“He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.”

Matthew 8:1-17

Jesus Cleanses a Leper; The Centurion’s Faith

8 When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. ² And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” ³ Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. ⁴ And Jesus *said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

⁵ And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, ⁶ and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” ⁷ Jesus *said to him, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸ But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” ¹⁰ Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. ¹¹ I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; ¹² but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” ¹³ And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed that very moment.

Peter’s Mother-in-law and Many Others Healed

¹⁴ When Jesus came into Peter’s home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever. ¹⁵ He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and waited on Him. ¹⁶ When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. ¹⁷ This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.”

The issue of healing presents us with many difficult  questions and at times can even shake our faith. Why do we see so many people who believe and pray continue to struggle with sickness, disease and even death? That is a question that I don't think we will have an answer to this side of heaven. This much I do know, I believe that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.(Hebrews 13:8) and since He is the same we can still expect that He "is willing" to heal as He was the leper in the text.

So, what can we learn, about healing,  from this text and others in scripture? One thing that always stands out to me as I read, study and reflect on accounts of Jesus healing, is that Jesus did not use any particular formula. He had no mystical incantation or ritual. What we see in fact is that Jesus responded to each person and circumstance in a unique way. From the accounts we see in this text, to John 9: where we read

5"While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world." 6When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, 7and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam ",

to Mark 7 32They brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him. 33Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; 34and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, "Ephphatha!" that is, "Be opened!"…  

I certainly don't recommend that we try to copy Jesus and spit to invoke healing to people we pray for, unless we hear it very clearly from God. That's the one key element in Jesus entire life and so in His healing accounts. Jesus says "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.(John 5:19) Jesus walked in unity with the Father. We need to have that kind of unity with the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit if we want to see the realities of heaven here on earth.

There is a degree of faith involved in healing as well. I am always very careful when talking about faith and healing because I have seen people who stood in faith and were not healed and I've seen others who have been devastated by people's implication that they were not healed because they didn't have enough faith. That being said there is a level of faith that is required for healing to take place. Jesus says "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."(Matthew 21:22) It is vital that those who pray for healing for others believe for that healing. I believe that is why Jesus often either moved away from the crowds or sent others out or away before He healed. Unbelief hinders the ability for Jesus to heal.

Look at this account from Mark 6: Jesus went out from there and *came into His hometown; and His disciples *followed Him. ² When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? ³ Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him. ⁴ Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.” ⁵ And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶ And He wondered at their unbelief.

So it is not just the faith of the one who is praying, or the faith of the one in need of healing, but there is a corporate faith that is involved in bringing about miraculous results.

How can we overcome our lack of faith whether as ones in need or as one praying for others, or our corporate unbelief? I surely don't have all the answers but I will tell you what I know to be true. It is not the size or amount of our faith that matters. Jesus says:    truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.   Mustard seed sized faith will move mountains. It is not the size of our faith but rather the object of our faith that matters. Our faith, our trust, our confidence must be in Jesus Christ. Just as when Peter walked on water toward Jesus he was able to stay above the the waves as long as he fixed his eyes on Jesus, so too will we have faith to do anything, "nothing will be impossible to you".

We need to see Jesus! When we are in need, we need to see Jesus. When we are praying for others, we need to see Jesus. We need to see Jesus individually and corporately. We need to go beyond acknowledging Him and praying in His name. There is power in the name of Jesus and we should pray in His name. But if we want the faith that will move mountains, the faith that will open blind eyes, heal the lame and raise the dead we need to see the one who has overcome death, Jesus Christ.

Jesus says: Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.(John 14:12) The healing miracles Jesus performed we are to perform. We need to see Jesus the object of our faith. It begins with a life of devotion, worship and prayer, becoming accustomed to being in the presence of the Most High God. If we are to walk in the power to change lives, the power to see miracles around us then we need to learn to do more than visit the heavenly realm and the presence of God. We need to learn to walk through the day, through the storm, gazing into the face of Jesus.

Jesus is the answer to every need of man. He is the one who heals.         Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith(Hebrews 12:2)