Oct '22
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Scripture
Mark 1:29-39
Jesus Heals Many
And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
Jesus Preaches in Galilee
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.”
And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”
And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
Devotional
This month in Mark, we have the honor of looking at Jesus as a healer. Before we dive in, invest some time reading the other places in Mark where we experience Jesus as a healer.
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Mark 1:40-45
Jesus Cleanses a Leper
And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.”
And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”
But he went out and began talking freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.
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Mark 7:31-37
Jesus Heals a Deaf Man
Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.
And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.
And they were astonished beyond measure, saying “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
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Mark 8:22-26
Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida
And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”
And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.”
Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
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In each of these stories we see a common pattern at play: a person in need of healing seeks Jesus, Jesus has mercy and heals, Jesus demands that they stay silent, and the healed person fails to remain silent about their miracle.
I by no means had an easy childhood. It was full of abuse from the men that came through my family’s life, bullying at school, and fighting in court to not lose custody of my little sister. Despite all of these trials, one thing I never personally faced was the loss of my health. Sure, like any kid, I was constantly sick with whatever was going around school, and I had a few close calls that were scarier for my mom than they were for me, but there was never anything truly wrong with me. In that aspect, I had been extremely blessed.
It comes as no surprise that everything I had known and understood completely washed away when my car accident berated my body with health problem after health problem. Over the course of a year and a half, I slowly sunk into a pit of depression as I lost my ability to work, go to church, keep plans with friends, move my body, or even leave the house. The more isolated I became as people walked away from me within my trial, the more I began to question God.
As I would sit on the couch, my aching back pressed into the relief of a heat pad, I would succumb to endless tears as I wondered how this was the plan God had for my life. I read the Bible. I believed that God calls us to be disciples, to make the nations for his Kingdom, and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how sitting on a couch in pain was glorifying His kingdom.
Perhaps you know the feeling, whether or not your health has been personally impacted. Consider the roadblock that’s in your life right now. You know the one I’m talking about. The one that makes you feel like you’re losing you. The one that is fighting like hell to take away your hope. The one that is desperate to make you believe that God has stopped loving you.
When you are in a spot where you’re desperate for a miracle, for Jesus to place his hands on you and bring healing, it can feel like God hates you when you don’t experience it. I know. God heard more prayers than I can count where I begged him to love me again.
Before we look into the miracle of Jesus’ healing through his compassion, I want us to consider Jesus as God on a mission. I could easily make this entire devotion about Jesus’ healing, but I don’t want to leave you in despair when you reach the end and question “why have I not been healed?” Instead, I invite you to take this one step at a time and start with the hard text first. The text where we see Jesus not heal.
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Mark 1:35-39
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.”
And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”
And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
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Last month we read through Mark 1:21-28 where Jesus came to preach in Capernaum and while he was teaching in the synagogue he drove a demon out of a man. After he was through preaching, he left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon (Peter) and Andrew to observe the Sabbath.
Take a moment and imagine what it would be like to have been in that synagogue, watch Jesus cast out a demon, and then go home to observe the Sabbath. While you’re waiting for the sun to go down and therefore the Sabbath to end, you can’t stop thinking about the power Jesus portrayed. Your thoughts turn and you consider the family member wrestling fitfully in the next room as their body slowly succumbs to illness. You wonder if Jesus could bring healing to them as well. That night, you hear the crowds of those in want of healing searching for Jesus. Noting that your loved one is finally sleeping peacefully, you decide to search for Jesus in the morning.
The next morning you rise, carefully gather your loved one in your arms, and set out to find Jesus and ask for his mercy. You are struck with grief when you learn that Jesus has already left town. Someone who was once crippled walks by gleefully, and as you look down at the sick one in your arms, you can’t help but wonder why healing wasn’t given to them as well.
I know that was a long hypothetical scenario, but it’s one that could have occurred. When the disciples found Jesus praying they were filled with excitement over what they had observed the night before and were anticipating another day of healing. They had seen how many people in the town had desperately desired his miraculous gift and were anxious to see more people receive it. Imagine their disappointment when Jesus told them that it was time to move on, that he had come to earth to preach not to heal.
