“Your faith has made you well.”
Jesus
Is faith a force? Is it a power that we can wield to get what we want? It may seem that way from Jesus’ words above. But digging a little deeper into the context yields a different and rather surprising answer. On four separate occasions, Jesus speaks these words to people who had nothing and were, in the world’s estimation, less than nothing.
In Mark 5, Jesus is on his way to heal the daughter of one of the rulers of the synagogue. A great crowd is following Jesus, pressing in on him from all sides when suddenly, there was a woman. Whose daughter is she? We don’t know who she is or where she’s from. All we know is that she’s been bleeding constantly for twelve years. Go read the account in Luke 8. The doctor himself says in Luke 8:43 that this woman had spent all her money on physicians and no one could heal her. According to the law of Moses, her condition would have left her perpetually unclean and isolated from the worshiping community. Twelve years. No help. But she risked everything to get to Jesus because she knew he could help.
In Mark 10 we read of blind Bartimaeus. He was amongst a crowd of people in Jericho when Jesus passes by. Mark says he’s blind but also a beggar. He lost his sight and now was reduced to begging from people he couldn’t see. But he could hear. And when he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by he begins to make a scene. He calls out loudly, begging the Son of David for mercy. The embarrassed crowd tells him to quiet down. But he won’t relent. He has nothing so when Jesus passes by he has nothing to lose.
In Luke 7 Jesus enters the house of a Pharisee who desires to share a meal with him. They sit down and begin eating but suddenly another person arrives, a notorious woman of the city, who proceeds to attend Jesus with much weeping, kissing of feet, and anointing with oil. The Pharisee sees her, but does he really? He’s busy making judgments in his heart toward her. He’s missing something and Jesus proceeds to explain by comparing their behavior towards him. He trusted in his own superiority and that led him to look down on the woman and not honor Jesus, recognizing him for who he was. The prostitute had nothing but recognized Jesus as the one who was worthy of honor and had the power of forgiveness.
In the fourth scene, ten lepers come out to meet Jesus at a distance in Luke 17. They know who he is and even call him ‘Master’. They ask for mercy and Jesus instructs them to go and show themselves to the priest. A priest was the one who would declare them clean or unclean. As they went, they were cleansed but only one of them, a Samaritan, returned to Jesus to give him praise and thanks. Jesus is astonished and tells the man that his faith has made him well. This Samaritan, a foreigner, who because of his leprosy and his ethnicity, is doubly cut off and without hope, is made well.
Two women – one isolated because of an incurable disease while the other was alienated because of her sin.
Two men – one blind and a beggar, shushed and ignored by the crowd while the other had no hope as a foreigner, his body wasting away from leprosy.
All four were destitute in their own way, either from disease or sin. All four were isolated from the community and could find no relief. Their faith was not a force. It wasn’t a kind of magical spiritual conjuring. No. Their faith had a real living object, the Lord of life, the Lord who offered forgiveness and healing. Faith has no intrinsic power apart from its object. But if our faith rests squarely on the one who spoke all things into existence, we can be confident that he hears and will answer according to his will.
Do we feel our bankruptcy and isolation? Our nothing-ness? These four people may have had nothing in the world’s estimation but they had access to the one who had everything. In a world where many of us have every comfort and convenience and can at once reach for all kinds of medicine and help and resources, has that weakened our faith? Do we understand who Jesus is and what he can do? I want to be like blind Bartimaeus who, when he heard that Jesus had called him, sprang up and came. He sprang! I don’t do much springing now at the age of fifty-two, but spiritually, what would it look like for me to have such a ‘springy’ faith? And look at Jesus’ response! He says, “What do you want me to do for you?” How often do I make faith more complicated than it needs to be? Jesus is right there. Just ask! Here in the example of a blind beggar we see the essence of faith. It’s not in our words or our worth. The essence of faith is an audacious confidence in its object, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Women Studying the Word 