The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord –Luke 4:18-19.
Jesus was in His hometown of Nazareth. It was on the Sabbath, and He stood to read the scripture as He had in the past. This Sabbath He read from Isaiah 61. When He finished, He said, …This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears –Luke 4:21.
This marked the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. In this first sermon He described the nature of His ministry. Notice the many references in this passage to healing: healing to the brokenhearted, deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, and liberty to the bruised. Jesus came to provide a remedy for our brokenness. He came to repair the damage that sin has brought into humanity.
In this article we will look at the possibility for healing that is found in Jesus. Healing is a process that requires inner restoration with outside remediation. Physical healing begins at the cellular level and restores physical function. Spiritual healing begins at the heart level and restores us to fullness of life. Jesus said, …I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly – John 10:10.
As Jesus walked the dusty paths of Judea, He encountered many who needed physical healing. It was His ability to heal that drew many to seek Him out and to follow him. Many brought their friends and family to Him for healing. There is in all of us a desire for healing and wholeness. In the garden of Eden, mankind was created to be whole. When we are not whole, we seek every possible cure. So, crowds gathered around Jesus hoping for healing.
One day as Jesus was journeying through Jericho, a blind man, Bartimaeus, heard that He was approaching. Hope sprang up in his breast. He began to call out to Jesus, “Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.” They tried to silence him, but he called the louder, “Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.”
He cast his coat aside and blindly rushed into the street. Jesus said to him, “What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?” He said, “Lord, that I might receive my sight.” Jesus’ response to this simple faith was, “Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.” Immediately, he received his sight, and followed Jesus. This is just one example of Jesus’ healing ministry. The examples are many. He healed lepers. He healed paralytics. He healed men and women of unclean spirits.
Does Jesus still heal in our day? I would like to answer that question by sharing my own journey of healing. I realize that not all are healed. Even in Jesus’ day, not all were healed. But I want to share my journey of healing to demonstrate the interconnectedness of the physical and the spiritual.
I was diagnosed with cancer in May of 2020. Hearing a doctor say, “You have millions of cancer cells in your body”, brought me face to face with my mortality like never before. Oh, I knew that someday I would die, but that was always somewhere in the far distant future. Now I needed to face the fact that I had a disease growing within me which had the potential to destroy my body.
Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much –James 5:14-16.
I have always been a strong advocate of anointing with oil. Just like we are taught in the book of James, I called for the elders of the church and asked them to anoint me with oil. In the biblical teaching of God healing through the anointing with oil there are a number of things that are expected of those seeking the healing. There is: call[ing] for the elders of the church, the prayer of faith, pray[ing] one for another, Confess[ing] your faults one to another, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man… and the list goes on. So, one of the necessities to seek healing through the anointing with oil is the clearing of the heart of any known, unconfessed sin. Hence, I searched my heart and cleansed my heart of anything that would hinder God’s healing of my body.
Notice the close correlation in this passage between the physical and the spiritual. I found in my journey of healing that the one affects the other. Physical healing begins with spiritual healing. A few drops of oil have no therapeutic benefit. This anointing with oil is primarily a spiritual exercise. If we practice this ordinance as James offered it, we cleanse our hearts inwardly and then we ask God for physical healing.
This was my first step to healing, but a long journey lay ahead. We consulted with multiple doctors and eventually we chose a treatment protocol that included radiation and hormone therapy. This treatment weakened me physically and made me feel my humanity. It made me more dependent on God and others and less confident in my own abilities. Living with weakness caused me to draw my strength from my Heavenly Father Who is the source of strength. I relied heavily on the encouragement and support that my wife and family offered.
There are some lessons that can only be learned through human weakness. It was for this reason that Paul was given a thorn in the flesh. He sought the Lord three times for healing. God’s answer came back always the same, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in your weakness.” I can testify that that is true.
I had multiple radiation treatments in January of 2021. I had scheduled a series of meetings for the month of February thinking that my treatments would be over, and I would be back to normal. What I did not realize was the delayed effect of radiation. I breezed through the treatments, but in February I experienced a lot of digestive issues and a lot of physical weakness.
I was expected to deliver a series of four sermons on four consecutive evenings. We prayed and although I could not get through the day without napping God provided supernatural strength for those evening messages. I praise God that His strength was made perfect in my weakness.
My doctors have plied their trade. I am grateful for the professional medical care that I received. I have done what I could with herbs and supplements and God has been merciful. My last bloodwork came back “undetectable”. May God be praised!
