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We should notice … in this passage, the almighty power of our Lord Jesus Christ. We see sicknesses and devils alike yielding to His command. He rebukes unclean spirits, and they come forth from the unhappy people whom they had possessed. He rebukes a fever, and lays his hands on sick people, and at once their diseases depart, and the sick are healed. We cannot fail to observe many like cases in the four Gospels. They occur so frequently that we are apt to read them with a thoughtless eye, and forget the mighty lesson which each one is meant to convey. They are all intended to fasten in our minds the great truth that Christ is the appointed Healer of every evil which sin has brought into the world. Christ is the true antidote and remedy for all the soul-ruining mischief which Satan has wrought on mankind. Christ is the universal physician to whom all the children of Adam must repair, if they would be made whole. In Him is life, and health, and liberty. This is the grand doctrine which every miracle of mercy in the Gospel is ordained and appointed to teach. Each is a plain witness to that mighty fact, which lies at the very foundation of the Gospel. The ability of Christ to supply to the uttermost every want of human nature, is the very corner-stone of Christianity. Christ, in one word, is “all” (Colossians 3:11). Let the study of every miracle help to engrave this truth deeply on our hearts.

There is comfort here for all who are really serving Christ, and are yet cast down by a sense of their own infirmity. There are many in such case. They are oppressed by doubts and anxieties. They sometimes think they shall never reach heaven after all, but be cast away in the wilderness. Let them fear no longer. Their strength shall be according to their day. The difficulties they now fear shall vanish out of their path. The lion in the way which they now dread, shall prove to be chained. The same gracious hand which first touched and healed, shall uphold, strengthen, and lead them to the last. The Lord Jesus will never lose one of His sheep. Those whom He loves and pardons, He loves unto the end. Though sometimes cast down, they shall never be cast away. The healed soul shall always go on “ministering to the Lord.” Grace shall always lead to glory.

There is no fence around Him to keep us off; no guard to forbid or warn us away. Any one, every one may come at once to be healed. It is the sick, not the whole, that he invites. It is the leper, the palsied, the fevered, the blind, the lame, the deaf, the devil-possessed, that he bids welcome to. On every side we may approach Him. At any time, and in any way, we may come. Whatever be the length or the deadliness of our disease, we may come. The physician is divinely skillful; the medicine is free; the cure is certain. Health for sick humanity! Medicine for a diseased world! A Physician for a dying race! Such are the messages which we bring. All of them overflowing with God’s great love to sinners; to sinners simply as such. The depths of divine compassion are infinite. So are its heights. God’s pitying love takes in the worst sinner that ever breathed the air of earth. Wide as earth; wide as the bounds of sin; wide as the evil of human hearts; wide as heaven; wide as His own infinite heart; such is the pitying love of God.

He has come to an hospital, a city of the plague, a world where all are sick and dying; both in soul and body. Heavenly skill is his; nay, divine. Medicine is his; love to the sick is in his heart, and the balm of Gilead in his hand. He healed “all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people.” He did so in fulfilment of his divine errand. He did so to manifest his divine fulness and skill. He did so to shew his power and willingness to heal worse diseases. He did so to attract and invite the spiritually sick,—the blind, the deaf, the lame, the leprous, the palsied,—all that are sick, whatever the nature of their disease. He is the great healer still! And we come to Him for health. He is the tree of life, both in leaf and fruit. He beckons us to his shade and healing. Wilt thou be made whole? is his question to each. He wants to be made use of by us. He entreats as a favour that we employ Him as our physician, and that we apply for his medicines. We need not specify them,—indeed, we cannot,—He knows what they are, as He knows what our sickness is. There is not one sick soul here that He is unwilling to heal. Oh, apply;—apply at once!

Jesus the Teacher. He is the great giver of instruction to the sons of men; for He is the word and the wisdom; He is the lesson as well as the teacher. “Who teacheth like Him” who says, “Learn of me.” They who come to Him He calls “disciples,“—men who enter his school, and come to Him for instruction. As such He receives them and deals with them; for He has “compassion on the ignorant.” Not in one thing, but in all things does He teach. He teaches the inner man, for He has access to the spirits of men. He speaks to ear, and heart, and conscience. There is no teaching like his for completeness, for efficacy, and for the moulding of the whole man. He speaks, and we hear. We speak, and He hears. He comes to us; we go to Him. And in this blessed interchange between the scholar and the Master, the great work of enlightenment, renovation, expansion, consolation takes place. Of all teachers, He is the wisest and most learned, as well as the most patient, loving, and painstaking. He openeth our ears to hear and our eyes to see. As He did in Galilee in the days of his flesh, so does He now over all the earth, though at the Father’s right hand.

