Thursday December 15 – Jerusalem

It was early in the morning we were about to load up and head to see my grandma. We awoke, got ready and all of us walked out to get in dad’s car and head out. Except there was no car. Because of the oil bust in Oklahoma, businesses failed, and jobs were scarce. My dad had lost his job and was broke. This put him behind in his car payments. In the night, after he had picked me and my two older brothers up for supper and we had all come back to his apartment, someone came in the darkness after we’d gone to bed and repossessed his car. Somehow, he got the car back and we left after about a four-hour delay.

When we got to my grandma’s house after the ten-hour drive, it was much, much later than usual. I slept on the sofa bed at my grandma’s, and I remember staying up late as my dad and grandma spoke in hushed tones as he asked her for money to help get back on his feet. My grandma did what she could to help him out. Her help got my dad back on his feet again. I remember that he needed more than just bank account support. He needed emotional support. I think he had been embarrassed and emasculated when we all saw that his car had been repossessed. The visit with my grandma, my dad’s mom, helped to restore that a bit. Her money did more than just meet physical needs. Her encouragement lifted his spirits too.

Jesus did more than just provide some physical or material benefit for us. Through His atoning work on the cross, it became possible for us to be reconciled back to a right relationship with the Father. He heals our souls from the fracture that sin causes and then provides what we need to live a life of obedience.

In Jerusalem: The Messiah would perform signs of healing.

Isaiah 35:5-6 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy, for water will gush in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.

Isaiah’s 35th chapter promises that God will come to His people and then His people would come to His house. While there is a promised spiritual healing through these words, there is also the prophetic understanding that the Messiah will come and perform these signs of healing.

Jesus did come and did physically heal people. He also comes to remove barriers that keep us from being whole in Him. In this sense, He comes to reconcile us back to himself. Paul writes that “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ.” (2 Cor 5:19).

Christ came so that we might come to God the Father through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. Through Christ, we were delivered from our sins, made whole, healed. Just like the physical healing of the lame, Christ made it possible for us to walk spiritually. These miraculous healings take place because of the ministry of reconciliation that Jesus shares with us.

Jesus did come and heal. And He is still working to bring us to spiritual wholeness.

Jesus replied to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news, and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.” Matthew 11:4-6

Father, thank you for the healing that I received in Jesus. He brought a spiritual healing that I was desperately in need of and then He made it possible for me to be able to come to you. Thank you for the spiritual wholeness available to me through Jesus. Amen