart in faith. When we receive this grace, we allow it
to heal all the maladies of our soul and mind and body.
Prayer: Eternal healer, heal us from all
our diseases and makes us perfect by your love, Amen
Thought for the day: Healing comes only from Jesus, not
from within us.
Eapen Daniel, Philadelphia