Healing. Mary Healy

infirmities and diseases (v. 4).³² Matthew sees this mention of infirmities and diseases as pointing in a special way to Christ’s healings of the sick and demon-possessed.³³ The Hebrew meaning of the verbs “took” and “bore” is significant. They refer to the Servant not only removing afflictions but taking them on himself. Matthew is, of course, not saying that Jesus became sick or demon-possessed, but that in a mysterious way he bore these afflictions, along with our sins, in his own body on the cross. His power to heal flows from his own vicarious suffering of sin and all its consequences.

      Jesus’ healings foreshadow not only his passion; they also point to his resurrection from the dead. The Gospels hint at this link every time they use the word “raised up” or “rose” for those healed by Jesus. When Jesus cured Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever, he took her by the hand and “raised her up” (Mark 1:31). He commanded the paralytic, “Rise, take up your pallet and go home,” and the man “rose” (Mark 2:11–12). He said to Jairus’ dead daughter, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” and she “got up and walked” (Mark 5:41–42). He took the epileptic boy by the hand, “raised him up,” and the boy “arose” (Mark 9:27). In each case, these are the same verbs used for Jesus’ resurrection (Mark 16:6, 9, 14; 16:9), and for the resurrection of all the dead on the last day.³⁴

      Jesus’ healings of physical afflictions, while marvelous for those who receive them, are only a pale shadow of the ultimate healing he will accomplish in the end, when our bodies are transformed to be like his glorified body and the new creation is fully revealed. As St. Paul wrote, “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory’” (1 Cor 15:54). “For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor 4:17; cf. Rom 8:18–19).

       Jesus’ Commission to His Followers

      Everywhere Jesus went, teaching, healing, and casting out demons, people saw the promises of God being fulfilled before their eyes. The kingdom of God was being manifested in their midst. The Gospels give not the slightest warrant for the idea that these signs of the arrival of the kingdom were to cease after Jesus’ ascension into heaven. Rather, Jesus commissioned his followers to continue his saving mission by doing just as he had done.

      During his public ministry, Jesus sent out the twelve apostles on a kind of practice mission. He commanded them, “Preach as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons” (Matt 10:7–8). They were not to preach the kingdom in word alone, but to demonstrate it with deeds of power. They could accomplish these mighty works not by any ability of their own but by the authority he delegated to them (10:1). Luke records that Jesus later commissioned a larger group of seventy. He gave them the same charge: “Whenever you enter a town and they receive you … heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you’” (Luke 10:8–10).

      During Jesus’ earthly life the commission was only for these chosen delegates. But after his resurrection, the risen Lord extended the authority to heal and cast out demons to all believers. Among the signs that would accompany “those who believe,” i.e., Christians, he said, “in my name they will cast out demons;… they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:17–18).³⁵ He also affirmed that “they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them” — that is, they will experience divine protection from evil. Now all believers, filled with the Spirit of the risen Lord, are gifted with supernatural power for their mission to “preach good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18).

      The early Christians took Jesus’ words at face value. And the Lord vindicated their faith by doing abundant miracles through them, as the next chapter will describe.

      Chapter Three

      Healing in the Age of the Apostles

      Now many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles…. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.

       — Acts 5:12–14

      Before his ascension to heaven, Jesus gave his apostles a solemn commission to continue his work on earth. They must have been eager to embark on this mission. However, there was one important thing that had to occur before they could begin. Jesus instructed them, “Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). The same charge is repeated in Acts: “He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father,” namely, that they would be “baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:4–5). Only by being filled with the Holy Spirit, as Jesus was at his own baptism, would they have the divine power they needed to be his witnesses to all nations.

      Luke records that after giving this instruction, Jesus “was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes …” (Acts 1:9–10). A cloud had great significance for the people of Israel. In the time of the exodus, the cloud was the visible sign of God’s presence in the midst of his people (Exod 40:34–38). Moses had gone up Mount Sinai, enveloped in a cloud, and brought down the gift of the Torah. So now Jesus goes up to heaven in a cloud and will bring down an infinitely greater gift, the Holy Spirit (Exod 19:9; Acts 2:33).

      The two men in white robes are also a clue to what is happening. When was Jesus last seen in a cloud? At his transfiguration. The two men with him then were Moses and Elijah (Luke 9:28–35).

      Moses, the great leader of Israel, had a young assistant named Joshua who spent years at his side, being formed by him and watching him do miracles as he led Israel out of slavery into freedom. Before Moses died he imparted his spirit to Joshua to succeed him in leadership (Deut 34:9). Joshua went on to do what he had seen Moses do: he led the Israelites across water on dry ground (Josh 3), a replay of the crossing of the Red Sea, and went on to lead them to victory in battle against their enemies.

      Elijah too had a disciple, Elisha, who spent years with him, being formed by him and watching him prophesy, do signs and wonders, and call Israel to conversion. On the day Elijah was about to be taken up to heaven, he said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you” (2 Kgs 2:9). Elisha’s response was bold: he begged for a “double portion” of Elijah’s spirit, i.e., his supernatural gifting for prophecy, signs and wonders. In biblical tradition, a firstborn son received a double portion of the inheritance. Elisha was in effect asking to be Elijah’s firstborn, to be just like him. Elijah answered, “You have asked something that is not easy. Still, if you see me taken up from you, your wish will be granted; otherwise not.” As he was taken up in a flaming chariot, Elisha did indeed see him — the sign that his desire was granted. And he immediately did just what he had seen his master do: striking the water of the Jordan with Elijah’s mantle, he crossed over on dry ground (2 Kgs 2:14). He went on to perform many healings and miracles, calling Israel to conversion just as Elijah had done.

      This biblical background helps us understand the gift that Jesus imparts to his apostles and to the whole Church. As he ascends into heaven, they see him — the sign that they will indeed receive a “double portion” of his Holy Spirit, empowering them to continue his mission. That promise is fulfilled at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit falls on the hundred and twenty disciples gathered in the upper room, with the rush of a mighty wind and “tongues as of fire” (Acts 2:1–4). Like Joshua and Elisha, Jesus’ followers then go on to do just what they had seen their Master do: proclaim the good news with signs and wonders in the power of the Holy Spirit.

       The Lame Man at the Beautiful Gate

      The first event after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, as Luke reports it, is the healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the temple (Acts 3). It is a dramatic demonstration of the power of the risen Jesus now at work in his disciples.

      Peter and John were on their way into