The Healer

Rev. Debbie Cato
Isaiah 40:21-31 and Mark 1:29-39
Manitou Presbyterian Church Spokane
June 21, 2026

What news do you bring our way this day, God?  We sit.  Quietly.  Waiting.

We are open to your Spirit.  Speak into our hearts, Lord and give us the courage to live out what you speak to us.  In your Son’s precious name.  Amen.

 

Jesus the Healer

 

Probably one of the more frequent questions pastors hear – or maybe I should say – one of the most frequent questions us Christians ask is - “why?”  I’ve been praying that God would heal me… my friend… my family member… but he isn’t answering my prayer, or maybe he didn’t answer my prayer.  Why?  I know God can heal people so why doesn’t he/why didn’t he heal ….. (pause) … you fill in the blank.  Have you ever asked that question of God? 

Have you ever thought that maybe if your faith were just a little stronger, God would answer your prayer?  Or, maybe if you prayed a little bit more; prayed a little bit harder it would have made a difference. Have you ever thought that? Or worse, maybe someone said this to you.

My daughter was diagnosed with a rare pain condition the summer before her 9^th grade year.  She fell and hurt her back – just a fall in a parking lot; a freak accident.  No big deal. Her back healed, but the pain didn’t go away.  It took over her life.  Tracy spent weeks at a time in the hospital.  She missed her whole 9^th grade year of school. The pain never left her.  We prayed for healing.  Our friends prayed for healing.  Our church prayed for healing. 

Finally, after about a year and a half, her back pain went away.  But it moved to her stomach and for a year, she struggled with intense abdominal pain. More tests.  More medical procedures.  More hospital stays. We prayed and prayed.  Finally, the pain in her stomach went away. But her struggle didn’t stop there. She has had a migraine – a daily chronic headache as they are called, ever since.  She’s 37 now. It never leaves her.  At times it’s crippling. 

So you can imagine that as I planned my sermon for today, these healing miracles caused me to pause. 

Simon’s mother had a fever and Jesus healed her – immediately.  She got up and fixed dinner as if she had never been sick.  And then, after dinner, “all who were sick or possessed with demons” were brought to Jesus.  He cured many and cast out demons. 

I’ve read this passage in Mark many times but this time when I read it, something caught my attention that I guess I never bothered to notice before.  It’s subtle but did you catch it?  “All” who were sick, all who had demons were brought to Jesus.  But… “Many” were healed.  Many were healed.  Many – not all.  Not everyone who was sick; not everyone who was demon possessed was healed. Jesus healed some of them.  Just some.  Obviously he had the ability to heal everyone.  But he didn’t.  He healed many.  He healed some of the people.  But he did not heal everyone.

Now let’s get a good picture of this.  Jesus is just getting started in his ministry.  He’s making a name for himself.  People are flocking to see him.  They’ve heard the news.  Some have see evidence. It’s not just talk. 

People that were sick and invalid are miraculously healed.  People that had emotional and spiritual ailments – demons as scripture calls them – are made whole.  Jesus had a great thing going.  He was a hero. 

Maybe it got too late in the night and he didn’t have time to heal everyone.  Maybe the ones he didn’t heal that night were going to come back the next day.  I think even more people would come the next morning, don’t you? News gets around!  There’s a healer in town.  Jesus had the opportunity for an encore performance.  He was a big draw.  He could make a name for himself as a healer. 

It’s certainly what his disciples expected.  When they get up the next morning, they are upset because he isn’t there.  They think Jesus should be ready for the crowd that will be coming back. Jesus isn’t where they think he should be. Where is he?  In the Greek it says the disciples “hunted” for him. They were frantic.

But. Jesus had gotten up early – while it was still dark. Apparently, he didn’t want others to know he was leaving – that he was going off by himself.  Away from the voices telling him what to do.  Away from those who needed him.  Away from the demands of the world.  He wanted to be alone with God. Jesus left early in the morning by himself to go somewhere alone and pray.  (pause)

"Everyone is looking for you!" the disciples tell him.  I imagine the crowds were already beginning to gather.  The disciples were ready for their leader to do more healing miracles.  Everyone is looking for you, Jesus!  Come on!  It’s sort of like; “Hey, Jesus - you’re on in 2 minutes”.