He is the great healer; the sinner’s one physician. His words are health. His touch is health. His look is health. Nay, his very garments are health ; for as many as touch either Him or them are made perfectly whole. Leprosy, lunacy, fever, blindness, death, possession by Satan, are nothing to Him. In Him all fulness dwells; and that fulness is dispensed by love. There was much here to quench that love, much to repel Him, but He will not be repelled, and his love cannot be quenched, even by the waters of unbelief. He is “mighty to save”—“able to save to the uttermost.” Omnipotence is in his touch, his look, his word. Let us do justice to his fulness and his grace, lest He have to say of us, O faithless and perverse generation.

It is Christ himself that comes before us here; Christ in his life and doings here below; Christ as the God-man, the sent of God, the revealer of the Father; Christ as the sinner’s friend and helper. By looking at Him as He was on earth, we learn what He is now in heaven; our faith gets a soil in which to root itself; a foundation on which to rest. We see Him on earth full of grace and truth; in heaven the same; just such an one as a sinner can approach, and trust, and love; just such an one as possesses all that a sinner needs. Mark these three things here (1.) Jesus the teacher; (2.) Jesus the preacher; (3.) Jesus the healer.

There is comfort in this thought for all who feel a desire to serve Christ, but at present are afraid to begin. There are many in this state of mind. They fear that if they come forward boldly, and take up the cross, they shall by and bye fall away. They fear that they shall not be able to persevere, and shall bring discredit on their profession. Let them fear no longer. Let them know that Jesus is an Almighty Saviour, who never forsakes those who once commit themselves to Him. Once raised by His mighty hand from the death of sin, and washed in His precious blood, they shall go on “ministering to Him” to their life’s end. They shall have power to overcome the world, and crucify the flesh, and resist the devil. Only let them begin, and they shall go on. Jesus knows nothing of half-cured cases and half-finished work. Let them trust in Jesus and go forward. The pardoned soul shall always be enabled to serve Christ.

These were glad tidings! And they came from Him who knew them well; who knew the kingdom; who had a right to speak of it; for He was its King. He has come to earth seeking to fill that kingdom of his; to obtain kings for it; fellow-kings along with himself. This is our proclamation still. A kingdom! A kingdom! Heavenly, holy, glorious, blessed! An open gate! Messengers sent out to entreat and compel men to come in! Oh enter in! Oh become kings; heirs of a throne!

To give a woman, prostrate with a fever, not merely relief, but strength to do work in an instant, would baffle the skill of all the physicians on earth. Yet Jesus “touched” Peter’s wife’s mother, and “she arose, and ministered unto them.”—These are the doings of one that is Almighty. There is no escape from the conclusion. This was “the finger of God.”

What a complete and perfect cure the Lord Jesus makes, when He heals. He takes the sick woman by the hand, and lifts her up, and “immediately the fever left her.” But this was not all. A greater miracle remained behind. At once we are told “she ministered unto them.” That weakness and prostration of strength which, as a general rule, a fever leaves behind it, in her case was entirely removed. The fevered woman was not only made well in a moment, but in the same moment made strong and able to work. We may see in this case a lively emblem of Christ’s dealing with sin-sick souls. That blessed Saviour not only gives mercy and forgiveness;—He gives renewing grace besides. To as many as receive Him as their Physician, He gives power to become the sons of God. He cleanses them by His Spirit, when He washes them in His precious blood. Those whom He justifies, He also sanctifies. When He bestows an absolution, He also bestows a new heart. When He grants free forgiveness for the past, He also grants strength to “minister” to Him for the time to come. The sin-sick soul is not merely cured, and then left to itself. It is also supplied with a new heart and a right spirit, and enabled so to live as to please God.

Verse 1

What grace, O Lord! and beauty shone
Around thy steps below!
What patient love was seen in all
Thy life and death of woe!

Verse 2

Thy foes might hate, despise, revile,
Thy friends unfaithful prove;
Unwearied in forgiveness still,
Thy heart could only love.

Verse 3

Oh, give us hearts to love like thee;
Like thee, O Lord! to grieve
Far more for others’ sins, than all
The wrongs that we receive.

Verse 4

One with thyself, may every eye,
In us, thy brethren, see
That gentleness and grace that springs
From union, Lord, with thee.

