Healing 101 — Charles Price

Jesus’ Diverse Ways of Healing

For example, in Matthew 8 and 9, you've got, in those two chapters, you've got ten distinct miracles of Jesus before. And when you look at those two chapters, you find that the way he performed the miracles were quite different.

Healing Through Touch and the Spoken Word

For instance, a man came to him who was a leper, and Jesus reached out his hand, it says, and touched the man, and said, be clean, and immediately he was clean. It's interesting Jesus, by the way, always touched lepers, because nobody ever touched lepers.

They have this contagious disease, don't come close, you'll always touch lepers, you know this. But then a centurion came and said, I've got a servant who's sick at home. And Jesus said, I will come and to him, no, I don't deserve to have you come into my house or under my roof, just say the word and my servant will be healed.

And he says, Jesus marveled at his faith, but when the man got home, his servant had been healed that very moment. This time he didn't touch the man, he didn't even see the man, just spoke the word, and the man was healed.

Forgiveness and Healing Without Physical Contact

And then a man was brought to Jesus, a paralytic, and Jesus spoke to him, he didn't touch him, he just said, your sins have been forgiven, get up and walk, and the man jumped up and began to walk. And then he was going to a house where a girl had died, and somebody pushed with a crab, touched his thumb, he turned and didn't touch me, and there was an embarrassed looking woman who said, I did, but I've been bleeding for 15 years, and he just stopped.

He didn't touch her, he didn't speak to her, she touched him. Now we read these, we don't think twice about these, because it's in the New Testament, that's the way it is. But if they were like we tend to be today, it may be that when Jesus had left the area, and these local people got together and said, you know, when Jesus was here, he healed me, and somebody else said, well, that's amazing, he healed me as well.

And the first person says, you know, when he touched me, laid his hands on me, it's as though I felt the power of God coming down his arm through his fingers into my body. Did you feel that when he touched you?

And the second man says, what do you mean when he touched me? Did he say he healed you? Well, sure he did. Well, you know, when he touched you, when he healed you. Well, he didn't touch me. What do you mean he didn't touch you?

That's how he heals people, he touches people. No, he does not. He just speaks the word. You know, he said to me, get up, I haven't walked for years. He said, get up, and there was such authority in his voice, I jumped up.

Didn't you hear that authority when he spoke to you? He said, but he didn't speak to me, he just touched me. I don't think you were really healed. I think you're a psychosomatic because he touched you, you know, you imagine.

The Danger of Dividing Over Healing Methods

So if they're like we are, they probably formed two different churches. One forms the taxi church over here. And they meet every Sunday and sing their favorite songs. You know, he touched me to get a touch from the Lord.

And down here, they form the Church of the Word. And they meet every Sunday and they sing their favorite hymn, Speak, Lord, in the stillness, and please make sure it's still while we wake up. And they form two separate groups on the basis of their experience of Christ.

And then somebody else comes into the area who's also been healed by Jesus, and they both hear about it. So they go to visit his house to invite him to come to their church. And knock on the door, and the man from the taxi church says, I understand you've been healed by Jesus.

Well, that's right. That's marvelous. You know, we have a church here in this town, and we'd love you to come on Sunday night and share your testimony about how Jesus touched you and you were healed. Well, thank you very much.

I loved it. Did you say about how he touched me? Yeah, when he healed you. No, he didn't touch me. And the second man says, excuse me, we have a true church in this town as well. And we'd love you to come and share your testimony with us on Sunday night when he spoke to you, the authority you heard in his voice.

Well, thanks. I'd love to come. Did he say when he spoke to me? What did he ask? Well, he didn't actually speak to me. That wasn't how he healed me. First one says he didn't touch you. That isn't how he healed me, no.

Second one says he didn't speak to you. That isn't how he healed me. What'd he do? Well, he did what he always does as far as I know. What'd he do? He just stopped in my eye. He didn't spit in your ear.

Jesus Heals Beyond Human Patterns

Actually, there's an interesting story. It's in Mark chapter eight. I'm sidetracking here, but let me just read to you. Mark 8, 22. It's what it says. They came to Bethsaida and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.

Notice, they did not ask Jesus to heal him. They begged Jesus to touch him. Because his friends actually were from the touchy church. That's what they asked Jesus to do. Touch him. If you just touch him, just bring your finger to Jesus.

Touch him, just touch him and he'll be healed. And the moment you try to lock Jesus into a pattern or lock God into a pattern, he'll break out of it. I love this story because it says that he led the blind man.

They went outside the village. I imagine the crowd said, oh, we're going to see a miracle. And the crowd probably gathered around. As Jesus stood in front of the blind man, the crowd went quiet. We're going to see a miracle.

This man had been blind from birth. We've known him all his life. We're going to see a miracle. And suddenly in the silence, they heard. And he spat in his eye. And he probably formed a church called the Church of the Holy Spittle.

They probably sang every Sunday, spittle of a living God, fall afresh on me. And the next time they met a blind man, John chapter 9. Again, as the crowd around went quiet, they heard. Oh, this is where he left the blind man.

He spat and missed, land on the floor, leant down, mixed in the clay, made of the clay. It went whoop into the side, whoop into that eye. And so go and watch in the pool of Siloam. If you've ever been to Jerusalem, you've probably visited the pool of Siloam.

It's not the place to send a blind man. It stands in a very rickety step. But just in case you think we've got the pattern, we've got the program. If we spit in people's eyes, they'll see. Or if Jesus would just spit in his eye, just spit.

The Healer, Not the Method

You see, the issue was never how any of these folks were healed. The only issue was who. With Siloam.