Breaking Expectation Barriers In Healing

We all know that faith plays an important role in healing. We see that in Matthew 9:29 where Jesus told the blind men, "According to your faith will it be done to you," then He preceded to heal them. We see it in Mark 10:52 where Jesus told blind Bartimaeus, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." We see it again in Luke 8:48, where He told the woman with the issue of blood, "Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well."

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that faith in important in physical healing. But just how well do we understand this miracle-working faith? For instance, who is it that needs to have faith? Is it the person praying for the sick? Or is it the sick person? Or is it friends and relatives of the sick person who encourage them to get healing prayer? Who is it that needs to produce this miracle-working faith? Phrasing it another way: who's faith has to engage to get the healing?

As far as I can tell, the answer is "any of the above." It can be the faith of the person praying, or it can be the faith of the sick person, or it can be the faith of friends or relatives.

The Bible does not explicitly spell this out, but Jesus Himself exercised faith when He healed the sick. We see a hint of this in John 11:41-42, where Jesus prayed, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me." Jesus prayed that prayer just before He raised Lazarus from the dead. He was saying something along the lines of, "Father I have faith that You are going to do this miracle through me, because You always do miracles when you send me to pray for someone." Jesus demonstrated a level of faith just by praying that prayer. Then (of course) He demonstrated more faith by doing the miracle that He prayed for, by raising Lazarus from the dead.

We see another reference to Jesus' faith in Matthew 17. The disciples attempted to cast a demon out of an epileptic boy, but they were unable to do so (Matthew 17:16). So the father brought the boy to Jesus and Jesus cast the demon out. (This is the same demon that the disciples could not cast out.) The disciples asked Him why they could not cast it out, and Jesus replied (verse 20), "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you."

Let's apply simple deductive reasoning to this passage. We are told that this type of demon won't come out unless the person praying has faith. Jesus prayed and the demon came out. Therefore that shows that Jesus exercised faith in order to get rid of the demon. Jesus personally had faith that God would heal when He prayed for sick people.

However, there are also examples in the Bible where Jesus did not engage His faith for healing on a person's behalf. There are cases where the sick person supplied their own faith, then they were healed. The first one that comes to mind is the woman with the issue of blood from Mark 5;25-34. Jesus did not set out to heal her. He was walking through a crowd, moving from point A to point B. He was not explicitly aware of this woman or of her need, but the woman was very aware of Jesus. Verse 23 tells us, "For she said, 'If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.'" She had faith that if she could just touch Jesus, she would be healed. Verse 22 tells us that she acted on that faith, "She came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment." Then Jesus felt the healing virtue go out of Him, which prompted Him to ask, "Who touched Me?" The woman became afraid and told Jesus the whole story.

The fact remains that Jesus was totally unaware of her when she acted in faith to reach out and touch Him. He was not lending His faith to hers, she was healed completely independently of His faith. Look at what Jesus said to her in verse 34: "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.'"

That passage shows us that the faith of the sick person can bring them physical healing. There are other passages that show the same thing. For instance, Paul perceived man had faith to be healed in Acts 14:8-15: "8 And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother's womb, who had never walked. 9 This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, 10 said with a loud voice, 'Stand up straight on your feet!' And he leaped and walked."

Let's look at one more passage about a sick person's faith: Blind Bartimaeus called out to Jesus for healing Mark 10. Everyone told him to be quiet, but he was convinced that Jesus could heal him and kept calling out to Jesus to help him. Jesus asked him what he wanted Him to do for him. The blind man replied, "I want to receive my sight." Now look at verse 52. "'Go,' said Jesus, 'your faith has healed you.' Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road." That is a case where the person was healed because he had enough faith to ask Jesus to heal him. His faith activated to a higher level when he interacted with Jesus, and as a result he received his healing.

What about the faith of others (friends and relatives)? Do you remember the paralyzed man who was let down through the roof in Mark 2:1-7? Did you notice that the story is not told from the perspective of Jesus or from the perspective of the sick person. It is told from the perspective of the friends who brought the man to Jesus for healing. Look at verses 3 to 5:

3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. 4 And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.

5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven you.'

Who's faith was it that moved Jesus to heal the man? Look carefully at verse 5. It says "their faith," not "his faith." E.g., the faith of the friends who brought the man to Jesus is the faith that caused this man to be healed.

Let's look at another example from Luke 8:43-48 and Matthew 8:7-8,13. It is the story of the Centurion who wanted his servant healed. Have you ever wondered why this man did not want Jesus to come to his house to heal the sick person? Let me explain the reason. The Centurion was a Roman (a gentile), but he knew and respected Jewish laws and tradition. He knew that if a Jewish person entered into a Gentile's home, it would make that person ceremonially unclean. He did not want to ask the healing Rabbi to do anything that might "defile" Himself under Jewish law, he just wanted his servant (who was also his dear friend) to be healed.

I believe the Centurion was a very practical man, so He looked for a practical solution. He found one that would to "work" for everyone--he could ask some Jewish elders to bring a message to Jesus for him, asking Jesus to heal the sick servant. Jesus did not need to physically come into the house where the sick man is and become ceremonially unclean, He could just speak the healing command. That way everyone "wins" under the Jewish law--the servant is healed, the Rabbi doesn't defile himself by making Himself unclean. The Centurion was just trying to find a win-win way to get his servant healed. It never occurred to him to doubt that Jesus could heal from a distance, and that is where the faith entered in.

Jesus recognized and rewarded that faith. Look at Matthew 8:13: "Then Jesus said to the centurion, 'Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.' And his servant was healed that same hour."

Let's look at one more faith example, the faith of a relative obtaining healing for her family member. There are several we could choose from, but lets look at the Canaanite mother in Matthew 15:22-28. This woman's daughter suffered terribly and she wanted Jesus to help her. The disciples tried to send her away, but she refused to give up and kept crying out after them for help. They tell Jesus (verse 23) "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." Jesus gives the woman a discouraging answer in verse 24, saying He doesn't minister to foreigners. The woman continues to demonstrate her faith by refusing to give up. She keeps on pressing in and keeps on asking until Jesus finally says to her (verse 28): "'Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.' And her daughter was healed from that very hour."

We see from these examples that faith plays a very big role in healing. The reverse is also true: a lack of faith can play a big role in preventing a miracle from happening. Look at Mark 6:5-6, "5Jesus could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6And he was amazed at their lack of faith."

Imagine that, even the Lord Jesus Himself was limited in what He could do by the lack of faith of those who He ministered to.