Mark 10:46-52 Healing Faith

Mark 10:52    “Your faith has healed you.”

Some of the dearest, most faithful Christians I have known died prematurely. I know they were people of faith who prayed. I know that many, many fellow believers prayed for them. Yet, they were not healed in the way we wanted. Healing faith is not a possession that we can claim for our own. Healing comes as the providence of God orders, and such healing always has a purpose in addition to the relief from suffering. All true faith rests in God’s purposes whether the end is physical healing or not. True faith is the faith that brings reconciliation and discipleship. True faith prays with Jesus under the shadow of the cross, “Thy will be done.”

Bartimaeus was in the right place at the right time. Jesus passed by the intersection where he was sitting. It could have happened that Jesus went in a different direction or that Jesus passed by when Bartimaeus was not present. The encounter between Bartimaeus and Jesus was a gift. It was not a right or the end of good planning, and it was not chance either. In God’s providence it was meant to be.

Bartimaeus cried for mercy. He did not ask for fairness or justice. Others, perhaps, needed and deserved healing more than he. Apparently, many in the crowd thought that he was undeserving of the attention of Jesus, and they attempted to make him stop his shouting for help. He persevered. He did believe that Jesus could help him. He had faith.

Bartimaeus received the call of Jesus. How joy must have filled his heart when he heard the people say to him, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” (Verse 49) It is never within the power of a person to have all that faith requires; faith moves forward only when Jesus calls.

Bartimaeus was asked what he wanted. Surprisingly, some people do not actually want what Jesus offers. (John 5:6) Even some who saw the miracles of Jesus and received the witness of the resurrection turned away from the gift of faith. Bartimaeus asked and received his vision. Jesus said, “Your faith has healed you.” However, it was not just the faith of that moment, but it was the faith that included all the elements that had put Bartimaeus in the place of his encounter with Jesus and the purposes that were fulfilled as Bartimaeus lived forward with his sight.

Bartimaeus did not return to his former place where he had sat begging; instead, the text tells us that “he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.” (Verse 52) The healing of blind Bartimaeus resulted in his discipleship.The faith healing of Bartimaeus was not for the relief of suffering alone. The greater mission of Jesus was reconciliation with God, the forgiveness of sin. Healing faith was a witness to that greater purpose. (See the account of healing in Mark 2;1-12) 

Healing faith is not up to us. Paul the Apostle prayed to be healed from his thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:7) but was not. The prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane was answered in a way that seemed to be a resounding “no” from God. Our prayers for healing may be answered in ways that seem to be a “no” from God as well. Faith trusts that God’s purposes are greater than our sickness or heart break or disability or even death. In our weakness God’s strength is made evident, and beyond our cross there is the promise of resurrection.

Mark 5:21-43 Messianic Secret

Mark 5:43    ". . . strict orders . . . "

Jesus healed people. Jesus raised the dead. He was a wonder worker. Even the most sceptical historian will acknowledge that Jesus was understood to be a person who did wonders. In this passage two people are directly  blessed by the power of Jesus. One was a woman whose illness  had taken her to the exhaustion of all her resources, physical and financial. The other was a synogogue leader who humbled himself before Jesus because he saw his child slipping away into death and he was powerless to help her. The humility and desperation of these two people make us cheer for them. We want Jesus to help them, and he does. Strangely the passage concludes with Jesus saying that he did not want his disciples to spread word of his wonders. Famously, among scholars this statement of Jesus and others like it in the Gospel of Mark have stirred interest and debate.

A question mark at the end of the wonder report reminds me that this important part of Jesus' ministry is not completely understood. In part he did wonders out of compassion, but not all sick people then or now receive healing, and none of the people healed by Jesus were saved from their eventual deaths. Often it is said--and Jesus sometimes explained-- that he did his wonders in order to demonstrate his authority as the Messiah, but then in this passage he told his disciples not to spread word of the wonders. Keeping his work secret suggests that in this passage, at least, he was not working the wonders to support a claim to be Messiah. Perhaps, it was a matter of timing. He was not ready to put forth his claims or he knew the people were not ready to hear his claim. Other ideas can be explored, but the question mark remains. What was the purpose of the wonders Jesus performed, and how do we understand them now, and what wonder do we expect to receive from the touch of Jesus in our lives?

Like the two people in this passage we seek Jesus in faith. We want to touch him; we want his touch of blessing upon us and our loved ones. Faith means that we trust him. We put ourselves before him and under his direction. We want to obey his word. We believe that Jesus will perform the wonder in our lives that we need most. We believe that God loves us and wants the best for us. We do our part, and we rest in the peace that passes understanding when we believe that the all powerful God of love will do his part as well. None of us fully understand the ways of God in each person's life so the question marks remain with us. We cannot fully explain why or when God will bring us to the place that is best for us. Our faith is growing as we learn to live with our questions.

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Grandchildren.Sweetie Pie and Mr. Happy were climbing a tree in the front yard when the disposal truck turned on to our street. The driver saw them and tooted his horn. He knows that the children love his recognition. They waved to him and jumped down from the tree to go and watch the men put our containers onto the truck. Jumping up and down, waving, shouting their greeting the children took such pleasure in this simple weekly event. I've seen the same excitement in them over a roly poly bug. To be childlike means to take wonder in all the gifts sent our way. Jesus told us this approach to life opens the doors to the kingdom of God.