Lookahead:   I know this because Mother had become an absolute beacon of love in her last days.  You couldn’t be around her for more than a few minutes without her telling you that she loved you. It didn’t matter who you were or how long she’d known you.  She would say, sometimes shout, “I love you!”  … What do you do when someone says that? It totally defuses any situation…and that’s what would happen. People around her would suddenly be transformed. You could watch their hearts soften immediately in real-time.  Then you would see people at their very best.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them.  Matt 4:23-24

A couple of the more contemporary translations say “He healed them all.”  Did Jesus heal everyone? Timeline-wise, Matthew 4:24 lines up with Luke 6:19 as we encounter these verses just prior to the Sermon on the Mount.  And Luke 6:19 says that all the sick people came and Jesus healed them all.  Plus other accounts also imply that Jesus was batting a thousand.  Matt 12:15 says He healed them all.  Luke 4:40 supports this saying He laid His hands on everyone and healed them.

We know that there was one instance in which Jesus prayed twice for a blind man’s incremental healing. (Mark 8:24)   And there was one instance in which He did not heal everyone.  (And he did not do many miracles there (in His hometown) because of their lack of faith.  Matt 13:58)  My theory is that the residents of Nazareth didn’t believe Jesus had the power to heal, so they didn’t come to be healed.  Plus they were too busy trying to throw Him off a cliff.  😦  (Luke 4:28)

In addition to the fact that every one of Jesus’ healing attempts was successful, Matt 4:23 states that Jesus was able to heal “every disease and sickness.”  And Matthew’s list included demonic possession, therefore, nothing was too hard for Jesus.

So with Jesus in our hearts and in our midst today (where two or three are gathered together in His Name…Matt 18:20), why aren’t we seeing this incredible success ratio?

I’ve heard various theories and teachings along the lines of—we don’t get healed because… (a) we don’t have enough faith, (b) there is sin in our lives, (c) healing is not for today, (d) healing is a sign and wonder reserved for unbelievers, (e) Jesus has already healed everyone as part of the atonement—we must appropriate the gift, (f) sometimes the affliction is a test that God allows as it will help us grow spiritually, (g) if Jesus healed everyone who needed it, free will would be null and void , etc., etc.  

I remember speaking with a friend of mine one time; she was in Hospice in her last days. This poor woman was weeping because she thought she had let Jesus down.  Her offense–she had not had enough faith for her healing.  It was bad enough that she was in Hospice, but now she was beating herself up thinking that she had let God down.  I tried unsuccessfully to lift her burden with words of encouragement.  After that sad day, the following became my key criterion for determining if doctrinal interpretations are from God—if it’s a burden and a yoke, it’s not from God.

Some people feel that our state of sanctification plays a big part in our healing.  [The flip side of this is that if we’re sick, that means that there’s (secret) sin in our lives.  So either it’s payback from God and/or we let the enemy in.]  But when I hear these teachings that we have to be holy and/or trust God enough to receive our healing, my thoughts always come back to the impotent/sick/ailing man by the Pool of Bethesda (John 5).  This man didn’t have the teeniest bit of faith in Jesus to heal him.  In fact, he didn’t have the slightest idea Who Jesus was when He healed him—and then he wasn’t impressed or thankful after Jesus healed him.  As soon as he figured out Who Jesus was, he went to the authorities and essentially implicated Jesus for healing on the Sabbath.  In addition, Jesus was very frank about the man having sin issues (“Sin no more lest a worse thing happen to you.”)  So the man’s faith/sin-state/actions had absolutely nothing to do with his healing.  It was totally Jesus’ compassion coupled with the man’s condition.   

Healing can be a highly situation-specific thing.  But I always pray for a healing—even if it appears to be impossible in the natural—because I believe that God is well able to do it.  Plus I never really know if I need to intercede for the person or not.  If that person is doing their own praying, that pre-empts anything I can say or do.  God will honor their desires and will—I believe my prayers can’t over-ride that.  But if someone doesn’t know how to pray, or is unable to pray due to their condition, I believe that I, most assuredly, can ask God to heal them and that He will be faithful.

However, I have learned that the healing does not always come in the way that I expect it. I had mentioned last week that my mother was schizophrenic.  She suffered from a constant paralyzing fear of sickness and death.  When Mother was in her 80’s recovering from successful surgery to fix a broken hip, she refused Physical Therapy–mainly because she was afraid other bones would break if she became ambulatory again.  Mother’s fear turned her into an invalid for the rest of her life—though nothing was wrong physiologically.  Shortly after her fall, I felt that God gave me the 18th Psalm, almost as a prophetic word, to stand on. The psalm is extremely moving if you have a chance to read it.  But it basically was a guarantee of total deliverance, healing, and redemption for Mother.  I prayed it with and for her for the next two years as I watched her complete physical decline to eventual death.  It was not until I was putting together a eulogy for her memorial service that I realized that God had totally healed my Mother!  Here’s what I read at the funeral service:

I had the sudden revelation that Mother had been fear-free during her final weeks.  When I thought of her behavior, I realized that this was not a woman who was in fear or terror.  God had defeated every single one of her enemies.  I know this because Mother had become an absolute beacon of love in her last days.  You couldn’t be around her for more than a few minutes without her telling you that she loved you. It didn’t matter who you were or how long she’d known you.  She would say, sometimes shout, “I love you!”  … What do you do when someone says that? It totally defuses any situation…and that’s what would happen. People around her would suddenly be transformed. You could watch their hearts soften immediately in real-time.  Then you would see people at their very best.

In retrospect, I began to realize that the fear was gone.  This was not a woman who was living in terror, clinging to each second of life, spewing out all sorts of negative words, demands for help, pleas for peace, moans or screams from pain.  This was a woman who appeared to have forgiven everyone, and had no gripe with any living human being.  Love and nurturing words of life were coming out of her mouth.  She wasn’t putting on an act.  She had been set free from the prison of fear.

Some of you may have heard the scripture, “Perfect love casts out fear, because fear has torment.  He that fears is not made perfect in love.” I believe that God perfected Mother’s love during her final months on earth.

Undeniable Truth that we can rest in:  He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His scourging we are healed. Isaiah 53:5.