This is so important to understand because it points to the essence of who Jesus is. Jesus is God incarnate, come to earth to preach God’s law, and serve as the ultimate mediator between God and his people. Hear that again, Jesus came to earth to bring people to God. His primary goal was to glorify the Father, not to heal his people. There is no doubt that Jesus did wonderful, merciful deeds during his time on earth, but all of them came secondary to sharing the Kingdom.
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Mark 1:38
And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”
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Jesus had a very clear mission when he walked this earth and it wasn’t to fix physical ailments. His primary focus, the mission he set out to accomplish when he chose to leave God’s kingdom and come to earth, was to preach the kingdom of God. Jesus chose to leave people unhealed because securing their forever salvation with the Father was far more important than easing temporary suffering.
Hear me out. Jesus does care about your suffering on this earth. He does care about what you are going through and he has great mercy and compassion for you. We see his compassion on display as time and time again he chose to bring healing to those who came to him in faith. Just look at the story in Mark 1 where Jesus healed a leper.
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Mark 1:40-42
And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.”
And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.
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Jesus healed the leper who came to him in faith because he had compassion and pity for what they were going through.
Friend, God doesn’t hate you if he doesn’t provide healing, in fact, it is out of great love that he leaves you unhealed. Hear that. God does not leave you unhealed because he hates you, wants to punish you, or has turned his face from you. God has left you unhealed because he rather have you feeling broken and eternally secured in his kingdom, than feeling whole but eternally separated from him. It is out of great love that God has not restored your health.
I know this is a hard message to hear. Honestly, when I was in the thick of it, I think I would have hated this message, and even now, I struggle with the truth of what I'm writing.
Hear me, friend, I know I’ve had the honor of learning this after I started to find healing through God. I want you to keep fighting for your health, to advocate for yourself, to search for skilled doctors, pray endlessly for healing, and never let go of that hope. But within your waiting, I’m asking you to trust that God is for you, that he loves you, and even if he doesn’t bring you healing, it’s because he cares more about your eternity than this single trial. We see irrefutable proof throughout the Bible that Jesus cares about our present, but that pales in comparison to how much he cares about our forever.
When you are ready, look at just a few of the accounts in Mark where Jesus does heal.
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Mark 1:29-34
And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons.
*
Mark 1:40-42
And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.”
And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.
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Mark 7:31-35
Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.
And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
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Mark 8:22-25
And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”
And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.”
Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.
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Jesus clearly stated to his disciples that he had come to preach about the Kingdom of God. And yet, as he travels with his disciples on this mission, he is moved time and time again to heal those who come to him.
This is where we get to see Jesus’ great compassion and mercy for his children. Though it’s a hard pill to swallow, He would have been easily justified in ignoring the desires of his people and focusing on the mission at hand. His mission was to preach. He chose to heal.
I believe that God still brings healing to his children today. My God, the God we are beyond honored to call Father, historically shows that he has compassion for his children. I believe that at some point if we are rooted in Christ, we will all experience the gift of healing. For some, this healing may come in the form of a full-blown miracle, where their ailment completely disappears leaving their health restored. For others, myself included, healing may come through the Holy Spirit giving you the strength and courage to live alongside your trial. Some healing comes in small moments of peace and joy. And ultimate healing? It comes on the day Jesus returns to this world and fully restores what he has claimed as his own.
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Mark 1:43-44
And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”
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Mark 7:36
Jesus charged them to tell no one.
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Mark 8:26
And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
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We’ve said it over and over, and we’ll say it again. Jesus came with a very clear mission, and he chose to heal out of compassion. The charge he gives each person he heals shows how much was at stake when he chose to heal.
Jesus knew that his time on earth would end with his crucifixion, and he knew what he had to do before that time came. Each time he healed, he charged those who received his gift to remain quiet. Why? Historians believe that if he had been immediately recognized as the fulfillment of prophecy, the people would have made him King. Jesus wasn’t interested in being king on earth because he was already king of creation. If the people had tried to make him king, he would have been hindered in his ability to preach across the nations.
Despite God the Son giving a clear command, people always responded to his gift of healing with disobedience.
