He touched a leper, and the man was healed. He touched the eyes of one born blind, and the man was healed. A woman just touched his cloak, and she was healed. He just said the word, and the soldier’s servant was healed.

He was known as the Healer.

That’s why the crowds flocked to him early in his ministry. That’s why many of the voices called out, “Rabbi, have mercy on us!”

That’s why he had come to earth. He was the promised “sun of righteousness with healing in its wings.”

That promise would resonate with the world today. Around the globe, people are looking for healing. If they are not already sick, they fear one day they will be.

They fear one day they will die.

And of course, they will. But unless a person is seriously sick, the thought of death can be pushed off into a far corner of the mind. It does not need to be faced.

Until—until there is no escaping the fact that it will happen. Until the day comes that God needs to be faced. And that day will come: “’Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire’ says the LORD Almighty” (Malachi 4:1).

That sounds like a death sentence. Who could say they have never been arrogant or never did evil?

Who is free from sin? What can we do with a soul that is infected with sin? Is it not rightly called the leprosy of sin?

The picture is of a person who is caught in the darkness of a sin-infected world. In the blackness of hopelessness, a bright light breaks through. It is as brilliant as the rising sun with its dazzling rays. It brings healing.

But not to everyone. Only to certain ones. “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.”

Today we call those who revere his name “Christians.”

For them, fear is replaced by joy. Hope floods over dread. The feeling can be wonderful: “And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.”

Those who have seen calves run and jump when the gate is opened—they understand the bursting of unrestricted joy.

We never fully realize just how sick we are. A burst of pain can warn us of a heart condition. An episode of confusion may be a sign of a mental condition. A pang of conscience might be the call of guilt.

Only our Creator can see what is happening deep down inside of us. Only the eyes of the Divine can peer into souls. Only God knows how desperately we need healing.

Only the Lord can heal us.

And he does.

We sing:
“Jesus, your blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress:
Mid flaming worlds in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.” (Christian Worship 376:1)