344. Friday after Twelfth Sunday after Trinity.
Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;
save me, and I shall be saved. Amen.
Matthew 8, 14-17. And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them. When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
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The prophecy which is here fulfilled by the work of Jesus in healing the sick is found in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, and treats of the Lord’s suffering for our sin. Here we learn that sin is the cause of all our sickness, and that the effect disappears with the cause. For that which the prophet says concerning the taking away of sin the evangelist declares to have been fulfilled by the healing of the sick and the casting out of evil spirits. — Furthermore we here learn that in all that he did Jesus was the suffering Savior. When he heals the sick he enters into their condition and feels their pain as though it were his own. He makes their sickness his own, and suffers it with them, and thus takes it away. For this reason he sighs when confronted by the deaf-mute; and for this reason he weeps at the grave of Lazarus. During the whole of his life on earth he is the Lamb which taketh away the sin of the world; all the time he was afflicted with suffering; and all that he does is done as a propitiation and atonement for our transgressions. “Him who knew no sin, God hath made to be sin for us”; the iniquity of us all was laid on him, and he was made to bear it, and was made acquainted with grief. Therefore it is written also that he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
As a result the righteous wrath of God is taken away, and the power of the evil spirits is broken; so that all who believe in Jesus shall have perfect health forevermore, and shall be rid of all evil. Every defect shall be cured, all bands be loosed, all darkness disappear; all sorrows shall be turned into bliss, every sigh and lamentation be changed into songs of praise. Yet a little while you shall feel the burning fever; yet a little while you shall be tormented by the evil spirits, and with all the saints suffer under the buffetings of Satan; yet a little while you shall be afflicted by corruption and the infirmities of the flesh. But it is only for a little while; and these things befall you, in order that you may be like Jesus in his humiliation, and thereafter in glory; that you may be purged, and then shine as the sun in the kingdom of your heavenly Father; that you may know what it is from which you have been delivered, and prize salvation the more highly. Furthermore, God employs this means of fitting you to be his ambassador to others, and enabling you of your own experience to “speak a word in season to him that is weary.” You are saved, and shall be saved unto eternal glory. It is no longer the chill and the fever of death which courses through your members, even though it may seem so to you; and you are no longer in bondage under the evil enemy; but are the freedman of Christ and the quickened child of God the Father. For Jesus took away your death, and gave you life in his word. Since you hear this word, and accept this mercy, you shall reign with him in the life eternal. Believe this in your heart; for he has done it. The death which you feel is nothing but life; it is life which struggles in you, and destroys death. Let your sole care be that you may have true faith in your heart. Let the weary labor which the Lord performed, the long suffering which he endured, the great price which he paid, make us zealous for our salvation; and let the sense of our deep distress without him impel us to come to him, and to bring with us all who are of our household, leaving not one behind!
Lord Jesus, open our ears to hear thy voice, and our eyes to see thy power. Heal us, Lord; and teach us to lay all our griefs and sorrows on thee, even as thou didst take them, and carry them. Cast the wicked spirits out of our hearts and our homes; and grant us grace to serve thee and thine, to follow thee, and to bear one another’s burdens. Amen.*
O Savior Christ! our woes dispel,
For some are sick, and some are sad,
And some have never loved thee well,
And some have lost the love they had;
And some are pressed with worldly care,
And some are tried with sinful doubt;
And some such grievous passions tear
That only thou canst cast them out.
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.