Friday, April 13, 2012

True Faith in Jesus Heals; The Relation Between Sickness and Faith

    Today’s Reading:
  • Mark 5:21 - 43
  • Psalm 38:1 - 22
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Mark 5:21 - 43
Today's short reading told of two very powerful miracles performed by Jesus.  A woman who had been constantly bleeding for 12 years merely touched the robe of Jesus and was instantly healed.  Unlike the other stories of Jesus healing people, this was significant because he did not approach her to heal her -- she approached him and merely touched his robe.  She had absolute faith that if she was only able to touch his robe that she would be healed.  Jesus stopped the crowd when he felt the healing happen.  He praised her for her absolute faith. 

This reminds me of a previous reading in Matthew where Jesus told his disciples that if they had true faith, they could move mountains (21:21).  The power of true faith as it pertains to healing and works of the Lord really inspires me to keep studying the word and truly grow my faith.

The other miracle performed by Jesus in this reading was quite profound.  A man named Jairus pleaded with Jesus to come to his house to heal his daughter who was deathly ill.  By the time they arrived at his house, the daughter had died.  Jesus had all the people leave the house except for a few.  He then went to the girl's bed and commanded her to get up.  Not only did the girl come back to life, but she immediately got up and started walking around, as if she had never been ill in the first place.  That is such a tremendous miracle -- the girl was dead after being extremely ill and Jesus comes along and she is instantly resurrected and well.  I lack words to describe the power of a miracle such as that.  Jesus is truly wonderful and superior in an indescribable way.

Psalm 38:1 - 22
In this Psalm of David we see a man's sin is festering as a physical illness in his body.  We are told that his wounds are festering and infected, he is wracked with pain and has a burning fever.  Throughout my readings so far I see two causes to illness and disabilities -- the most usual cause are satanic in nature, and the second cause are the results of the sins of a person or a community.

All of this just leads me to wonder how often sickness and faith are related to each other.  Of course in the bible I have yet to see Jesus heal someone of a common cold -- that's not what I'm talking about.  I'm talking about illnesses that are serious, chronic and/or terminal of nature.  The more I read about these things the more I want to know about this topic so that I can be armed and ready when myself or a loved one are facing such a terrible thing.  I have so much learning yet to do!

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