Your Faith Has Made You Well

During Jesus' ministry, he heals a number of people of various diseases.  The gospel writers present Jesus healings as the fulfillment of prophecy that will occur along with the restoration of Israel and the coming of the new heaven and new earth.  Most of these prophecies are found in the book of Isaiah where the prophet Isaiah predicts a future for Israel free of strife with agricultural abundance and an acknowledgement from all the nations of God and His laws.  For the gospel writers, these healings are proof that Isaiah's vision is coming to pass as God restores His kingdom and brings Israel out of exile in new, more spectacular exodus.

In response to John the Baptist's question if Jesus was the one who was to come, Luke says in 7:21-23, "In that hour, he (Jesus) healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind, he bestowed sight.  And he answered them, 'Go and tell John what you have seen and heard; the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.  And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.'"

Here Jesus is quoting Isaiah 29, a passage that describes Israel personified as a besieged city.  The city is suddenly relieved by the Lord and the armies opposing it are defeated.  God promises to do wonderful things despite the fact that the hearts of His people are far from Him.  Among these wonders are the healing of physical ailments.  In this passage Jesus is confirming to John the Baptist the glorious vision of Isaiah's new Exodus has begun.

However, Jesus' healings are but a foretaste of the more spectacular reality of the new heavens and new earth.  The people he healed will eventually be afflicted with other ailments.  One days Lazarus will die again.  They are signs that in some ways the new kingdom has come but it is not here its full reality yet.  That must wait for the second coming.   Nevertheless, they do point to the coming reality that Isaiah describes in the last 15 chapters of his book.

We can apply our suzerain-vassal model to Jesus' healings.  As the obedient vassal, Jesus will earn the blessings of the Suzerain.  Among those blessings are fully restored bodies and the new reality that John described in Revelation in which every tear will be wiped away, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

As subjects of the obedient Vassal we too will receive this blessing.  We become subjects of the Vassal by professing our loyalty to Jesus as the Vassal who will earn these blessings.  This abandoning of our own efforts and acknowledging of the Lordship of Christ as our vassal is what is contained in the concept of faith. That is why Jesus tells those He has healed "your faith has made you well."  Jesus heals only those who place their faith in Him, demonstrating they are the subjects of the Vassal and thus inheriting the blessings of the Suzerain.