Gospel for Saturday of the Sixth Week after Pentecost

St. Matthew 9:18-26 (7/26) Gospel for Saturday of the Sixth
Week after Pentecost

Faith and Wellness ~ Part I: St. Matthew 9:18-26, especially vs. 22:
"...Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, 'Be of good cheer,
daughter; your faith has made you well.' And the woman was made well from
that hour." This pronouncement, "your faith has made you well," occurs many
times in the New Testament, being translated both "made well" and as "saved"
(see in Lk. 7:50). Clearly, the Lord Jesus affirms the significance of
faith for health, even as He declares that faith is essential for eternal
salvation. Given the universality of sickness and death for the human race,
let us take this reading as an opportunity to explore the relationship
between faith and wellness.

Recall that the Lord Jesus sent out the Disciples, commanding them to preach
the Kingdom of Heaven with special attention to healing: "Heal the sick,
cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons..." (Mt. 10:8). God
knows how sick we are in body, soul, and spirit, which is the primary reason
He joined Himself so irrevocably to our race - for our salvation.

Whence comes the ubiquitous fact of sickness? Observe: when Adam and Eve
ate the forbidden fruit in Paradise, the result was death; instant spiritual
death that was followed, in time, by physical death (Gen. 3:8-14,17-20).
Spiritual death, separation from God, assures that Adam, Eve and their
descendants are subject to physical death (1 Cor. 15:22). Disease, pain,
and suffering are now as ubiquitous in human experience as is physical
death. It is because of the "fall" from paradise that we all become sick
physically and that our bodies eventually die.

Christ came to reverse the effects of sin: "I have come that they may have
life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (Jn. 10:10), and this
"life" includes health. Hence, healing of all sorts of physical and
spiritual ailments is prominently a part of Christ's ministry. His healing
reveals that He is God with absolute power over our health. In addition,
recognize that the Lord directed His powers against the source of our
sickness, against death in all its forms, physical, but especially,
spiritual. His primary aim was, and is, to unite all men to God, to
overcome our primary estrangement, to make each one who will, truly and
eternally well!

When the Lord Jesus raised Lazarus, He called forth a man who was four days
dead to reveal His power over death. He did this not long before His own
death. Yet another miracle took place when Lazarus came out of the tomb.
Many people 'believed in Jesus' (Jn. 11:45; 12:11). By His power to raise
the dead, He awoke faith, demonstrating His earlier words: "Most assuredly,
I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has
everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from
death into life" (Jn. 5:24). As He went to Jerusalem and voluntarily
embraced death, He "trampled down death by death." Life, true Life, cannot
die! And Beloved, believing in Jesus, we shall not perish eternally!

Believing in the Lord Jesus is the necessary key to healthy life in the full
sense of the word. But what does it mean to believe? Please make a clear
distinction between "believing that" and "believing in." It is one thing to
believe that Jesus raised Lazarus from the tomb. It is far greater to
believe in Jesus Who raised Lazarus, in Jesus Who defeated death by death,
in Jesus Who offers Life to all. The issue is simple: "Do I trust Him to do
that for me?"

St. Paul declares that "whatever is not from faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23). To
believe in Jesus Christ enables one to act against one's own doubt, inaction
and sin. The woman in today's Gospel "believed in" the Lord and acted. Her
faith resulted in her receiving wellness (Mt. 9:22). The ruler "believed
in" the Lord and acted. His faith resulted in his daughter receiving life
(vs. 25). Would you be well? Would you overcome sickness and death?

Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of life, Thou Son of the
living God.