Scripture Reading: Mark 1:40-45, Matthew 8:14-15, Luke 14:1-4, Luke 22:50-51, John 4:46-54
A skin disease, healed. A fever, touched away. A lost ear, quickly replaced. Seemingly chance encounters became life-altering miracles in Jesus’ presence. Power was oozing out of Him, and no one could stop it if they tried, though some certainly did their best.
Sometimes I wonder if, for Jesus, performing miracles was like breathing. Every few moments, my chest expands and contracts, taking in oxygen, transforming it, and putting it out in the world again as a different substance. Jesus inhaled and exhaled, and the blind could see and the lame could walk and the near-dead became fully alive. Lungs breathe because they’re lungs. Jesus heals because He’s the Healer.
So why did He reach out His hand to touch the leper? Why did He touch Peter’s mother-in-law to free her body of fever? Why did He touch the high priest’s servant’s ear rather than simply order it to reattach? We’ve seen how He can speak a storm to stillness or fill a net with fish, all without so much as lifting a finger. But time and time again in the Gospels, Jesus chooses to heal by touch. Why is that?
The story of the leper in Mark 1 gives us a clue. Read again with me the exchange:
Then a man with a serious skin disease came to Him and, on his knees, begged Him: “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”
Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched him. “I am willing,” He told him. “Be made clean.” Immediately the disease left him, and he was healed (Mark 1:40-43).
Do you see it? It’s love. Jesus used touch to heal because of love.
It is the kind of love that looks at an untouchable beggar and is moved with compassion. The kind of love that, with a resounding yes, is willing to enter into our sickness and grief. The kind of love that brims with mercy, that would lay down self and die for literally everyone other than Himself. This is the kind of love only Christ can give. This is the love with which Jesus touched and healed those He came to save.
To be in Christ’s presence is to be changed (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). Sometimes that meant physically. Sometimes—many times—Jesus saw fit to make illness and injury disappear like that storm on the Galilean sea. And we have to assume, for reasons we’ll never understand this side of glory, that sometimes He didn’t. Sometimes He doesn’t. But His presence is no less glorious, no less affecting, no less healing if the wound or ailment remains. Love is who He is. Healing is what He does. It’s how and when He heals that’s the question; and that, like so many other things, we must leave to Him (Isaiah 55:8-9).
But here’s what we do know: He loves us. He loves us with a love that cannot be comprehended by our limited, yet remarkable, brains, with a love that cannot be conquered by anyone or anything, including death itself. Our illness and injury—be it physical, mental, or emotional—is utterly incapable of keeping us from the Savior’s love. This is His promise to us (Romans 8:35-39).
We beg, “If you’re willing, make me clean.” And He always, always answers, “I am willing. Be made clean.”

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60 thoughts on "Christ Heals Illness and Injury"
Lord, if you are willing, heal my eye injury right now. I cannot see out of my right eye, but I am hopeful that this is not the end of my story. You will heal me, in Jesus’ name. Bless me, God, and help me. This cannot and will not be the end for me. I am trusting in you to bring me through.
I needed this tonight. He IS love.
Lord if you are willing, give us a home of our own. A place to raise our family to know and love you. A place to watch our little blessings run and play and grow. We need your power, your blessing.. to allow us to get this home loan. We need you.
About a year ago, the fill-in pastor my church hired while we were in search of a new one preached a sermon about the leper who was touched and healed by Jesus. At that time, I was going through a bad episode of depression, and that sermon really hit home with me. I felt so lonely and unloved, like I’m sure the leper did, and Jesus touched me and is healing me. By God’s mercy and love, I’ve come so far since that year, and reading this devotion reminded me of just how far I’ve come. He’s a good Father.
Lord, if You are willing, make me clean. Cleanse my heart, my soul, and my life from any unrighteousness that breaks communion with You. You are all-powerful, all-wonderful, and an all-loving God. Thank You for reaching out and touching my life and my circumstances each and every day. Continue to make Your presence and Your power known to me.
