The Ministry of Jesus
Part 3: The Healings of Jesus
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
I am excited to be back with y'all. I haven't had the opportunity to preach since December. Well, I take the back. I did have the opportunity, but then I got sick. I am so excited to be with you guys this morning. We have been in our series on Jesus' ministry. We're walking through different aspects of His ministry during His time here on earth. We know He was here for about 33 years, but He had about three years from 30 to 33 where He had active ministry. So we started it off, Pastor Chris talked to us about His parables and the way He was teaching, and how through these parables He teaches us too how we can reach the least, the last, and the lost. And then last week, Pastor Phil brought us the mentoring disciples, how Jesus mentored this group around Him, and how we too are also just like the disciples. We are called and we are equipped, and then we are sent out to build the kingdom of God just like they were. That's our calling as well.
Today we're going to be talking about Jesus' healings. His healing ministry was a huge part of His ministry, of the things that He did, the way He taught His disciples, the way He revealed Himself to people. So we're going to dive into that today, but before we do that, before we dive into the actual healings and some of those stories, I think it's important for us to have an understanding or a theology of the problem of evil and of suffering. Because I don't really feel like we can have a full conversation about healing without talking about why we even need healing in the first place. And so I think some of us, whether it's consciously or subconsciously, we think that if we're following Jesus, we're doing all the right things, we're doing what the Bible says, that maybe we shouldn't have to suffer. That we shouldn't have to have pain or trials or deal with this sickness and whatever else may come to mind. That we should be exempt from that. And unfortunately, the Bible actually tells us the opposite. It promises us that we will have trouble. It promises us that we will have hardships. But the reality is we live in a fallen world. We live in a world that has evil. It started back in the garden with Adam and Eve in the fall when they chose their way over God's way. So we have this understanding that there is a problem of evil. We have a problem of evil in this world. And Jesus and his sacrifice is the only answer. Thankfully, God has a redemption plan. We haven't gotten to the end of the story yet, but we know that he has a way to redeem and restore. But in the right now, in the not yet, we have this problem of evil. And because we have a problem of evil, there will be suffering. Now, thankfully, because we are Christ followers, our suffering is not in vain. Our suffering is not pointless. For those of us who are in Christ, our suffering has a purpose. Now, if you're in the middle of a trial or you're in the middle of suffering, that may not be as encouraging as I would like it to be, but it's true. Our suffering has a purpose. The Bible says that God works all things to the good of those who love him. All things. Not just the good stuff, not just the stuff that feels good, but all of it. The good and the bad. The beautiful and the ugly. The righteous and the evil. All of it he works for our good. And so our suffering has purpose. And he also promises not to leave us in our suffering. It says that he will never leave us or forsake us. So we can know that even while we're suffering, he is with us. And our suffering can be used to strengthen our faith or to grow us closer to Jesus. Or, Lord willing, that as we come through or come out of that, that we can use our testimony to help walk with someone who's also going through a similar situation. But regardless of how the Lord uses that, we know that our suffering has purpose.
So that's kind of the foundation I want us to work with, is that we live in a fallen world and there will be suffering, but we do serve a God who has the power to heal. So we're going to dive into some of these stories today. And I was doing some research and I found that there are 42 different occasions of Jesus's healing in the Gospels. So the Gospels are the first four books of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And so some of these stories are repeated throughout their Gospels because they're different perspectives on Jesus's life. So they repeat many of the same stories. But there are 42 separate occasions where Jesus healed. Now, that doesn't include the times where there's verses that say like, "And he healed the people." Like these mass healings or these instances that weren't recorded that maybe the authors chose not to put in the Gospels. But 42 that we know of. So this is a really important part for Jesus's ministry, is his healings. And we know that there are a variety of reasons why Jesus healed, but we're going to focus on three of them today. All right. There are three areas that I think are important for us to focus on when we're talking about Jesus's healings. I believe that he healed to demonstrate his power, to demonstrate his compassion and to demonstrate the coming kingdom of God. A little spoiler alert. This is where we're going today. Okay, so but I'm just giving you all right now to demonstrate his power, his compassion and the coming kingdom of God. And again, there are many stories throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
But we're going to focus on three that are just right back to back in the book of Mark, chapter five. So if you want to go to Mark five, we are going to park it there today. It'll be on the screens. There's Bibles in the chairs in front of you. If you don't have one, you can pull it up on your phone, whatever you like and prefer. But we are going to be in Mark five and we're going to walk through three stories of Jesus's healing today and how they reveal more of him. So first, we're going to start with Mark five, verse one, right out the gate. They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the most high God?" "In God's name, don't torture me." For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you impure spirit." Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs. Allow us to go into them." He gave them permission and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about 2,000 in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there dressed and in his right mind and they were afraid.
