The Healing of Children

I’m impressed by the accounts that we have in the New Testament of the Savior healing and ministering to children.  There are some common themes that run through all of them.  In Matthew 15 we have the account of the Canaanite woman who cried unto Jesus, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.”  Though the Savior seems to have had direction from His Father that His earthly ministry was to focus on the House of Israel, because of her trust He made an exception and said, “O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.”  We read that “her daughter was made whole from that very hour” (Matt. 15:22, 28). 

A couple chapters later a man came to the Savior pleading, “Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is a lunatic, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.”  Matthew records that “Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour” (Matt. 17:15, 18).  Another account of miraculous healing is that of Jarius’s daughter.  He came earnestly petitioning the Lord for a miracle for his daughter.  Jarius “besought [Jesus] greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed.”  Jesus went with him to his house “and he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her… I say unto thee, arise.  And straightway the damsel arose, and walked” (Mark 5:23, 41-42).  There are several things common to all three of these stories.  First, each time it was the child’s parent who brought the son or daughter to Jesus, pleading with all their hearts for healing.  They didn’t come casually to Him for help; they came with complete trust and with desperation knowing that there was no other possible source for help.  Second Jesus did not wait to heal them; He immediately ministered to the children to heal them.  In the first account she was “made whole from that very hour”; in the second “the child was cured from that very hour”; and in the third “straightway the damsel arose.”  Lastly, there is no expression of faith from the children.  When Christ healed adults it was requisite from them to express faith in Him, but it seems that with the healing of children the faith required was that of the parents’.  As a parent of small children who sometimes struggles to know how to help my little ones overcome their challenges and develop the traits I know they will need in life, these stories are great teachers.  They show me that as I try to help them I need to focus on my own faith in the Savior.  My job is to bring them to Christ and trust that He can heal them—it’s my faith, not theirs, that is lacking.  And I should trust that He will come to my help immediately if I go to Him with the same kind of desire that these parents did.