More on the wonderful works of the Savior. All who came to Him were healed !! .Amen !!
In an environment where physical healing is often misunderstood as one believer having more power or belief than another, this was a great reminder (and teaching point) for me. Jesus heals on his time, his watch, his reasons, but his love remains. The touching part was also revealing, that we as his disciples don’t touch to heal because that gives us more power (which is often believed by the christians around me) but rather we do it out of love. Thanks!
Thank you for another reminder how our ways and our thoughts are not His ways and thoughts. Usually.I add the usually because we have the mind of Christ. But it’s not a snap. Comes through seeking.
Wooow. This is great. Thank you for sharing. Here lately I have been so overwhelmed by how much He really does love us and this topped the cake. Sometimes it’s just the little things that mean so much.
Here’s a part I really loved from the website I shared above, just in case someone wants to read it but doesn’t have the time to read it all:
“As I said, the man had it fixed in his mind that Jesus had to accompany him back to Capernaum to heal his son. Often, we have a preconceived idea of how the Lord must work to solve our crisis. Jesus could have gone with the man and healed the boy in his presence. He did this with Jairus’ daughter when He raised her from the dead (Luke 8:41-56). That would have been more dramatic, but it wouldn’t have developed the man’s faith.
So, instead, Jesus puts the man in a curious dilemma: The man said, “Come!” but Jesus said, “Go; your son lives.” By doing this, Jesus forced the man to believe without a sign. Either he had to doubt the word of the One in whom he had placed all of his hopes for his son’s recovery, or he had to believe Him and go. So Jesus very skillfully drew this man into a deeper level of faith: Faith in Christ’s promise or word.”
That IS really good. Wow. “Blessed is he who believes without seeing.” Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much for sharing this additional information. I love how this part of The Word definitely is doing a “double duty.” Saving a life physically (the son) and spiritually (the man).
Wow so good- Thank you for sharing!
I felt the need to dig a little deeper into the passage in John 4 about Jesus healing the government official’s son.
I wanted to share a page I came across that really helped me to unpack this miracle and understand how it applies to my life:
https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-25-foxhole-faith-saving-faith-john-443-54
Definitely worth the read! :)
Really enjoyed this further reading, thank you so much for sharing Kristi!
Yes! This adds so much to the passage. Great post and additional website! Thank you to the author and to you for this additional insight, Kristi!
That was helpful! Thank you!
Loving this study. It is much appreciated!
This series has been so different from others you have done. Each day I am touched by God in a new way, opening my heart to my Savior in a depth I have not yet known. Thank you so much for these studies.
This is really what I needed to hear. I’ve been struggling with an untreatable and incurable genetic disorder for the last four years, and I just keep having to remind myself that Jesus is always with me, especially when I’m struggling.
Rachel Held Evans has a great chapter on hands in her book Searching for Sunday…a small portions says “The hands that cup together to receive Christ in the bread will extend to receive Christ in the immigrant, the refugee, the lonely, or the sick. Hands plant, and uproot, and cook,and caress. They repair, and rewire, and change diapers, and dress wounds… Hands sanctify all sorts of ordinary find and make them holy. Through touch, God gave us the power to injure or to heal, to wage war or to wash feet. Let us not forget the gravity of that. Let us not forget the call.”
Love this
This is what my heart needed to hear this morning. I am awaiting test results for health issues I’ve been having for he past two months. I know God is using these trials to bring me back to Him. I know He loves me and can heal me if it is His will. I’m also trying to focus on James 1:12, “Blessed is the one who endures trials, because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” Praying for God’s healing today.
Praying with you Tiffany… <3
Lord, touch me today and change me for Your glory. May I bask in Your Presence today, no matter where I am or what I’m doing. Give me a fresh awareness of You. Let my response always be as the three young men in the fiery furnace. Regardless of the answers to my prayers, I will trust in You. Amen.
