Jesus, the Healer
February 28, 2023
The Gospels are filled with story after story placing Jesus, the Healer, center stage. We can all name some of the more popular ones—Jesus healing the woman with the issue of blood; Jesus making mud to heal blind eyes; Jesus healing lepers. The purpose of miracles in Jesus’s earthly ministry was definitely to love and care for people, but even moreso, to demonstrate His authority, power, and reveal, in part, His glory. Early in His earthly ministry, when He healed, the refrain that often accompanied it was, “the Kingdom of heaven has come upon you”. His gracious healing of the sick, diseased, and disabled demonstrated a dimension of His Kingdom. In the Kingdom of God, sickness does not reign.
In Hindu majority countries like India, healing is often still a way God chooses to reveal His authority, power, and glory. Such miracles today are not just for theological pondering, but they, as in the book of Acts, function as an attestation to the truthfulness of the gospel message. They still nudge people to believe and give their lives to the King of Heaven, Jesus Christ. This is the story of one current student attending an Acts Training Center in Northern India, P.
P’s daughter was persistently sick since birth. As any good father, he did what he could to see his daughter made well. He tried medical doctors, rituals, and witch doctors; yet, his daughter was not improving. You could imagine the anguish P felt as his daughter suffered and nothing he tried could alleviate it. Jesus, the King and Healer, not only could imagine it, but felt it deeply with him.
One day while visiting her brother, P’s sister inquired of his daughter’s condition. Prior to leaving to go back home, his sister, a Christian, prayed for the little girl. She prayed that Jesus, the Healer, would again extend His hand in compassion and love. That very day, P’s daughter was made well. During a later visit, P’s sister shared the gospel with the whole family and they trusted in Christ. They knew of His authority, power, and glory, because they had seen it. But upon hearing the gospel, they came to know that He is loving and good, as well. Now, P is studying and discerning how God may use Him in ministry, so that others would meet and grow in knowledge of the King of Heaven, Jesus Christ, the Healer.