That Ye May Know

Commenting on the story of the healing of the ten lepers, Sister Camille Johnson said in the most recent general conference, “Nine lepers were physically healed. One was physically healed and made spiritually whole. In pondering this story, I have wondered if the converse is true. If healing and wholeness are not the same, can one be made spiritually whole by Him but not yet physically and emotionally healed?” She suggested that the Savior does not always heal our physical and emotional ailments when we desire but that we can be made whole spiritually even while suffering from the effects of mortality. She continued, “By virtue of His atoning sacrifice, and when we sincerely repent, the Savior heals us from sin, as He did with Enos. His Infinite Atonement also reaches our griefs and sorrows. But He may not provide healing from illness and disease—chronic pain, autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis, cancer, anxiety, depression, and the like. That kind of healing is on the Lord’s time. And in the meantime, we can choose to be made whole by exercising our faith in Him!” Ultimately, we know that all will be made whole physically from every pain and imperfection: all will be resurrected with a glorified, complete, and perfect body. But not all of us will be made whole spiritually; that is a choice we must make to receive His teachings and keep covenants with Him. So, in the long run, it is more important for us during mortality to seek to be healed spiritually and to fully repent so that we are prepared for the life to come. And yet, for most of us, the difficulties of the moment understandably cause us to seek more earnestly for the physical, more tangible healing of our bodies and mortal infirmities. But the Savior was clear to us what should be our priority when He taught, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). As we focus on the Savior, we will learn to be more concerned in life with the spiritual than the physical.

               And yet, I have often wondered at the fact that during the Savior’s mortal ministry, He physically healed everyone who came to Him in faith. For example, we read in one account, “Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them” (Luke 4:40). Mark also recorded, “And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole” (Mark 6:56). Matthew similarly summarized the work of the Savior, “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them” (Matthew 4:23-24). As far as I am aware, we don’t have any accounts of those He met with in person and who sought to be healed but He did not heal. He seems to have healed them all. And yet, now, we know that often times healing does not come immediately even for the very faithful who seek His help diligently. Sister Johnson recounted one such incident in the scriptures in which Paul sought to be healed: “The Apostle Paul had some kind of affliction—what he described as a ‘thorn in the flesh,’ which three times he had asked the Lord to remove. And the Lord said to Paul, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.’” Why was Paul and so many other faithful disciples after the resurrection of the Savior not healed physically when it seems that every single person who asked for healing in His physical presence were healed?

               I can think of two ways we might understand this. First, we might see the universal physical healing He performed during mortality as a sign of what is indeed to come for all of us: we will all be physically resurrected. Though we may not be healed immediately when we ask, we can have confidence that we will indeed be healed eventually from whatever physical ailment that plagues us. That is certain because of His resurrection. Second, I believe we should see His work of immediate physical healing in mortality as an indication that He is ready to immediately heal us spiritually now. This is underscored by the story of the man sick of the palsy who was dropped down from the roof to Him. Jesus immediately said to the man, “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.” He didn’t heal him at that point from his palsy—His first concern was to heal Him spiritually. When others hearing Him criticized Him for blasphemy, Jesus answered with these words, “Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house” (Matthew 9:2-6). Perhaps those words are meant for all of us reading the New Testament today: that we may know that Jesus has power to forgive our sins—to heal us spiritually—we can look at how completely He healed them physically. If we question whether the Lord can heal our hearts and souls, we need only to look to how He healed everyone who came to Him in mortality. And He promises to do the same for all who come unto Him today.