Amen!
This is beautiful. Exactly what I needed to hear today.
Please join me in praying for healing for my sister, Mary, who is battling an autoimmune disease. Praying Jesus touches her body in a healing/life-sustaining way today, and that she knows new depths of grace and HIS strength in her weakness.
Praying for your sweet sister, Terry.
– Stormye
Jesus could have reached out his hand or spoken one word with those crowds gathered and healed everyone present in one shot. But he doesn’t.
He teaches crowds but heals individually. He meets each person exactly where they are at. And He still does. He reaches out and touches each one of us because He wants to.
Thank you for this study this morning – it has broken down some walls and I have been touched.
“He teaches crowds but heals individually.”
That is a great insight- thank you!
Thank you for sharing. How beautiful that he wishes to touch each of us individually. I think I’ll sit and just contemplate on that for a while. Fills me with a joyful contentedness.
I love what you said about how Jesus teaches crowds but heals individually. Thank you for sharing!
Good morning Ladies, I haven’t read today’s devotional yet, but I ask for your prayers for healing and restoration. A co-worker recently broke her ankle and the next day, her boyfriend was in a bad car accident. He was life flighted to the hospital. He has been in ICU and is in surgery now for a broken hip, pelvic, and neck. I ask for your help to pray that God comforts them in this and future trials. Also for strength, courage, and healing to their mind, bodies, and hearts. Thank you in advance for your prayers.
I really loved this. It’s such a great reminder. “I am willing.” That was what I really needed to hear today.
i never thought of it that way… its so wonderful that God chooses to heel with a touch because he loves us no matter what we do, where we go, and what we think.
So beautiful. I love that he can change anything in an instance. Healing is not only what he does, but healing is who Jesus is. I am so thankful that he is still our healer today.
http://www.in-due-time.com
Home sick again with a fever/cold…just when I think I get better, I get sick again. You would think after five years of suffering from dizziness from a concussion, I would be used to it. I’m just tired of it now. I want it to stop so I can live life and not have to worry about it. Thankfully I have a new physical therapist who gave me exercises that are going to help a lot…but now that I’m sick with fever/cold, I can’t really do them… but God is still here and I know He has a plan. Just have to keep asking Him to heal me, and trusting that He knows what to do.
Continuing to pray for you in this, Sarah. Believing the Lord can move in big ways in your life and bring healing and peace.
– Stormye
I don’t know of any place in scripture where it says Jesus didn’t heal someone. Everywhere I read about healing in scripture, He heals them all.
I think you are correct that the New Testament does not speak much of Jesus not healing but, I agree with today’s devo that it is very likely. (see Matthew 13:58)
Agreed. I guess it’s more that our unbelief hinders.
Paul is one example of Jesus not healing or removing an affliction. 2 Corinthians 12. 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
And he says why he thinks the Lord hasn’t removed it in his particular case.
I know often times people point to Paul crying out to God to remove the “thorn from him”. Yet God doesn’t. He tells him that despite that “His grace is sufficient”. Many debate whether the “thorn” was a physical affliction or spiritual but either way God out right tells him he won’t remove it.
That’s the main example I recall & I think it’s a powerful one. That even if God doesn’t heal when we ask (for whatever reason) he tells us His grace is sufficient for us.
The gospels describe quite a lot of individuals who Jesus healed, but in all the travels that Jesus did and in all the crowds that followed him and listened to him, there must have been a lot more people who were also sick, dying and injured who were not healed. I know God heals physically at times, and I have seen his miraculous healing in my own father. But I have also learnt that God is more concerned with healing and rescuing souls, transforming lives from the inside out for all of eternity. So while I continue to pray and ask God to heal physically, I also need to accept that His ways are higher than mine and He alone can see the big picture and know what it will take to bring about eternal healing. I have to remind myself regularly that so much of the Bible shows suffering as a means to grow us closer to God. And as hard as that is to accept, it is also what I see to be true – in my life and in so many people around me.