Verse 1

We may not climb the heavenly steeps
To bring the Lord Christ down;
In vain we search the lowest deeps,
For him no depths can drown.

Verse 2

But warm, sweet, tender, even yet
A present help is he;
And faith has yet its Olivet,
And love its Galilee.

Verse 3

The healing of the seamless dress
Is by our beds of pain;
We touch him in life’s throng and press,
And we are whole again.

Verse 4

Through him the first fond prayers are said
Our lips of childhood frame;
The last low whispers of our dead
Are burdened with his name.

Verse 5

O Lord and Master of us all,
Whate’er our name or sign,
We own thy sway, we hear thy call,
We test our lives by thine!

Verse 1

Ever would I fain be reading,
In the ancient holy Book,
Of my Savior’s gentle pleading,
Truth in ev’ry word and look.
How to all the sick and tearful
Help was ever gladly shown;
How he sought the poor and fearful,
Called them brothers and his own.

Verse 2

How no contrite soul e’er sought him,
And was bidden to depart;
How, with gentle words he taught him,
Took the death from out his heart.
Still I read the ancient story,--
And my joy is ever new,--
How for us he left his glory,
How he still is kind and true.

Verse 3

How the flock he gently leadeth,
Whom his Father gave him here;
How his arms he widely spreadeth,
To his heart to draw us near.
Let me kneel, my Lord! before thee,
Let my heart in tears o’erflow,
Melted by thy love adore thee,
Blessed in thee, mid joy or woe.

Verse 1

What grace, O Lord, and beauty shone
Around Thy steps below;
What patient love was seen in all
Thy life and death of woe!

Verse 2

For ever on Thy burdened heart
A weight of sorrow hung;
Yet no ungentle, murmuring word
Escaped Thy silent tongue.

Verse 3

Thy foes might hate, despise, revile,
Thy friends unfaithful prove;
Unwearied in forgiveness still,
Thy heart could only love.

Verse 4

O give us hearts to love like Thee,
Like Thee, O Lord, to grieve
Far more for others’ sins than all
The wrongs that we receive.

Verse 5

One with Thyself, may every eye
In us, Thy brethren, see
That gentleness and grace that spring
From union, Lord, with Thee.

Verse 1

O Master, let me walk with Thee
In lowly paths of service free;
Tell me Thy secret; help me bear
The strain of toil, the fret of care.

Verse 2

Help me the slow of heart to move
By some clear winning word of love;
Teach me the wayward feet to stay,
And guide them in the homeward way.

Verse 3

Teach me Thy patience; still with Thee
In closer, dearer company,
In work that keeps faith sweet and strong,
In trust that triumphs over wrong;

Verse 4

In hope that sends a shining ray
Far down the future’s broadening way;
In peace that only Thou canst give,
With Thee, O Master, let me live.

Verse 1

Thou say’st, “Take up thy cross, O man, and follow Me:”
The night is black, the feet are slack,
Yet we would follow Thee.

Verse 2

But, O dear Lord, we cry,
That we Thy face could see!
Thy blessed face one moment’s space—
Then might we follow Thee!

Verse 3

Dim tracts of time divide
Those golden days from me;
Thy voice comes strange o’er years of change;
How can I follow Thee?

Verse 4

Comes faint and far Thy voice
From vales of Galilee;
Thy vision fades in ancient shades;
How should we follow Thee?

Verse 5

O heavy cross—of faith
In what we cannot see!
As once of yore Thyself restore,
And help to follow Thee.

Verse 6

If not as once Thou cam’st
In true humanity,
Come yet as Guest within the breast
That burns to follow Thee.

Verse 7

Within our heart of hearts
In nearest nearness be:
Set up Thy throne within Thine own:
Go, Lord: we follow Thee.

Verse 1

Thine arm, O Lord, in days of old
Was strong to heal and save;
It triumphed o’er disease and death,
O’er darkness and the grave.
To Thee they went, the blind, the dumb,
The palsied and the lame,
The leper with his tainted life,
The sick with fevered frame.

Verse 2

And lo, Thy touch brought life and health,
Gave speech, and strength, and sight;
And youth renewed and frenzy calmed
Owned Thee, the Lord of light:
And now, O Lord, be near to bless,
Almighty as of yore,
In crowded street, by restless couch,
As by Gennesareth’s shore.

