Jesus healing a leper Drawing by Rembrandt van Rijn Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Jesus' Methods of Healing
In Mark 1:40-45 we see Jesus being approached by a leper, who begs Jesus on his knees if he is willing to cleanse him of his awful disease. Jesus 'moved with compassion' (splanchnistheis) responds by touching the man and telling him: “I am willing. “Be clean!” It was an act of compassion akin to the way Princess Diana touched patients suffering from A.I.D.S in the early days of the epidemic of the 1980s and early '90s, when most people would never think of doing such a thing for fear of infection.
Jesus used a variety of methods for healing -
• Laying hands on the person and praying
• By a word of command eg " Be healed! " eg Luke 4:38-39
• Using an agent eg spittle and mud eg Mark1:40-45 "I am willing! Be clean!"
• In response to a person's faith eg Mark 5:34 " Daughter, your faith has healed you!"
• Giving a person an instruction to obey in order to be healed eg Luke 5:14 " Go, show yourself to the priests!"
• Sometimes just by prayer at a distance eg Matthew 8:5-7 The centurion's servant; Mark 7:24-30 Healing of the Syro-Phoenician woman's demonised daughter
Healing As Victory Over the Enemy
Praying for healing is a demonstration of obedience to Jesus' instructions to his disciples and a declaration to the enemy that the kingdom-rule of God has come near. As such it is part of the spiritual warfare being waged both in the natural world and in the heavenlies.