Thank you Lord for your deep and enduring love and compassion that desires me, a sinner, to walk closely with you, the holy, perfect God of Love.
Something really stood out to me in yesterday’s and today’s verses.
A lot of times when Jesus chose to heal publicly, it caused the Pharisees to be angry and start plotting His death.
Little did they know that Jesus knew exactly what He was doing and knew what was going to happen. The Father’s will was that Jesus would bare our sickness and carry our sorrows on the cross.
I’m amazed that, right when physical healing was the task at hand, spiritual healing and redemption was always the goal.
What wondrous love is this.
Just wondering who the author was of today’s message. As I take notes I like to give credit.
Thank you for the message today. They always help to open my eyes to something I may have missed in reading myself.
Today’s message was authored by several people and we couldn’t give any one person credit. I hope that helps!
– Stormye
I’m confused why the version in our reading says Jesus was indignant. And the footnote mentions compassionate. Indignant is a negative emotion having to do with anger. That’s a far cry from a positive emotion of compassion. The two aren’t anywhere close to being similar. What am I missing here??
This is an interesting question. I found this article which talks about the differences in different translations of this verse: http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/bible-interpretation/does-the-gospel-of-mark-reveal-jesus’-anger-or-his-compassion/
I also wonder if it’s similar to John 11:33 when Jesus sees the people weeping at Lazarus’ grave. Some translations say he was deeply moved, while others say he was angry. I have always taken that to mean Jesus was angry at the situation, at death and the impact it was having on people, at the effect of sin on the world, but that he was moved with compassion for the people as he witnessed their grief. This could be the same in the story of the leper. Jesus is angry at the disease but filled with compassion for the man.
I’m not sure but that might be a possible explanation. I’ll be interested to hear what others think.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=/amp/s/bbhchurchconnection.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/was-jesus-angry-or-compassionate-according-to-mark-141-the-niv-vs-nlt/amp/&ved=0ahUKEwjP-OKVr8TTAhVm64MKHYl5BJoQFghVMAg&usg=A
I found a similar article as Lesley. One commentator stating that Jesus responded initially with indignation because of “the terrible plight of people in the sin-ravaged world.” The other commentator believes that the translation use of “indignation” is simply wrong.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=/amp/s/bbhchurchconnection.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/was-jesus-angry-or-compassionate-according-to-mark-141-the-niv-vs-nlt/amp/&ved=0ahUKEwjP-OKVr8TTAhVm64MKHYl5BJoQFghVMAg&usg=AFQjCNGSM1jtRPRpJ0mAE9Hh9KbPmfAVyA&sig2=4HGzqmbIZnzWEajj8LKAAA
I agree with Lesley. I too had to stop and look up the word indignant when I was reading the passage the first time. One definition of Indignant is feeling or showing anger or annoyance at what is perceived as unfair treatment. I think this can mean that Jesus was upset at what this man was going through and that his illness led him to be treated unfairly by others and he was deeply moved (compassionate) for the man.
I agree with both replies. In fact, our Easter message talked about Jesus being moved. I had never realized (or heard) that the actual translation is outraged. He was filled with compassion for his friends but he was outraged at sickness and death. Jesus came that we might have life and life abundant. I think his presence IS life, perhaps indignant that the enemy would cause sickness and disease where LIFE was present?
It be helpful to consider the idea that sickness is evil. When he encountered the sick, he saw evil’s attempt to undermine people’s lives. When he touched them, he overcame evil.
That is interesting! My translation (NASB) doesn’t use that word.
Yep , I thought the same thing and I think those are good explanations ladies. Thank you!
As a nurse, this speaks right to my heart. Today’s devo encourages me to see my patients as people who Christ loves – and no matter their illness or suffering (or even my suffering).. nothing is capable of keeping us from the love of our Savior.
Amen!
Amen.