Verse 3

Though Love and Might no longer heal
By touch, or word, or look;
Though they who do Thy work must read
Thy laws in nature’s book;
Yet come to heal the sick man’s soul,
Come, cleanse the leprous taint;
Give joy and peace where all is strife,
And strength where all is faint.

Verse 4

Be Thou our great Deliverer still,
Thou Lord of life and death;
Restore and quicken, soothe and bless
With Thine almighty breath:
To hands that work and eyes that see
Give wisdom’s heavenly lore,
That whole and sick, and weak and strong,
May praise Thee evermore.

Verse 1

O where is He that trod the sea,
O where is He that spake,
And demons from their victims flee,
The dead their slumbers break:
The palsied rise in freedom strong,
The dumb men talk and sing,
And from blind eyes, benighted long,
Bright beams of morning spring?

Verse 2

O where is He that trod the sea,
O where is He that spake,
And piercing words of liberty
The deaf ears open shake;
And mildest words arrest the haste
Of fever’s deadly fire,
And strong ones heal the weak who waste
Their life in sad desire?

Verse 3

O where is He that trod the sea,
O where is He that spake,
And dark waves rolling heavily
A glassy smoothness take;
And lepers, whose own flesh has been
A solitary grave,
See with amaze that they are clean,
And cry, “’Tis He can save”?

Verse 4

O where is He that trod the sea?
’Tis only He can save;
To thousands hungering wearily
A wondrous meal He gave;
Full soon, celestially fed,
Their rustic fare they take;
’Twas springtide when He blest the bread,
And harvest when He brake.

Verse 5

O where is He that trod the sea?
My soul, the Lord is here;
Let all thy fears be hushed in thee,
To leap, to look, to hear.
Be thine: thy needs He’ll satisfy,
Art thou diseased or dumb,
Or dost thou in thine hunger cry?
”I come,” saith Christ, “I come.”

Verse 1

Teach me, O Lord, Thy holy way,
And give me an obedient mind;
That in Thy service I may find
My soul’s delight from day to day.

Verse 2

Guide me, O Saviour, with Thy hand,
And so control my thoughts and deeds,
That I may tread the path which leads
Right onward to the blessed land.

Verse 3

Help me, O Saviour, here to trace
The sacred footsteps Thou hast trod;
And, meekly walking with my God,
To grow in goodness, truth, and grace.

Verse 4

Guard me, O Lord, that I may ne’er
Forsake the right, or do the wrong:
Against temptation make me strong,
And round me spread Thy sheltering care.

Verse 5

Bless me in every task, O Lord,
Begun, continued, done for Thee:
Fulfil Thy perfect work in me,
And Thine abounding grace afford.

Verse 1

Behold, the Master passeth by!
O seest thou not His pleading eye?
With low sad voice He calleth thee,
“Leave this vain world, and follow Me.”

Verse 2

O soul, bowed down with harrowing care,
Hast thou no thought for heaven to spare?
From earthly toils lift up thine eye;
Behold, the Master passeth by!

Verse 3

One heard Him calling long ago,
And straightway left all things below,
Counting his earthly gain as loss
For Jesus and His blessed cross.

Verse 4

That “Follow Me” his faithful ear
Seemed every day afresh to hear:
Its echoes stirred his spirit still,
And fired his hope, and nerved his will.

Verse 5

God gently calls us every day:
Why should we then our bliss delay?
Thou, Lord, e’en now art calling me;
I will leave all, and follow Thee.

Verse 1

Lord, Thou in all things like wast made
To us, yet free from sin,
Then how unlike to us, O Lord,
Replies the voice within.

Verse 2

Our faith is weak; O Light of Light,
Clear Thou our clouded view;
That Son of Man, and Son of God,
We give Thee honor due.

Verse 3

O Son of Man, Thyself hast proved
Our trials and our tears;
Life’s thankless toil and scant repose,
Death’s agonies and fears.

Verse 4

O Son of God, in glory raised,
Thou sittest on Thy throne:
Thence, by Thy pleadings and Thy grace,
Still succoring Thine own.

Verse 5

Brother and Saviour, Friend and Judge!
To Thee, O Christ, be given
To bind upon Thy crown the names
Most blest in earth and heaven.

Verse 1

Lord, as to Thy dear cross we flee,
And plead to be forgiven,
So let Thy life our pattern be,
And form our souls for heaven.

Verse 2

Help us, through good report and ill,
Our daily cross to bear;
Like Thee, to do our Father’s will,
Our brethren’s griefs to share.

Verse 3

Let grace our selfishness expel,
Our earthliness refine;
And kindness in our bosoms dwell,
As free and true as Thine.

