Healing and the Compassion of God

This summer in our worship gatherings we are exploring parts of Matthew’s gospel. One thing we notice in Matthew is how many times Jesus healed people. People came to him with various forms of ailments and afflictions, and he healed them. Matthew Skinner, a scripture scholar who has taught extensively on Matthew, says that the public ministry of Jesus was about “spreading mercy and compassion.” As more people witnessed Jesus for themselves, they recognized him as a healer. 

The healing actions of Jesus were inseparable from the arrival of God’s kingdom. Jesus announced that the “kingdom of heaven” had come near (Matt 9:35; 10:7). This was the good news that he proclaimed. This was his main message. The church proclaims that the kingdom--or reign--of God has arrived and will one day be complete. In Matthew, healing was a sign that the reign of God had arrived. 

But what does this mean for us and our understanding of healing? Each week in church we pray for people on our prayer list, asking that God would grant them healing in body, mind, and spirit. And we never have a shortage of people who need healing. We might understand healing like this: healing is something we can pray for and work for. When we--or people we know--receive healing, we can rejoice. But we also know that because of the kingdom that Jesus announced, an even greater healing lies up ahead. 

We trust this greater healing because of the resurrection of Jesus. On Easter Sunday, God raised him from the dead. And his body, while still bearing scars from Good Friday, was transformed. He was risen. And he was understood to be the “first fruit” of a later resurrection of those who have died (1 Cor 15:20). In other words, we see in the resurrected Jesus a preview of what’s to come. Every example of healing in the Bible points to the larger healing that Jesus came to bring. And one day, the entire cosmos will be healed. 

When we experience pain, undergo sickness, or carry the weight of suffering, we may question the goodness of God. We, like the Psalmist in the Bible, can cry out “How long?” In these moments especially, we can remember the promises of God and the goodness of the gospel. The compassion of God is immense beyond what we can imagine, and on it we can place our trust. 

-Pastor Justin