I am sharing my experience to show the correlation between the physical and the spiritual. Physical illness in my experience had a sanctifying effect on my spirit and spiritual renewal conditioned my body for healing. I will be forever grateful for the professional care given by my doctors, but even they realize the limits of their profession. On my last visit to my Medical Oncologist, he said to me, “Now we are going to trust the Lord.” Thank God for God-fearing doctors!
There are several examples in scripture that demonstrate this correlation between physical and spiritual healing. In Mark 2 when they let the paralytic down through the roof into the presence of Jesus, He said to the paralytic, “Thy sins be forgiven thee.” Then He said, “Rise up and walk.” When He was challenged by the Pharisees for forgiving sins, He said to them, “Which is easier to say rise up and walk or thy sins be forgiven”, demonstrating that He had the power to do both. If we believe that Jesus has the power to forgive our sins, do we also believe that He has the power to heal our bodies? I do!
In John 5, Jesus healed a man who lay by the pool of Bethesda. He had this infirmity for thirty-eight years. Jesus came by and healed him. Later when He met him in the temple He said to him, “Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” Note the correlation between the physical and the spiritual.
Physical infirmity has a tremendous potential to open our hearts to spiritual realities if we allow it to. The Psalmist said: Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word –Psalm 119:67. Jesus said: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord –Luke 4:18-19.
Take a fresh look at our proof text for this article and notice that Jesus is offering more than physical healing. He promises healing to the brokenhearted, deliverance to the captives, and liberty to the bruised. These promises are of emotional healing—healing for the hurt that we receive as a result of living in a broken, sin-cursed world.
I am sure that there are many people reading this article who have experienced trauma that I know nothing about. But I want to assure you that you can be healed. Do you believe that? Do you believe that the pain can go away? Do you believe that you can be delivered from fear, anxiety, anger, and bitterness?
We addressed the correlation between spiritual and physical healing. There is also a correlation between spiritual and emotional healing. If you are experiencing a broken heart, Jesus wants to heal your broken heart. If you are a captive—if you are bound to a past or to an addiction that prevents your freedom—Jesus will set you free. If you have been bruised Jesus will heal you.
My wife and I are appalled at the large number of people in our Anabaptist churches that are turning to psych drugs (mind medication) and secular counseling to find solutions for emotional disorders. The Bible addresses most emotional disorders:
Fear
- There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear –1 John 4:18.
- What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee –Psalm 56:3.
- “Fear not” is found 63 times in the Bible
Anxiety
- Be careful [anxious] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God –Philippians 4:6.
Anger
- Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice –Ephesians 4:31.
This is just a sampling of emotional disorders that we encounter in life, and I realize that behind these emotions there is often deep-seated trauma. Your trauma is not an astonishment to Jesus. He may not have experienced your exact trauma, but he has gone to the depth of your pain, and he has come through it in victory.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need –Hebrews 4:15-16.
The gospel provides a holistic remedy to man’s sin problem. Our Anabaptist heritage has emphasized the fact that faith in Jesus affects every area of our lives. This faith motivates us to follow Jesus in very practical ways in our daily lives. This results in a life of radical nonconformity to the world around us.
This radical discipleship should also affect our emotional responses to difficult people and circumstances. Or have we become so emotionally fragile that if life does not give us exactly what we want it upsets our emotional equilibrium? Or maybe the gospel that we preach has become a litany of words that appeases the mind but has no effect on our soul.
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it –Hebrews 4:1-2. Is our faith in God so weak (remember that in the Biblical accounts of healing, it was their faith that enabled the healing) that we have more faith in medication or in a board-certified secular counselor than we have in God and His Word?
This is a discipleship series. Come with me to the mountain where Jesus is teaching. Yes, there is a large crowd, but follow me closely, we will try to get close enough to hear. I hear His voice—He is saying something about “salt of the earth” and “light of the world.” Here is an empty space—just room for two. Let’s sit on the grass and listen:
“Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”
These are radical teachings. Radical in that they are so opposite from our natural inclinations, and yet, this is the way of peace. Most of our negative emotions such as anger, fear, and anxiety can be remedied by applying these teachings of Jesus to our situations. This may sound overly simplistic, but that is the nature of the gospel and millions of people have found life and freedom through faith in Christ.
Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s –Psalm 103:1-5.
