Jesus the Healer
by Nick Cooper
Throughout the book of Mark, we read stories of countless men and women coming face to face with Jesus the Messiah. As Jesus began His ministry and traveled throughout Judea, He would meet with suffering people battling sickness and disease. Many of them had been afflicted with these things for the entirety of their lives and were left without hope. For these individuals, their disease was more than just physical, it was also spiritual in nature. They knew from the earliest stories in Genesis that their world was broken by sin and that every part of creation - including their bodies - was impacted by the Fall. They knew the world was not as God intended it to be and that physical suffering was part of that spiritual death.
Mark’s gospel gives a very direct and clear image of who Jesus was and the purpose of His ministry here on Earth. Throughout his gospel, Mark was trying to show the brokenness of humanity and the rescue and healing Jesus came to do. The frailty of our human nature is not limited to our physical pain, but it extends into the very way we see the world and what we believe about who God is. This misbelief then alters the way that we view and react to the Gospel of Jesus. So let us take a couple of minutes to peer into some of the stories Mark tells and what they tell us about who Jesus is.
The first stories that come to mind for me are in Mark 5 when Jairus comes out from the synagogue and sees Jesus. In just a small moment Jairus falls to his knees asking for Jesus to come home with him so that he would heal his daughter. His daughter was near death, and despite what Jairus may or may not have believed about Jesus, he knew that others believed and were following Jesus; therefore, this was an opportunity for healing.
Beginning in Mark 5:25 we read of a woman who had been living with a blood condition for many years without any relief coming from the work of other physicians or sources of potential cure. Her options were limited, her soul defeated. But here Jesus was walking by her, and so in her brokenness and battle with, she reaches out and touches His garment. Immediately the illness leaves her, and she is made well. Just faith and a small touch of Jesus is all that it took.
In Mark 10:46-52 we read of the story of blind Bartimaeus. Here the author shares of Jesus and His disciples coming into the city of Jericho only as they are attempting to pass through. But a crowd appears before them, and cast off to the side of that crowd, alone and rejected they find Bartimaeus. Without sight, Bartimaeus could not see that Jesus was there in his presence, but he had heard and began to cry out “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:48). Just as our spiritual enemy the Devil tries to push us down and rebuke us, or how society tends to do the same, the crowd tells Bartimaeus to be quiet. But their attempts were futile as Bartimaeus did not relent in his pursuit of having Jesus heal him.
What happens next I think is one of the greatest parts of this story—Jesus stops. The Messiah, who was moving quickly through this busy city and could have been distracted by this crowd's noise, stops and sees Bartimaeus. Jesus calls for the disciples to get him, and so they say “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you” (v.49). In that moment, the demons and doubts that had been battling within this man for years were wiped out. Jesus had seen him and called Bartimaeus. Listening to the voice of Jesus, in whom he had placed his full belief and faith, Bartimaeus was healed.
Many within our churches and communities are not blind or dealing with a blood condition, or even on the brink of death. However, we are all in need of spiritual healing. We all need Jesus to come and battle our demons and afflictions. It is my belief that we must realize like many of these individuals that though we are despised, afflicted, and cast aside, we are not less loved by Jesus than those who are well. John 3:16 tells us that “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” It goes on to state “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already” (Jn 3:17-18).
So are you hurting? Are you misbelieving the truth of the Gospel? Are your physical and spiritual wounds too much for you to carry? He is able by faith to heal you. Physical healing may not come to us this side of eternity, but we have an opportunity to cry out to Jesus, to reach out and touch Him, and to believe in His Gospel for our spiritual healing today.