Na so we dey see am for Los Angeles, where Wilshire Boulevard stretch like artery from downtown reach Pacific Ocean. The road name after Henry Gaylord Wilshire, one real estate developer wey once dey market one strange 1920s invention dem call Ionaco, na electric healing belt. According to Wilshire advertisements, the device dem plug am for household light socket and wear am around body, where dem say e go improve blood and increase oxygen for body, restore user to health. Dem promote am as cure for plenty diseases like cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis, and arthritis. Medical experts later dismiss am as quackery, but that no stop people from buying am. Wilshire sell more than 50,000 belts.
E easy to laugh at something like electric healing belt. But get deeper reason why people buy dem: wounded people long for healing. Today, we still dey search for healing but fit turn to cutting-edge medical treatments, wellness culture, self-help programs, therapy, spiritual practices, or online advice about how to optimize our bodies and minds. Some of these fit genuinely help. But under promises of optimization, na the same deep human desire to be healed and made whole.
Good Friday yarn directly to that longing. E tell story of God wey enter wounded world not only to forgive sin but also to bring healing. While this essay focus on healing, I want make am clear say the Cross na multidimensional work of God grace: For Christ death we find forgiveness of sins, victory over evil, justification before God, removal of shame, and many more benefits inside broader story of God kingdom. My hope here na say we go remember essential but often overlooked truth say Good Friday na source of our healing.
We know something for us—and for world—no be the way e suppose be. Every ambulance siren, every crowded emergency room, every whispered prayer beside hospital bed remind us say something for this world dey deeply wrong. We dey live for world wey illness, injustice, grief, broken relationships, anxiety, and despair mark am. The longing for healing na one of the most universal human experiences.
Bible describe this condition with striking metaphor: The world dey sick. According to prophet Isaiah, “The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint” (Isa. 1:5, ESV throughout). The sickness no confine to soul but pervade our entire being and even the world we inhabit, yet e deepest root na our estrangement from God wey make us. But the Good News of Good Friday na say God no abandon him creation to e sickness. He don enter am to bring healing.
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus restore sight to blind, strength to lame, hearing to deaf, and dignity to those society don push to margins. Yet these miracles be more than displays of compassion or supernatural power. Dem be signs of deeper mission: Jesus come as divine physician for sick world. For him, the Lord wey “forgives all your iniquity” and “heals all your diseases” (Ps. 103:3) don enter history, beginning restoration wey go culminate for “the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:2).
E important say we recover Jesus as Healer alongside Jesus as Savior. For Luke 5, after call tax collector to follow am, Jesus explain heart of him ministry: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (v. 31). The implication clear: Humanity na patient. Jesus na healer. Jesus also expand our understanding of wetin constitute healing. For Mark 2, when paralyzed man dem lower am through roof to reach am, Jesus first declare, “Your sins are forgiven” (v. 5). Only afterward e tell man to stand and walk. Physical restoration and spiritual restoration dey intertwined.
New Testament even reflect this overlap for e language. Greek word sozo dem often translate am “save,” but e fit also mean “heal” or “make well.” Biblical salvation no just about forgiveness for legal sense. E also about restoration of whole person and ultimately whole creation. Scottish theologian John Swinton note say Bible no get word precisely equivalent to modern medical definition of health. Today, we often think of health simply as absence of disease. Bible paint richer picture. E speak instead of righteousness and peace, of being for right relationship with God, with others, and with creation.
Hebrew word shalom capture this vision: harmony, wholeness, life working the way God intended (Isa. 32:16–18; Col 1:19–20). This vision of shalom stand behind one of the most famous prophetic descriptions of the Cross: He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. (Isa. 53:5) Notice suffering of servant deal with our sin and bring peace. Through suffering servant wounds, healing flow.
But how Jesus bring that healing? Gospels carefully recount physical wounds of Christ. Dem scourge am with whip embedded with bone and metal (John 19:1). Soldiers strike him face (Matt. 26:67). Crown of thorns dem press am for him skull (John 19:2). Nails pierce him hands and feet (20:25). Yet him suffering no just physical. Emotionally, e experience profound sorrow, even sweat blood for Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:44). Relationally, Judas betray am (Matt. 26:47), Peter deny am (vv. 69–70), and most of him disciples abandon am (v. 56). Spiritually, e bear crushing weight of human sin, cry out from cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (27:46).
Matthew connect Jesus healing ministry to Isaiah prophecy: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases” (8:17). For other words, Jesus no merely remove suffering from distance but take am upon himself, bearing for him own life the brokenness e come heal. Although we feel helpless watching someone we love suffer, Jesus do wetin we no fit do. Because e fully God and fully human without sin, e fit bear wounds of world on our behalf. He enter into our suffering to overcome am. Henri Nouwen correct to call Christ “the wounded healer.” The healing e offer no come from distance. E come through him own suffering love.
Although healing and wholeness don accomplish for Cross, our experience of dem unfold for wetin Christians often call “already and not yet” of God kingdom. Through Jesus death and resurrection, decisive victory don already win. Sin don forgive. Evil powers don defeat. Restoration of creation don begin. But fullness of that healing never reach. We still dey live for world of hospital rooms and funeral services. Christians still experience illness, grief, and mental anguish. Sometimes God bring remarkable healing for this life. Other times healing we long for come only for end-of-time resurrection.
This tension fit difficult to live with. But e also point us toward hope. Good Friday remind us say deepest healing for universe come through suffering love. Easter assure us say suffering no go get final word. One day healing wey begin for Cross go spread through entire creation. Bodies go raise. Tears go wipe away. Fractured world go restore to shalom. Until then, we wait for hope, trusting the one wey bear our wounds. And by him wounds, we dey healed.
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