eFollowingJesusFeb1 - He healed all their diseases (read Matthew 8:1-17)

   How strange is it that Jesus wants to hush reports of his healing?  Perhaps he sensed that sheer power would be misconstrued, that people would pin their fantasies on him, that the unscrupulous would devise plans to capitalize on his wizardry.

   Jesus performed miracles to reveal the truth about himself and his mission - which wasn't so everybody could be healthy, but so people might be saved.  Each healing is a clue, an invitation to God's future when death, not just illness, will be vanquished. 

   Can God heal?  Yes - but apparently only on occasion.  So why pray?  Madeleine L'Engle, looking back over her prayers for her husband who died of cancer, wrote, "Prayer is love, and love is never wasted.  Surely the prayers have sustained me.  Perhaps there will be unexpected answers to these prayers, answers I may not even be aware of for years.  But they are not wasted.  They are not lost.  I do not know where they have gone, but I believe that God holds them, hands outstretched to receive them, like precious pearls."  And to receive us, fully healed, saved.

   Lord, bring healing, bring salvation.  Gather up these prayers, these pearls of love, into Your love.

James

james@mpumc.org

Here is the full text of Matthew 8:1-17 - 1: When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; 2: and behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean." 3: And he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, "I will; be clean." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4: And Jesus said to him, "See that you say nothing to any one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to the people." 5: As he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him 6: and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress." 7: And he said to him, "I will come and heal him." 8: But the centurion answered him, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9: For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, `Go,' and he goes, and to another, `Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, `Do this,' and he does it." 10: When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. 11: I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12: while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth." 13: And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; be it done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed at that very moment. 14: And when Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever; 15: he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and served him. 16: That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick. 17: This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, "He took our infirmities and bore our diseases."  

The full eFollowingJesus series (thus far!) may be found on our web site.