Sickness, Health, And Healing

II. THEY RAN TO JESUS:

(Verse 55), “. . . ran about that whole country and began to carry here and there on their pallets those who were sick, to the place they heard He was.” Get the picture? They ran about that entire region—Capernaum, Bethsaida, Chorazin, Magdala, and the countryside—to bring their sick to Jesus. My brothers and sisters, we who have a personal relationship with Jesus; we who know Him and have experienced His power in our lives are called to do the same. We need to be running throughout Decatur, Forsyth, Mt. Zion, Elwyn, Harristown, and Niantic bringing our friends and loved ones to the One we know can help them and make them whole.

You might know that the word “run” would appeal to me, but I was really touched this week as I studied this passage and discovered that the word used here for “run” implies prompt obedience. These people were prompt to obey the Spirit of God by running to bring their hurting friends to Jesus.

Are we always prompt in our obedience to the Holy Spirit? Scripture declares in I Corinthians 12:3b, “. . .no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.’” In our hesitation, procrastination, or tardiness to obey the Holy Spirit, we can harden our hearts to the point where it becomes extremely difficult if not impossible to come to Jesus. The writer to the Hebrews points this out in Chapter three verses 7, 8, and 12, “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today if you hear His voice, 3:8, “Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me; as in the days in the Wilderness. . . .’ 3:12, “Take care, brothers and sisters, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the Living God.” For Jesus to touch us and make us whole, we need to be quick to obey Him the instant His Spirit moves within our hearts. They recognized Jesus, they ran to Jesus, and finally. . . .

III. THEY RESPONDED TO JESUS BY FAITH:

Verse 56, “Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside,

They were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured.” We mentioned Mary Magdalene and the Gadarene Demoniac; but, along with His healing in the previous chapter of Mark the woman with the issue of blood was also healed. Remember her testimony and act of faith in Chapter 5:27-29? “After hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. For she thought, ‘If I just touch His garments, I will get well.’ Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.” Now here once again in our text we read, “. . . .they were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured.”

It’s not just enough to recognize intellectually that Jesus can help us, we must demonstrate our obedience through an act of faith. Those who touched Him were made whole. But who were made whole? How sick were they? Just what diseases afflicted them? Look with me for a moment at that word “sick” in verse 56. There are several terms for disease, sickness, and illness in the New Testament, but this one comes from a group of words whose meaning is all inclusive. It refers to suffering from weakness of any kind, including: physical, psychosomatic, emotional, economic, and relational to name just a few.