Jesus' Healing Ministry

A friend of mine from college, back in December, introduced the idea to his friends on Facebook, of starting with the new year and committing to reading four chapters of the Bible a day. Each day he posts his observations on the four chapters on a blog. Needing a form of accountability for my Bible reading, I joined his group on Facebook and visit his blog daily to read his, and others', observations (and maybe make some of my own).

The gospel we're currently reading is my favorite, the gospel of Luke. Today we read about the beginnings of Jesus' ministry, starting with his visit to the synagogue in Nazareth, where he caused quite a stir with his teaching on a passage of Isaiah. From Nazareth he went to Capernaum, where he healed the mother-in-law of a local fisherman. When I got to verse 41 of Luke 4, I was struck with some thoughts on both that verse and Jesus' teaching in Nazareth. What follows is the post I made on my friend's website.


As posted on www.bibletogether.com:

On Luke 4:14-44

Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ. (Lk. 4:41)

The Bible study group that I lead just recently finished up a study on the gospel of Mark. One thing we noticed over and over was that when Jesus performed a healing or cast out a demon, he gave strict orders for the healed person not to tell others about their healing. Since this came up time and again, we discussed it at length. We finally decided that being known only as a miracle worker would have defeated Jesus’ purpose in coming to earth. Miracles are showy and draw attention to the one performing them, but that was not Jesus’ primary purpose in coming to earth. He wanted the people to listen to what he had to say, to be healed from the more deadly sickness of sin. He wanted them to realize that the deliverance from sin was the greatest miracle of all, and being seen as merely a healer of bodies would have sensationalized his ministry.

I have Isaiah 61:1, 2, the portion of Isaiah from which Jesus quoted in the Nazareth synagogue, highlighted in my Bible. I don’t know why the passage in Luke and the original in Isaiah differ, but if you take a look at verse one of Isaiah 61, you find something interesting between “to preach good news to the poor” and “to proclaim freedom for the captives.” It reads, “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted.” I think that this is implied in the Luke passage, but it’s very explicit in Isaiah.

To bind up a wound is to bring about healing, for it is only through the initial binding up that healing can begin. That healing may take time or it may be instantaneous, but one thing is certain. Healing will come. For the brokenhearted, an umbrella under which we all fall, no matter what our lives have been like, it may seem as though healing will never come. As one recently acquainted with heartache and grief, I know what this is like. I am being healed from my brokenheartedness, a healing that is taking time. Yet, if the wound of my heart had not been bound up by Jesus at the time of the wound, then I doubt healing would be taking place. Thanks be to the One who binds up the brokenhearted, who uttered the words, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matt. 5:4)