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Mark 1:45
But he went out and began talking freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.
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Mark 7:36-37
But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.
And they were astonished beyond measure, saying “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
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When I first read these stories in Mark, I wondered why so many people disobeyed the command of the Lord to stay silent. And then it struck me. If Jesus reached out and wrapped me in his healing embrace, if every broken part of my body suddenly became healed, I’d want to tell the world.
Do you know what I mean? I’ve been living with a compromised physical body for over four years. For four years I have prayed for a miracle. If that miracle suddenly came, if my physical body was fully restored by the Lord, I would tell everyone who would listen about the goodness of the Lord. I wouldn’t be able to keep quiet.
The people who experienced healing in the New Testament are the same as us. They lived with their physical ailment, they felt the hardship and loneliness it had bestowed on their life and when they finally got their miracle, they couldn’t help but shout the goodness of the Lord from the mountain tops.
Jesus chose to continue healing, potentially jeopardizing his mission, because he had so much compassion for his people. Even when they continuously broke his command and shared the greatness of his deed, he continued to heal.
Unlike those in the New Testament who were told to stay silent, we are commanded to share what God has done at every chance we get. If you experience even a fraction of healing through the Lord, that is more than worth bowing in praise and shouting glory for all the world to see.
The truth is, even though these four years have been long and hard, God has brought me healing through time. My healing hasn’t come as I expected it to, or even how I thought it should. I thought healing meant a Biblical miracle. I thought if I could just reach out to Jesus, and be loved by God, my body would be restored. I have been restored, I am loved by God. I have been touched by Jesus.
God reminded me that I am his and that he is madly in love with me even in the darkest moments of my life. Jesus wrapped his warmth around me and gave me the power to fight back the evil trying to drown me in despair. My faith that my body was made for me, and made for moving, has been restored as I’ve learned to do things in a new way.
I know that God has brought me healing in a way that doesn’t compromise my forever with him. I know that God cares about me deeply even if my body is never restored to where it was before my accident.
I invite you to consider the part of your life where you are desperate for healing. How is God inviting you into himself, to experience him and his healing in a new and unexpected way?
If nothing else, go forward this month trusting that God loves you, he is for you, and he has and never will forsake you.
Go forth and experience the God of compassion.
Prayer
Father,
It's easy to fall into the lie that you don't care about us when our bodies are filled with illness and pain. When we become overwhelmed by these physical and emotional ailments, it's so easy to forget your constant goodness and presence in our lives.
I pray for forgiveness father. Forgiveness to all of your people who have ever second-guessed you, questioned you, or doubted you in the face of trial. Forgiveness for failing to believe you will heal, and a hardened heart towards you when healing is not your will.
You know our hearts, our minds, and our bodies wholly and completely.
You give us the gift of the Old Testament; showing the compassion Jesus had for those desperate for healing. And you give us the gift of Jesus choosing not to heal all the same.
Oh Holy Father, I pray that this devotional will flourish with the goodness of the Holy Spirit. That it will challenge us to consider our relationship with you, our faith, our desires, and how all of that is impacted by our afflictions. May we become aware of what we allow to restrain us from your love so that we may never be restrained.
May we not lose you or turn away from your in affliction, but be overwhelmed by how dearly we need you.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray,
Amen
Bible Study
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As you read about Jesus as a healer, what comes to mind? What thoughts or feelings do you experience?
Mark 1:40-45
Mark 7:31-37
Mark 8:22-26
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Consider the roadblock that’s in your life right now. You know the one I’m talking about. The one that makes you feel like you’re losing you. The one that is fighting like hell to take away your hope. The one that is desperate to make you believe that God has stopped loving you.
When you consider the thing you are desperate for Jesus to heal, what is your innate reaction to being left to sit with it?
Do you believe that God may leave you unhealed, not to punish you, but out of great love?
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How have you experienced healing? Was it like a miracle, God coming in and sweeping your affliction away? Or, was it quieter and softer, the presence of the Holy Spirit giving you the strength to endure?
Share your testimony of how God has been at work in your life!
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How can you remind someone today that they are madly loved by God even in their darkest moments?
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