Jesus' ministry wasn't limited to teaching people about the Kingdom of God, showing love to sinners, and taking away the sins of the world. A significant part of His ministry on earth was healing. It certainly didn't have to be part of His ministry -- but it was. God is in the business of healing, and He does it in Christ and through Christ.
Luke 4:16-21
So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
[tangent warning]: This passage above is astounding when you "put yourself there" and imagine what it was like .... You're sitting there in church on Sunday. It's "open mic" scripture reading time. You see Jesus is back in town. Where's he been for over a month? Didn't he just take some strange 40-day "vacation?" It's Jesus' hometown, so everyone knows him, and they all know that on Sunday he likes to be there and likes to get up and read a little scripture. This time it's different. Jesus thinks to himself "Well, here it goes. I'm about to proclaim my true identity to these folks. They're not going to know what hit them...seriously they're not going to have a clue." They hand him the book of Isaiah -- perfect. He finds chapter 61 and reads those powerful opening verses. The he closes the book, hands it back to the dude, sits back down!, sees that literally everyone is staring at him, then says "Hey so, uh, today that scripture is fulfilled, guys." Then he elaborates some, further confusing them, then they literally chase him to a cliff! This Jesus guy that they all knew starts speaking what they can only interpret as heresy (because they know him! Imagine if one of your friends stood up in church after 30 years and said "hey by the way, I'm the Messiah"), and they respond by literally running him out of town.
Okay, back on track. Healing.
"He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind." Jesus knows that healing "brokenheartedness" is just as important as physical healing. Healing is just a gracious way of showing His love to us. He desires to heal. And what I've learned through the Vineyard Church is that emotional and spiritual healing are just as real and just as necessary as (often more necessary than) physical healing. When we allow Him, He will often find and expose the deepest part of our hurt and shame. With the Samaritan woman at the well, He asked about her husband situation. He knew that was where she needed healing the most. As much as we don't like it, He wants to uncover those things deep within us that still cause us pain today, whether we're aware of it or not. And He CAN heal those things! He's come to set the captive free.
With physical healing, God still desires that we have the faith of a child. He's still in the healing business today. It still happens. But even if we receive Jesus and don't receive a physical healing that we're seeking, we still get Him. And we've seen Him use tragedies and physical conditions to work miracles in the hearts of people.
I believe that Jesus' healing ministry on the earth was a picture of the greater thing that He was doing for the souls of mankind. He gave us spiritual sight, the ability to walk in Him, spiritual resurrection, and healing from the disease that is sin.
I'm going to conclude with this passage from the Psalms. Enjoy God's love and healing!
Psalm 147:1-5
Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.
2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds.
4 He counts the number of the stars;
He calls them all by name.
5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power;
His understanding is infinite.
With physical healing, God still desires that we have the faith of a child. He's still in the healing business today. It still happens. But even if we receive Jesus and don't receive a physical healing that we're seeking, we still get Him. And we've seen Him use tragedies and physical conditions to work miracles in the hearts of people.
I believe that Jesus' healing ministry on the earth was a picture of the greater thing that He was doing for the souls of mankind. He gave us spiritual sight, the ability to walk in Him, spiritual resurrection, and healing from the disease that is sin.
I'm going to conclude with this passage from the Psalms. Enjoy God's love and healing!
Psalm 147:1-5
Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.
2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds.
4 He counts the number of the stars;
He calls them all by name.
5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power;
His understanding is infinite.
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