The Willingness Of Jesus To Heal

“Fred Craddock tells of a young pastor visiting an elderly woman in the hospital. The pastor finds the woman to be quite ill, gasping for breath, and obviously nearing the end of her life. In the midst of tubes, bags, and beeping medical machines, . . .

“The pastor says, ‘What would you like me to pray for today?’

“The patient responds, ‘That I would be healed.’

“The pastor gulps. . . .

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“[Then he prays,] ‘Lord, we pray for your sustaining presence with this sick sister, and if it be your will, we pray she will be restored to health and to service. But if it’s not your will, we certainly hope she will adjust to her circumstances.’ . . .

“Immediately after the pastor puts an amen on this safe prayer, the woman opens her eyes and sits up in bed. Then she throws her feet over the side and stands up. . . .

“Before the pastor can react, the woman walks over to the door, pulls it open, and strides down the hospital corridor. The last thing the pastor hears before she disappears are the words ‘Look at me, look at me. I’m healed.’

“The pastor pushes his mouth closed, gets up, and slowly walks down the stairs and out to the parking lot. There is no sign of the former patient. He opens his car door, and stops. Looking up to the heavens, the pastors says, ‘Please don’t ever do that to me again’ (Beukema, in Biblical Preaching, 130).

In some cases, even pastors are slow to believe that God wills to heal. Nevertheless, He keeps on astounding us with His grace as He did the leper in Matthew 8:1-4.

We’ll make a couple of observations about this incident — one concerning our requests and another about Jesus’ response. In the first place, . . .

We often qualify our requests for healing. (8:1-2) Whenever we’re sick, most of us pray, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me [well].” We know He’s able to heal us, yet for some reason, we’re never quite sure if Christ wants to heal us for various reasons. Maybe we brought this sickness on ourselves. Maybe we didn’t take proper care of ourselves. Worst still, maybe we’ve sinned and we fear our sickness is God’s punishment. Frankly, we don’t know why this man was sick, probably because it doesn’t matter.

Jesus always takes time for the individual as well as the multitude. (8:1-2) After “[Christ] came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. [And] a man with leprosy came and knelt before him.” In times of sickness, if we don’t approach the Lord, He usually doesn’t approach us! (James 4:8). When we do draw near to Him, one preacher reminds us, it should be with the confidence, the humility, and the reverence this leper had because they’re the only attitudes appropriate for a person asking God for a favor (Barclay, Matthew, vol. 1, 302-3).