Made Whole
Made Whole? What does that even mean?
I was scrolling through tik tok the other day and was stopped right in the middle of my scrolling by a very intriguing concept. We see time and time again in the Bible, Jesus would go to people, and when the sick touched him, they were healed.
Take, for example, Jesus went to the tomb of Lazarus to raise him from the dead. He walked up to the paralyzed man and called for him to “stand up, pick up your mat, and walk,” As the word of Jesus and his miracles began to rise up, he and his disciples were met with lines of people that needed healing. There are other instances even with the disciples such as Peter walking on water, and feeding five thousand. We aren’t unaware of all the miracles and accounts of Jesus’ miracles. However, the statement that followed was what caught me.
In reference to the sick woman in Matthew 9:20-22: when Jesus went to people he would perform miracles, but the woman touched Jesus and was made whole.
When he’s got to come to you, you’ll get your miracle. But when you pursue Him, he will fix it all.
Compare this, Jesus went to the tomb of Lazarus and raised him from the dead, but the woman pushed through the crowd to try to get even a glimpse of Jesus to try and heal her. She went to him, touched the smallest piece of his clothing, and Jesus called out to her. He commented on her faith and then told her she was made whole.
What is beautiful in Matthew 9 is you are met with both of these concepts in the span of only a few verses. Starting in verse 18, “While He was saying this a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, ‘My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.’ Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.”
We see here the synagogue leader going to Jesus calling him to come with him to perform a miracle and heal his daughter. Now here is where we get into the other half of our narrative.
Verse 20: “Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.’ Jesus turned around and saw her. ‘Take heart daughter,’ he said, ‘Your faith has healed you.’ And the woman was healed at that moment.”
The woman went out in faith, having faith that he by believing and seeing Jesus, she had the potential to be healed. Far better than being physically healed Jesus called out her faith and stated BECAUSE of her faith she was healed, not because of any fancy miracle.
We see this same situation in Mark 2 starting in verse 1:
“A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to the. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, ‘Son your sins are forgiven…. get up, take your mat and go home.”
What would it look like for us, as Christians, rather wait for Jesus to show up in our lives to perform a miracle, to go to Jesus and be made whole?
What if we had the belief of the bleeding woman or the boldness of the friends of the paralyzed man? How would the way we live our lives reflect others if we pursued Jesus wholeheartedly?
I think it can be hard for us, we want things to happen at the snap of a finger. We know and may have witnessed a miracle, but instead of waiting for one, we go to Him, the God of miracles, and be made whole.
Honestly, for me, I’ve been in a busy season with work, yet there are things I’m continually praying for yet I’m just hoping for a miracle. I’ve been distracted in my Bible time, and less motivated to sit and be with Jesus. This comment, stemming from a tik tok led to me hopping on a plane to Arizona for a weekend to reset and refocus. Taking time to intentionally pursue Jesus in areas of my life. I’m now finishing writing this on the plane, looking over the most beautiful sunset, with Jesus giving complete clarity in some areas of my life.
Now I’m not saying to just catch the next flight out of town, but take the time in your quiet times to pursue Jesus. Even faith as small as a mustard seed, like the bleeding woman, can move mountains.
TRUST THAT FRIEND!
As we are heading into our 3rd year of ministry with you all our team has thought long and hard about the mission and vision of Boldly Seeking. We started this ministry as a way to cultivate a community to walk in bold faith. We spent the time asking hard questions and seeking some even tougher answers. We have had some incredible writers that challenged viewpoints and perspectives. We have published 4 studies focusing on identity, Bold faith in the context of the world, relationships, and all of its messy stages, and dive deep into the very heart of the hope we have in eternal life, the birth of Jesus. All of this boiling into an extreme growth in our community than we were expecting.
When we sat down for an all-day planning meeting we took time to feel where God was leading us. Over the past 2 years, we have done a lot of cultivating and sowing seeds for our ministry, and we have felt a calling that now is the time to start growing our community. Moving our ministry from a ministry in writing to a ministry in action, and to…
Grow a community to further the kingdom
Being made whole has been something that’s been on my heart for a while. It’s in the journey of Boldly Seeking I found wholeness in Jesus after pursuing him at 100mph and ready to grow and further His kingdom. So that is what we are going to do together, we are going to grow, and through action, continue to shine the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.
Now, we aren’t steering away from the blog, we will still be here weekly, but we are getting “out of the office” a bit more. WE WANT TO SEE YOU! We are working up a lot of cool things to get out into the community. To connect you all together, and grow together.
We are excited and ready for what Jesus is going to do, and we hope you are too!
