This was a talk given by Derreck at TMP on 17th December 2023
Reflective talk (DLP)
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matt 7:7-8)
I’ve been fascinated to find that Jesus rarely heals if He isn’t asked to do so.
In the 47 accounts of Jesus healing almost all are due to Him being asked.
There are a couple of notable exceptions, e.g. when He raised people from the dead (Jairus daughter, the widow’s son, and Lazarus) they were in no position to ask!
The same with the deaf mute in Mk 7, how could he ask – that was his problem!
That leaves just five examples where Jesus healed without being asked.
Famously there was Malchus, who was present at Jesus’ arrest and had his ear cut off, with Jesus immediately healing him.
That leaves four occasions.
They all had something in common.
They were all on the sabbath, all in the company of Priests or Pharisees and all in the temple or a Pharisee home.
They were all deliberately provocative acts, each occasion has the Pharisees questioning whether Jesus was allowed to heal on the Sabbath – often it was a trap.
So, in the remaining 39 reports ALL those being healed asked for their healing.
Maybe we can draw the conclusion that as we are not in the Temple, not dead already, and not incapable of speech, that we might have to proactively ask for our healing, regardless of whether it is physical, emotional, spiritual.
Jesus says, “Ask and it will be given to you…”
On occasion Jesus even asked ‘What would you have me do?’ when it was obvious He was speaking to a blind person!
Jesus reminds us bread/stone, fish/snake, but we should ask.
The blind men shouted from the side of the road, Bartimeaus too shouted and people all around him ‘shushed’ him but he still shouted.
The Canaanite woman refused to stop shouting to Jesus even when the disciples wanted to get rid of her, she even had the temerity to argue theology with Jesus – until He healed her daughter.
The lesson?
If we want to receive, we have to ask.
We will not receive by being passive, we don’t ask by sitting quietly by the roadside, ASK.
Maybe like the woman with a bleed we may have to push forward in order to receive.
That doesn’t mean that we should be demanding, assuming, or feel any sense of spiritual entitlement.
But it does mean that we should ask, with humility, and expectation.
As we begin to sing and worship in a moment let’s ask for what it is we need in this ‘here and now’.
You don’t have to ask out loud, you can ask in silent prayer in your heart.
Maybe you could ‘ask’ for what you need by standing, maybe just sit and hold out your hands as if to receive a gift – which of course is what you are doing – about to receive a gift!
You may want to do both.
But please ask, Jesus is ready and willing to give.
Lastly you might think that you don’t feel Jesus’ presence, that this service is not what you are used to, that somehow He is not here, you don’t feel Him. Well, He doesn’t have to be here.
Remember He wasn’t there in the Centurian’s home to heal his servant either, yet the servant was healed that very hour!
Ask, expect, receive.