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It’s the most powerful scene from The Chosen (Season 3, Episode 2) when little James asks Jesus why he hasn’t been healed.
When the other disciples depart, Little James lingers, leaning on his staff—waiting to speak privately with Jesus.
LITTLE JAMES:
Master, may I have a moment?
JESUS:
Of course, James. What is it?
LITTLE JAMES:
It’s about the trip. You’re sending us out in pairs to heal the sick, the lame, and the blind… to cast out demons, to preach.
(He hesitates, looks down at his twisted leg.)
LITTLE JAMES (cont’d):
But… You’re sending me? The one who can’t even walk right.
You’re giving me authority to heal others—but You haven’t healed me.
JESUS:
Do you want to be healed?
LITTLE JAMES:
Yes. Of course I do.
Why would You send me to heal others when I can’t be healed myself?
JESUS:
You’re right—many will ask that question.
LITTLE JAMES:
Then what will I tell them?
JESUS:
Tell them that you are still joyful.
Tell them that in your weakness, My strength is made perfect.
Tell them that when you heal in My name—even while you yourself remain unhealed—people will listen.
LITTLE JAMES:
But why not heal me, so I can show them Your power?
JESUS:
Because it would be an easy story to tell if I healed you now.
But the greater story—the one that will change hearts—is that you still praise Me even when I don’t heal you.
JESUS (con’t):
Someday, James, you will be healed.
It’s only a matter of time.
But that time is not now.
And that’s okay.
You will do more for My Kingdom by walking, limping, than by running healed.
There’s scant historical evidence to support what ailment James may or may not have had. So we don’t know for sure. What is certain- when Jesus sent out the seventy, He gave them authority to “Heal those who are sick and say to them the Kingdom of God has come near to you.” Each would have had a relative or friend suffering from an illness of some sort, if not ill themselves, who did not get healed.
The mission Christ sent them on was limited in size and scope—the only cities that made the list were those Jesus intended to visit at a later date. Of those villages, not every inhabitant got healed or converted. Hearers were given the choice to receive or reject the Disciple’s message: “The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; but the one who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me” (Luke 10:16).
Healings, therefore, were selective, not carte blanche. In other words, not everyone became well.
So what were the Disciples, and for that matter, we, to think of a personal Messiah who is aware of people’s deepest hurts, has the power to fix them, yet fails to act? Or at least fails to act in ways we would like? It’s arguably the most irreconcilable aspect of Christianity to grapple with.
You may recall the story of a leper who made this appeal, “Lord, if you are willing, You can make me clean.” Jesus touched Him, saying, “I am willing: be cleansed” -that makes for a good story. A very good one for sure. But had Jesus replied, “No, at least not now,” what was the leper to do with that? “Am I still supposed to believe while this ailment remains?”
Or consider doubting Thomas, who ultimately came to grips with his disbelief of Christ’s resurrection, but only after placing his hands in our Lord’s wrists and side. Jesus response? “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
The Apostle Paul’s reputation as a miracle worker preceded him everywhere he went. So when Paul left his travelling companion, Trophimus, behind in Miletus because he was sick, what must Trophimus have thought, waving goodbye to the one person who could make him well! “Trophimus I left sick at Miletus” (2 Tim. 4:20). In a sense, “Someday you will be healed… it’s only a matter of time. But that time is not now.”
So what about you? How do you respond to a “No, at least not yet” after pleading with God for healing and mercy? It’s a painful question to consider. And you aren’t the only one to wrestle with the Lord and His will over this. There have been many long, dark nights of the soul that I found unbearable. I suspect the same for you.
Holidays are tough, let’s face it. Does a plea to bring home a wayward child sound familiar? Or the weightiness of a job that brings butterflies when you go in, and dread once you leave, knowing tomorrow will soon come? What about a dreadful disease overtaking someone you love? Maybe a relationship turned sour, worse still, estranged.
This is what I will say. The line “Someday you will be healed. It’s only a matter of time” from the Chosen isn’t in the Bible. But don’t let that, for a second, diminish the truth of it. All of Jesus’ beloved will, in fact, be healed, entirely, completely, without an exception, clause, asterisk, or fine print.
What you have to do is hang on. Even if that means hanging on for dear life.
And as you do, realize that God will give you more than you can handle. You read that right. Contrary to well-meaning but biblically misplaced theology that teaches “God will not give you more than you can bear,” He most certainly will allow it, and this is why…it’s an issue of dependence, dependence upon what Jesus did and does for you, not what you can try to do for yourself.
As to the pain that results from all of our hardships? Pain, I believe, is the very instrument God uses to drive us further into His Son. And at the end of the day, if that happens, it’s a good thing, a good story for sure.