Verse 4

If joy shall at Thy bidding fly,
And grief’s dark day come on,
We, in our turn, would meekly cry,
“Father, Thy will be done.”

Verse 5

Should friends misjudge, or foes defame,
Or brethren faithless prove,
Then, like Thine own, be all our aim
To conquer them by love.

Verse 6

Kept peaceful in the midst of strife,
Forgiving and forgiven,
O may we lead the pilgrim’s life,
And follow Thee to heaven.

Verse 1

O mean may seem this house of clay,
Yet ’twas the Lord’s abode;
Our feet may mourn this thorny way,
Yet here Emmanuel trod.

Verse 2

This fleshly robe the Lord did wear,
This watch the Lord did keep,
These burdens sore the Lord did bear,
These tears the Lord did weep.

Verse 3

Our very frailty brings us near
Unto the Lord of heaven;
To every grief, to every tear,
Such glory strange is given.

Verse 4

But not this fleshly robe alone
Shall link us, Lord, to Thee;
Not only in the tear and groan
Shall the dear kindred be.

Verse 5

We shall be reckoned for Thine own
Because Thy heaven we share,
Because we sing around Thy throne
And Thy bright raiment wear.

Verse 6

O mighty grace, our life to live,
To make our earth Divine:
O mighty grace, Thy heaven to give,
And lift our life to Thine.

Verse 1

How shall I follow Him I serve?
How shall I copy Him I love?
Nor from those blessed footsteps swerve,
Which lead me to His seat above?

Verse 2

Privations, sorrows, bitter scorn,
The life of toil, the mean abode,
The faithless kiss, the crown of thorn,—
Are these the consecrated road?

Verse 3

’Twas thus He suffered, though a Son,
Foreknowing, choosing, feeling all,
Until the perfect work was done,
And drunk the bitter cup of gall.

Verse 4

Lord, should my path through suffering lie,
Forbid it I should e’er repine;
Still let me turn to Calvary,
Nor heed my griefs, remembering Thine.

Verse 5

O let me think how Thou didst leave
Untasted every pure delight,
To fast, to faint, to watch, to grieve,
The toilsome day, the homeless night:—

Verse 6

To faint, to grieve, to die for me!
Thou camest, not Thyself to please;
And, dear as earthly comforts be,
Shall I not love Thee more than these?

Verse 7

Yes, I would count them all but loss,
To gain the notice of Thine eye:
Flesh shrinks and trembles at the cross,
But Thou canst give the victory.

Verse 1

O who like Thee so calm, so bright,
Thou Son of Man, Thou Light of Light!
O who like Thee did ever go
So patient through a world of woe!

Verse 2

O who like Thee so humbly bore
The scorn, the scoffs of men before;
So meek, forgiving, Godlike, high,
So glorious in humility!

Verse 3

And all Thy life’s unchanging years,
A man of sorrows and of tears,
The cross, where all our sins were laid,
Upon Thy bending shoulders weighed.

Verse 4

And death, which sets the prisoner free,
Was pang, and scoff, and scorn to Thee;
Yet love through all Thy torture glowed,
And mercy with Thy life-blood flowed.

Verse 5

O in Thy light be mine to go,
Illuming all this way of woe;
And give me ever on the road
To trace Thy footsteps, Son of God.

Verse 1

A voice by Jordan’s shore,
A summons stern and clear:
“Reform; be just, and sin no more:
God’s judgment draweth near!”

Verse 2

A voice by Galilee,
A holier voice I hear:
“Love God; thy neighbor love: for see
God’s mercy draweth near!”

Verse 3

O voice of Duty, still
Speak forth: I hear with awe;
In thee I own the sovereign will,
Obey the sovereign law.

Verse 4

Thou higher voice of Love,
Yet speak thy word in me;
Through duty, let me upward move
To thy pure liberty.

Verse 1

Thou art the Way: to Thee alone
From sin and death we flee;
And he who would the Father seek
Must seek Him, Lord, by Thee.

Verse 2

Thou art the Truth: Thy word alone
True wisdom can impart;
Thou only canst inform the mind,
And purify the heart.

Verse 3

Thou art the Life: the rending tomb
Proclaims Thy conquering arm,
And those who put their trust in Thee
Nor death nor hell shall harm.

Verse 4

Thou art the Way, the Truth, the Life:
Grant us that Way to know,
That Truth to keep, that Life to win,
Whose joys eternal flow.