Your Faith Has Healed You

     Many of the daily Gospel readings lately have had to do with Christ healing people. For a while the subject of healing has been on my mind and in my heart, so hearing these various accounts of when and how Jesus healed people’s infirmities has only filled me with more food for meditation, inspiration for prayer, and some lingering questions.
     In today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 9:18-26), a woman who has been hemorrhaging for twelve years has the courage, audacity, and faith to approach Jesus in hopes to touch His cloak, believing that will heal her. What was the response when she touched the tassel of His cloak? “Jesus turned around and saw her, and said, ‘Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you.’”
     I’ve noticed many times that when Jesus cured someone, He often made mention of the strength of the person’s faith or the fortitude of the believers who brought the person in need of healing to Him. I find this interesting, yet rather confusing. God is the author and giver of faith. It’s a gift we cannot create or maintain on our own. Of course there are numerous ways we can either feed or starve the faith we are given, but only God has the power to grant the gift of faith. If that’s the case, then does that mean it was necessary to be a person who was actively growing in faith in order for Christ to grant the desired healing?     
     There are other instances in which this seems that the required pre-existing condition before healing is given is that of strong faith. In Matthew 8:5-17, a centurion asks Jesus to cure his suffering servant. The man asks fully believing in Christ’s power to heal even from afar. Not only that, but he also expresses an understanding of Jesus’ authority and holiness which led Jesus to say to him: “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith,” and later He added, “You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you.”
     How do faith and Christ’s healing apply to our lives today? Many people have experienced miraculous cures of both minor as well as life-threatening illnesses. Have all of these people had strong faith before their infirmities had been removed from them? I don’t know. I do know that there have been many people throughout history who have suffered quite a bit, have had a very strong faith in Christ, and haven’t had the source of their pain taken away.
     Lord, I pray that you will strengthen the faith of all suffering in mind, body, and/or spirit. Help overcome any unbelief that You have the authority not only to forgive sins, but also to take away infirmities. Amen.