Just before Christ Jesus ascended he passed on to his disciples and future followers this imperative mission: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.… And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:15, 17, 18).
In a phrase, Jesus called on us—all of his followers—to be healers. But to understand the full meaning of that call requires us to look at his whole life. Of the many terms that will help us understand all that is meant by healing, I see three as especially useful: life, spiritual mindedness, and light.
In one sense, we might say that everything about the Savior, beginning with his virgin birth, was a type of testimony to the world. Jesus’ life testified to what God was revealing, through Jesus, about God’s own reality, and about our reality as God’s creation. A verse in the book of Deuteronomy provides an insight into the nature of our relationship to God: “For he is thy life” (30:20). Everything about Jesus’ existence testified to this truth. Truly, God was his Life. And he expected us to accept this as true about our own existence too. He said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
