When was the last time the lifegiving power of Jesus was so appealing that you pressed in to touch him? Somewhere between intellectual skepticism and cold formalism, we lose our desperation to receive his healing touch. He is the Lord, of that we have no doubts. We tell his stories to our grandchildren, and we believe them. He orders our lives with his moral light. And we love the compassion he shows to the undeserving. These healing stories are full of potency, larger-than-life, really, and we yearn for them again. Yet, they seem almost storybook-ish, bound up somewhere between history and legend, but lost to us today. Did Jesus intend for healings to be a relic of the past?

Some claim that the miracles were only for the first century, to validate the authority of Jesus’ preaching and ministry. Now that he has died for our sins and risen again, and now that we have the Scriptures, we no longer need the powerful signs validating his authority. Maybe there’s some truth in this. Perhaps that’s the same reason why miracles seem to happen more on the mission field than at home among the believing community. God opens deaf ears in Zimbabwe to get people’s attention, and appears in dreams to Muslims, to point people to Jesus, their Savior. Miracles serve as signs that lead us to God. That is true. Yet, it’s only partially true.

Miracles are more than a sign or headline grabber. Miracles are a compassionate Father acting on behalf of his oppressed children. “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases” (Psalms 103:2–3). The Creator is also your healer; the craftsman is also your repairman. “I am the Lord, who heals you” (Exodus 15:26). God doesn’t just save us so we can escape to some heavenly paradise to come. Jesus has come to break the yoke of our present sufferings so that we can enter into his fullness now. Christ came to exert his victory over death, sin, poverty, injustice, brokenheartedness, and disease today! “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power” (Mark 9:1).

Jesus is still full of love, and he’s still full of power. He is still drawing all people to himself (John 12:32), revealing the Father’s love (Luke 10:22), and seeking for all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). Jesus still transforms everyone who touches him. Bring your heavy burdens. Bring your suffering and pain. Sometimes he heals immediately, and sometimes he gives more of his presence to face the struggle. I don’t always understand the “why” or the “when” of his healing or lack thereof. I just know he is inviting us to come to him, to trust in him, to touch him and be transformed by him, to seek the fullness of the King in his Kingdom.

Tags: compassion, kingdom, life, healing, miracles, transformation, presence, skepticism, legend, myth, life-giver