The Healer's Touch Part 5: The Cure

"...your faith has made you well; go in peace.” – Luke 8:48

This will be the final post in this series, The Healer's Touch. If you haven't read the whole series, I really encourage you to do so!

Part 1: The Crowd
Part 2: The Women

Part 3: The Healing
Part 4: The Question

As we get things started in Part 5, I want to remind us that as we look at this story in Luke 8:40-48 of Christ healing the bleeding woman in the crowd, that we are looking beyond the miraculous physical healing that takes place, and seeing how it paints the picture of the miraculous healing Christ can give to our hearts. How he can save us from the penalty of our sin (Romans 6:23).

So with that, lets get started. 

The Cure (Saved by faith) 

He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” – Luke 8:48

What healed this woman? Was it her journey through the crowd? Was it the touching of his robe? Was it something she did? No. It was the power of Jesus that went out and healed her. We see that in Luke 8:44-46. But in 8:48, we see Christ says, "Your faith has made you well." So what healed her? Was it her faith or Jesus? I think the answer to this is not a simple one, and I do not claim to fully understand it. However, as I have been thinking on it, I want to share a connection that I see forming between these two.

Her faith did make her well, as the scripture says, but why? I believe the reason Christ says that her faith has made her well, is because he was the object of her faith. The fact that Christ was the object of her faith, caused her to journey though the crowd and reach for his robe. This woman had tried having faith in herself and others for twelve years. She had faith in physicians, possibly home remedies, maybe even just trusting that if she ignores it, it may go away. However it didn't. It got worse and her situation grew more critical, and that is when her faith changed from herself and others, and turned to God.

Many deal with their sin in the same way. Some ignore it or deny it, having faith that God doesn't exist. Some fight with all their strength to do enough good to counter it, having faith in their good works. Some have faith in someone who can bless them and pronounce them forgiven. These all have one thing in common, the object of their faith is powerless to forgive sin, and powerless to heal their heart.

This woman's faith however, was placed upon the one person that could meet her need. It was placed on Christ. This is saving faith, that by grace is given to us.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:8-10

And what is the result of such a faith, and of such a healing? The God given freedom to go in peace! If you have read Part 2 in this series, taking a look at the woman's condition, you know she was in no way at peace. She was reminded every day that she was unclean and that she could do nothing to stop it. This is the same spiritual state of every person before God saves them. Have you ever felt that in your life? Waking up every day with guilt from the day before, feeling the weight of your sin bearing down on you? Exhausting yourself with your own efforts to find peace and satisfaction, yet nothing gives it?

Then, in that state, the work of God takes place on your life, and you see him for the first time, and the holy glory of God overwhelms you! You see him as the most desirable thing in the world, yet at the same time, the most unobtainable thing in the world because of your sin. Then you look at the cross of Jesus and see within his wounds just how deep God's wrath against your sin is, and at the same time how deep his love toward you is. God came in flesh, lived the sinless life you could not live, died the death you owe, and then overcame the grave to give you the life you do not deserve. That is the beautiful glory of God!

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. – Romans 6:4

That is the love of God, to heal you on the deepest level of your heart, and give you a life both now in this life, and forever in the life to come! Jesus did not come to help you be more moral, or to let you get away with whatever you want, he came to take what was dead and make it alive! He came to give those that will follow him life! So come to him in faith, repent from all that you have tried to satisfy yourself with, realize he is more desirable than anything in this world, then reach out for him and find the healing you have always needed, and then go in peace knowing you have been made new.

It is as if you look up from the broken glass of water that has always left you thirsting for more, to see a never ending waterfall that will quench your every need now and forever. John 4:1-42