John 9:6-7 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

Why did Christ make this man go through this rigamarole to be healed? Why didn’t He just ZAP the man healed? Surely He could have, couldn’t He?

Mark 10:51-52 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

What is the difference here? Identical ailments, and yet totally different treatments. For the one man, He mixed clay and spit together for an anointment, then told him to wash in a certain pool. The other man, He simply healed him immediately. Why??

Let’s get some background information on how each of these men came to Him…

John 9:1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth…

Notice that this man wasn’t one who was following Christ, but one that Christ saw. That’s the guy who was sent to wash in the pool. Now look at the other one:

Mark 10:47-50 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.

As you see, there is a great difference. This man, the man who was healed immediately, had great faith. He called to Christ, and wouldn’t be silenced, and begged for a healing. The Bible doesn’t record that the other man said anything, although it’s possible he may have.

In any case, it seems evident that this man had far greater faith than the other. And he was the one who was healed immediately. But let’s not jump to a conclusion just yet.

2 Kings 6:4-7 So he [Elisha] went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood. But as one was felling a beam, the ax head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed. And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he showed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim. Therefore said he, Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it.

Why, of all things, did Elisha cast a stick into the river to make it float? Did this stick have some magical properties that made metal temporarily weigh less than water? Of course not. So why did he throw a stick into the water?

Acts 19:11-12 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.

This is where we get the idea of an anointed cloth today. A cloth anointed with oil does not exist in the Bible. Yet it has seemed to work, in those times when the Church was following God. Why, since it is totally unscriptural?

What Paul sent were essentially dirty napkins used to wipe sweat from his brow. Surely his sweat didn’t have healing properties! So why did Paul use it, and why did God bless it??

2 Kings 2:7-8 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.

Why did Elijah have to hit the water to divide it? Moses just held up his staff and the red sea parted, and it was a LOT bigger than the Jordan! And in a few minutes, Elisha slapped the water with his mantle on the way back across. WHY?

Matthew 14:36 And besought him [Christ] that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.

Here, touching Christ’s garment was enough to heal people. Yet other places He had to mix spit and clay, touch them, take them by the hand, some He just had to speak the word… WHAT is the common denominator here?? What makes these miracles all alike?

Acts 5:15 Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.

And here we have Peter’s shadow healing people! What do all these things have in common? They were all done for people with relatively weak faith!

The human mind is a funny thing. If someone tells you that they will do a certain thing tomorrow, you may believe them; but you’d believe them a lot more if they signed a contract to that effect.

If you don’t KNOW God like you ought to, which is a natural enough thing in your early days in the Church of God, then you aren’t going to TRUST Him like you should; and when that happens, you are going to need more than just His word. And God understands this! He saw it coming! And He is willing to work with it, at least at first. Someday, He does expect you to learn to trust Him at His word. The sooner you do, the happier He will be.

The point of all of this is that if you were to call a man of God and say “I’m sick”, and the minister were to say “Ok, you’re healed, talk to you later”, you are far less likely to believe than if he comes to your house and makes a ceremony out of it. As a good example, I cite Naaman.

2 Kings 5:9-13 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.
But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.
Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do SOME GREAT THING, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?

Naaman was essentially faithless, and was quite enraged that Elisha didn’t make a production out of healing him. It was just too easy, he couldn’t believe that it was done. Had Elisha slapped him all over the place, and called upon the name of God loudly, he would have believed!

We know the rest of the story, but the point is, the less faith someone has, the more they need a ceremony, and a sign, to believe. All that is really required is someone, anyone, who has faith, simply saying “You’re healed”, in one way or another, to heal someone.

The farther people depart from that level of faith, the more they need clay mixed with spit to heal them, washing in the Jordan seven times, tossing a stick into a river to make an axe-head float, the river slapped with the mantle, or something like that. They need some event, some sign, some THING to believe in that they can SEE.

The problem with that, is it tends to lead people to have angels, and dreamcatchers, and crosses, and other heathen idols in their homes. As one man told me, in response to my telling him that Angels and other idols didn’t belong in his church building, he said
“Those are just to remind us of the Angels we have protecting us”. Just something to believe in, that they can see. THAT IS AN IDOL!

And it is for THIS REASON that God gave the following command! To prevent people from willy-nilly having idols in their home to boost their faith. He gave the members in the church who were weaker in faith a way to be healed when they needed it.

James 5:14-15 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

This command is written for people who have just enough faith to know they need the help of someone who has faith! One of the requirements of an elder is “Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.” (1 Timothy 3:9)

So this person who is sick, and needs God’s help, but hasn’t yet built the powerful faith required to be healed, can seek the assistance of someone who does. And this elder uses oil to anoint them, to give them a sign, a seal of God’s agreement, to prove that He will keep His word.

In this way, God has given an accepted symbol for a sign. Just like the figs that Isaiah laid on Hezekiah’s boil (Isaiah 38:21). All of these symbols, of themselves, did nothing. Someone with true faith, would not need an elder of the church to pray for them – Remember, Paul prayed for his own infirmities.

But someone with just enough faith to recognize they needed faith, or someone who had it…would need an elder to pray for them. So it isn’t the oil, the anointed cloth, or the spit, or the miraculous hem of a garment worn by someone righteous, or even their shadow. It is just faith. From someone, anyone, or everyone involved.