Miracles Have Consequences

Healings and miracles have consequences. The blind and the lame relied on begging to make money but after being healed, I expect they faced the same challenges we have all faced in finding gainful employment. That was the unwritten questions in the miracles of the gospels, "What happened to those whose lives were dramatically altered? How well did they transition to a whole life?" It isn't always the suffering that needs to be healed but all of the negative emotions that develop trying to deal with the disability like anger, resentment, self-pity, apathy towards others.

Jesus was never afraid of the sick and disabled because he offered them life anew if they were willing to receive it. Some we know were willing. In the case of the Gadarene demoniac, he became the regional evangelist. Mary Magdelene became a faithful follower and supported Jesus' travels. Just by breathing Lazarus was the consummate witness of Jesus' Godhead. But what of the healed lepers, Bartimaeus, those who were blind or crippled of whom the bible says nothing-how did they get along afterward? Were they willing to receive the whole of the healing Jesus offered which was abundant life?

Are we willing to receive it? Much of our true nature is revealed when we are suffering because we have less energy to filter it out. Jesus doesn't just want to cure the suffering, he wants to heal the whole person, the person we are when we are at our worst. He is not afraid of that part of us because he knows how his love can transform us into all we were created to be. That is what we must seek in our prayers for healing. That is the greater part of his miracle in us.