But after spending time alone; after spending time in prayer with His Father, Jesus has other plans.  He’s not going to do what the others expect him to do.  After his early morning prayer, he chooses to move on.  "Let’s go somewhere else,” Jesus says.  “We need to go to the nearby villages-- so I can preach there also. That is why I have come."   

True, there were more sick people in Capernaum.  People who hadn’t been healed the night before.  People who needed Jesus’ healing touch.  Yet Jesus moves on.  (pause) “All” who were sick, all who had demons were brought to Jesus.  But… “Many” were healed.

When God created the world, he created everything – including humanity in his image. God’s creation was whole; it was healthy; it was perfect.  God created shalom –wholeness, well-being, peace.  There was no brokenness, no sin no heartache no disease.

Jesus came to restore shalom to God’s creation – to bring God’s kingdom to earth.  Jesus came to bring healing and restoration to creation.  Jesus’ healing touches the whole person – the physical, the mental, the spiritual.  Jesus’ healing brings wholeness.  The kingdom is all about renewing the shalom God intended for his creation.

Jesus doesn’t just heal the physical.  He heals the demon possessed – he heals the psychological and spiritual sicknesses.  He brings healing and wholeness to our minds and our hearts. The Good News of Jesus Christ – the good news of the Kingdom of God brings psychological, spiritual, and physical healing.

My daughter still suffers from debilitating migraines.  But I’ve seen God bring healing and wholeness into her life in ways I never would have imagined; ways I didn’t even know she needed.  But God knew.  Yes, we continue to pray that God will heal her migraines.  But I know He has already healed her in so many ways.

Where in your life do you need healing?  How do you need God to bring wholeness and well-being and peace into your life?  Perhaps Jesus has already brought healing into your life that you may not have recognized?

I think about all the healing our world needs. We are living in a world that seems more and more broken every day.  Every day the news is full of new injustices, innocent people killed by bombs, families ripped apart by ICE, increased homelessness.  Our communities; our country; the world needs healing.  Do you pray for healing in the world?

Perhaps God is expecting us to be participants in the healing of the world.  Perhaps we are meant to be a part of bringing about the Kingdom of God; bringing healing and wholeness.  Healing occurs in the world when we treat one another the way Jesus treated those who gathered around him. Healing occurs when we focus on God and work toward shalom.

The apostle Paul proclaimed that in Christ we are a "new creation;" the "old has passed away;" behold, "everything has become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

 Jesus stays focused on God by going off alone to pray.  Jesus knows what he needs to do.  It isn’t what his disciples expect him to do.  It isn’t what the crowds want him to do.  Jesus moves on to the next village because Jesus knows his mission. Jesus doesn’t get caught up in the fanfare; the notoriety. He doesn’t get distracted.

Jesus didn’t come to be some miraculous healer that draws large crowds.  He isn’t a sorcerer who heals people’s aches and pains on some whim. Jesus can’t be distracted by the expectations of the crowds or even his own disciples.  He has a message – a life changing message for all who listen.  Jesus came to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God.  Not just to one village.  Not just to Capernaum.  Jesus came to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God throughout Galilee and his charge to his disciples right before his ascension was to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God to all the nations.  That charge extends to us, my friends.

The healing miracles that Jesus performed in Capernaum and other places through Galilee are a taste of things to come – when all creation will be restored to God’s image -  when shalom will be restored.  But for now, we get a taste. 

Jesus’ compassionate healings underscore what the restoration of the Kingdom of God will be like – complete fulfillment of fellowship with God and the shalom of all creation – under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. 

 May we all eagerly wait with great anticipation and hope for the time when Christ will come again, and the Kingdom of God is fully realized.  Amen.