Did You Know that Jesus Can Heal You?

Jesus and the spiritual realm

Jesus demonstrated his authority in a confrontation that happened one Sabbath, while he was preaching. A demonized man stood up in the middle of Jesus' sermon and shouted, "Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God." Now if this were me preaching, the minute some crazed man stands up in the congregation and shouts "HA!" I am starting to freak out. I am looking around for an escape route behind the stage, just to make sure. Where is this going? Is this guy dangerous? What is going on? But we do not see any of those reactions with Jesus. 

Jesus looks the demon square in the eye, and basically says "Shut up!" Actually, in the original language, he says, "Be muzzled!" Jesus slaps a spiritual muzzle on the demon, like a dog. "Come out of him!" And the demon throws the man down and comes out of him. Just like that. No exorcism ritual. No prayer. No fasting. Pure authority. 

What does this mean? Jesus has authority over the spiritual realm. Period. There is no spiritual force that can withstand his rebuke. He rules. 

Jesus and the physical realm

Shortly after this little interchange, Jesus goes over to the house of one of his disciple's in-laws. Simon (better known as Peter) invites them in, and he and the members of their family appeal to Jesus on behalf of his mother-in-law. She is "sick with a high fever." If you have ever had to entertain while you're feeling under the weather, you can imagine the stress this family is going through. 

So they ask Jesus to help her. And he does. He "rebukes" the fever, and it leaves her. And then (this is the best part), she gets up and begins to serve them! She needs to recovery time. She is feeling great. She is grateful to Jesus (and probably astonished), and to show her gratitude she cooks them all dinner. 

What does this story teach? Jesus has authority over the physical realm too. 

Tying the two together

Now, picture a great, big golden pendulum. To the right of the pendulum is written, "physical." To the left of the pendulum is written, "spiritual." Today, it is common for churches to have the pendulum of their emphasis swung too far over to either side. 

There are some churches who emphasize the spiritual aspect of the faith. For them, there are no practical, real-world implications to their religion. Faith is a private matter, for personal edification, and should not really enter into the public sphere. These folks miss the fact that Jesus came into the world--he did not just descend as low as the clouds and shout religious teaching at us. He was flesh and blood. He laughed. He got mad. He ate. And he healed fevers.

Other churches swing hard in the opposite direction. Faith is seen as a means to an end. If you have enough faith, you can be healed of all diseases. You can get rich, succeed in business, have healthy and well-behaved children, find a perfect spouse. Basically, Jesus came so you could prosper, and make "every day a Friday." These people forget that Jesus' primary concern was bringing eternal life. Prosperity in this life is utter crap compared to the "surpassing greatness" of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" (Philippians 3:7-9). 

The truth is found in the middle. Changing metaphors, the physical and spiritual "roads" intersect at the cross. On the cross, Jesus dealt with the one disease that can keep us from God forever: our sin. 

See, all those people Jesus healed eventually died. None of them are alive today--at least not physically. 

Yet the promise of Christ is this: anyone who allows him to heal their spiritual disease--sin--he will physically "raise them up on the last day" (John 6:44). You and I will die someday. We deserve that. Jesus died too. He did not deserve that. But he did it for us. And if you trust in him, you will be saved. He will raise you up at the finale of history. You will receive a new body, one free from disease, pain, and suffering. And you will be privileged to look at your Savior, face-to-face, and thank him, and worship him forever. 

If you are interested in having that kind of security for your life, the kind found only in God, please shoot me an email at jsettecase@gracepointe.us. 

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Joel Settecase is the Associate Pastor of Evangelism & Student Ministries at Grace Pointe Plainfield, located at 143rd St. & Route 30. Sunday services start at 9AM.