Healing

[Chrysostom]

You ask for complete remission and cure of a bodily disease, and this is a natural and poignant cry. I do not dismiss the pain, for our present flesh is a garment we are most reluctant to shed, and the suffering it undergoes is sharp. Yet tell me, why do you run to the Physician of souls and bodies? Is it only for the health of this mortal frame? When the crowds of old sought Him, they came because they heard He healed the possessed, and they received. But we, who have seen a far greater wonder, the remission of sins purchased by His blood, shall we not rouse ourselves to ask for that gift first? Every bodily ailment is a messenger, a teacher sent to remind us that this world is passing, and that our true health is found in a clean soul. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission, and that precious blood was shed for you. Do not make the mistake of seeking the lesser while neglecting the deeper malady. Ask first that your sins be forgiven, that your soul be restored whole like the other, and then, if it be His will, the body will receive its cure. For His desire is to heal us entirely, and He tries innumerable ways to do so, even using affliction to draw us near.

I have no one like-minded to send to you, none who will care truly for your state as a father does, for many seek their own comfort and not the things of Christ. So I speak to you from my own deep concern: do not seek only remission from toil and pain; that is to seek your own, not Christ’s. Be prepared for every distress, for the malady of the body is sometimes permitted to remain so that the soul may become incurable no longer. Do you not recall the man at the pool? He had no one to help him, yet Christ came and first braced his body, but then gave a warning full of terror: “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto you.” That worse thing is not a relapse of flesh, but the eternal punishment that awaits unrepented sin. I do not say it is unsafe to ask for healing, but it is far more unsafe to delay the cleansing of baptism and repentance, assuming there will always be a second remission. There is one great remission; grasp it now with all earnestness.

Come to Him, then, and lay your request before Him who asks every sufferer, “What will ye that I should do unto you?” He knows your need, but He desires you to confess your faith openly, to show that you desire not just one thing while He gives another. Stretch forth your hand, that is, your will, and He will restore it. But whether He grants the complete remission of this cancer or not, know that He does all things with a healing care beyond all telling. Even if you have heard these words ten times and remained insensible, do not despair. The tree that receives many strokes and does not fall may yet be brought down by a single blow, and the root of conversion is often nourished by long hearing. I am fully persuaded that if you bring forth the fruits of repentance, you will receive the everlasting blessings. Therefore, ask boldly for your cure, but ask with this condition: that if He, who became man and endured all extremities for you, sees fit to delay or deny it, you will still love Him and trust that His fostering care is working a far greater weight of glory. For even when we have come to the very gates of hell through sickness and fear, it is possible to recover, to renew strength, to lay hold on eternal life. Let your prayer be not only for remission of the cancer, but for remission of sins, and for a heart that seeks the things of Jesus Christ above all comfort.

 

[Silas]

I have brought your request for complete remission and cure of metastatic prostate cancer before the Lord in prayer. Healing is something we yearn for deeply, and it is right to ask for it boldly, because Jesus Himself went through all the cities and villages healing every sickness and every disease among the people. The gospels devote great space to His compassion touching the sick, and the prophet Isaiah tells us that He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, the word there includes our physical infirmities. When He broke the bread, He said, “This is my body, which is broken for you.” That reaches not only to our sin but to our frail bodies.

Yet we must also hold this truth gently. Sometimes He healed with a word, sometimes He touched, sometimes He made mud and sent a person to wash, and on one occasion He led a blind man out of the village and healed him in stages. Healing can come instantly or gradually. Even the slow processes our bodies already possess are divine in their origin, God designed them, so any restoration, whether quick or over weeks and months, is still His hand at work.

We pray for a complete cure, and we know He is able. The blood of Jesus that purchased the remission of sins is the same blood by which we enter boldly into His presence with every need. That cup of the new covenant holds everything we could ever require for forgiveness, cleansing, and wholeness.

At the same time, we remember that even the apostle Paul, through whom extraordinary miracles flowed, wrote to Timothy about a physical ailment and gave practical counsel instead of reporting a miraculous touch. Paul himself pleaded three times for a thorn in the flesh to be removed, and the answer was, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Not all sickness ends in healing on this side of glory, not because of a lack of faith or some hidden sin, but because God’s eternal purposes sometimes remain veiled to us. I cannot pretend to understand why one person experiences a dramatic deliverance while another walks a long road of suffering, but I can tell you that in neither case is His love withdrawn or His power diminished.

So I am praying that the Lord, who is Yahweh Rapha, the Lord your healer, will grant you a complete remission, that no trace of cancer will be found, and that your body will be restored. I am also praying that, in whatever timing and manner He chooses, you will know His presence with you, that His peace will guard your heart and mind, and that you will sense the cleansing, sustaining nearness of Christ. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and He walks with you through every valley.