JESUS IS OUR HEALER

JESUS IS OUR HEALER
(Homily for Wednesday 16 January, 2019)

The liturgy of today presents us with the healing aspect of Christ missionary activities. Healing, no doubt dotted Christ earthly ministry. This is in fulfillment of part of Christ mission statement that He came to proclaim liberty to captives, to give sight to the blind, to set the downtrodden free…”

Mind you that healing and miracles are part of Christ missionary activities but not the be all and end all of what Christ did. When we take a closer look at the healing that took place during the time of Christ and what is happening today especially among the so-called "self-acclaimed healers" and "powerful preachers" as well as the attitude of their clients, one may begin to question the authenticity of such dramatization of healing and miracles in the name of spiritual exercise.

There is indeed a sharp contrast to what Christ did and what is happening today. Can healing or miracle take place without faith and prayer among those seeking for them? It is a big question that needs some clarifications.

In the first place, when we turn the pages of the gospels, we will discover that one thing that characterizes the healing miracles that Christ performed is the faith of those who came to Him seeking for healing. In a real sense of the word, faith is the underlying factor that brings about healing and miracle.

Almost 80% of those that Christ healed were sent home with the following words “Go your faith has saved you! Go your faith has made you free! Indeed, I have never seen such a faith in the whole of Israel etc.! This is a sharp contrast to what is happening today. It is quite unfortunate that many today have abandoned their faith, running from pillar to post in search of miracle and healing, thereby end up becoming victims in the hands of those who have turned healing ministry to money making venture and business, using the name of God as a cover-up.

Our society today is littered with so many healing and miracle centers because of this unnecessary quest for miracles and healing even without an atom of faith behind such quest and yearnings. Just take a statistic you will discover that healing and miracle have been so much bastardized today that they are now being seen as a showcasing of "who has more powers than the others" among the so-called healers and powerful preachers thereby turning miracle and healing to social entertainment and show, taking the advantage of the vulnerabilities of their clients as a means of enriching themselves.

This was not the case during the time of Christ. What brought about these healing centers in every nook and cranny of our society is people’s lack of faith. Many people today with little or no faith believe so much in the saying that goes thus “seeing is believing no more faith comes through hearing (Rom 10:17)” they want to see where it is happening live and direct with little or no effort to ask the source of powers behind all these miracles and purported healings.

Christ condemned this attitude among the people of His time who were so busy looking and demanding for signs and wonders (Mt 16:4)! I wonder how Christ will address the people of our generation with these crazy quests for miracles. This is exactly what Christ foresaw and He lamented “When the son of comes, will He find faith on earth?” (Lk 18: 8)

The gospel of today presents us with the people who came to Christ bringing their problems to Him and with faith that goes with it. Majority of them were sick people and they received their healing because of their faith in Christ.
Again, Christ in the gospel of today made us understand that we must use our God-given talents to work for the common good.

In the gospel, the people were in search of Christ because He has something to offer. When the disciples found Him, they said “everybody is looking for you” in His response, Christ said, “Let us go elsewhere, to the neighboring towns so that I can preach there too, because that is why I came.” Each and every one of us has something that God has endowed us with, let us always pray for His grace to discover these talents and gifts so that we can use them to enrich not only ourselves and our families but our society and our Christian communities.

Let Us Pray: Lord Jesus Christ, give me the grace to approach you with faith always and may your healing power be made manifest upon me. Amen.