We see this very tortured man. Not just possessed by one demon, but a legion of them. From what I understand what a legion is, that's like thousands. So, very tortured. Physically, it says he was cutting himself with stones. He was breaking chains which would cause probably lesions on his arms and legs. There was physical healing that was needed, but there was also spiritual healing. So, here we see Jesus demonstrating his power. Because when he chose to heal this man, he showed his power not only over the physical, but over the spiritual. He was healing his body and his soul. We see here that the demons know who he is. It said, in verse seven, "What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the most high God?" They knew who he was. They knew, the demons knew his power. Many of the people watching didn't know yet, though. So, Jesus used this opportunity to heal this man that very much needed healing and also to display his power to those who were watching. He was showing that he wasn't just a man. He wasn't just a prophet or even just a rabbi. He was divine. He was showing his divinity, that he was fully God and fully man, and he had the power to heal physically and spiritually. There's always purpose in Jesus' healings, as we know, but in this instance, it was to display his power. So, we see power over spiritual and physical. So, after he healed this man, he went on his way and marked in his gospel, he leads us right into two more stories of healing. They're a little bit in different order in the other gospels, but here, he immediately goes into two stories.
Many people call it the story of the two daughters. It's one of my favorite stories in the gospels, especially about Jesus' healing. It is so beautiful. But we're gonna jump down to Mark 5, 21, and we're gonna pick up where Jesus is walking through town. It says, "When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue leaders named Jairus came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. He pleaded earnestly with him, 'My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.' So, Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years." So, we're gonna come back to Jairus' daughter, but here we have this other story coming out. "She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak because she thought, 'If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.' Immediately, immediately, her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.”
This woman was an outcast. She was likely unmarried, or if she was and had, maybe had a family, she couldn't touch them without making them unclean in their culture. Because of her bleeding, because of the hemorrhaging, she could not touch anything without making it unclean. And there was a ritual and a process that they had to go through in order to become clean again. So, she couldn't just go out in public and be around people without risking making someone unclean. She couldn't go worship in the synagogue because she was unclean. She was alone, broken, discouraged. She was desperate for healing, but also because of what her issue meant for her, she was desperate for restoration. She knew that it would be a risk to go into a crowded street, potentially make everyone she encountered unclean, and touch just the robe of Jesus' cloak. But she was healed. Immediately, she was healed. It goes on to say in verse 30, "At once, Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, 'Who touched my clothes?'" You see the people crowding against you, his disciples answered, and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet." Notice this is the third time these people have fallen at his feet. "Came and fell at his feet, and trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.’"
So as he's on his way to heal a daughter, he encounters another woman who is an outcast, who very likely has been ostracized from her family, or at the very least can't touch them, and he calls her daughter. This story so beautifully demonstrates Jesus' compassion. He had compassion for her. We saw that she was already healed. He could have just kept walking. He was already on his way somewhere. He had a job to do. He had healing to get done. She was healed. She'll be fine. He can go on his way. But he knew it wasn't done. Her body may have been healed, but he still needed to restore her soul. His compassion went beyond her physical healing. He looked for her. He turned around, and he looked for her. He saw her. He called her daughter. He commended her for her faith. He made sure that she was seen and known. The world saw her as less than. Not good enough, not clean, not allowed to be in mainstream society, an outcast. But he saw her for who she was, and he gave her her value back. That is compassion. So he has displayed his power. He has displayed his compassion. And now we get back into the story of Jairus' daughter.
We're gonna pick up in verse 35. It says, "While Jesus was still speaking, "some people came from the house of Jairus, "the synagogue leader. "'Your daughter is dead,' they said. "'Why bother the teacher anymore?' "Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, "'Don't be afraid. Just believe.' "He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James, and John, "the brother of James. "When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, "Jesus saw a commotion with people crying and wailing loudly. "He went in and said to them, 'Why all this commotion and wailing? "'The child is not dead but asleep.' "But they laughed at him. "After he put them all out, "he took the child's father and mother and the disciples "who were with him and went in where the child was. "He took her by the hand and said to her, "'Talitha koum,' which means, 'Little girl, I say to you, get up.' "Immediately, the girl stood up and began to walk around. "She was 12 years old. "At this, they were completely astonished. "He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this "and told them to give her something to eat.”
A few things here. She was 12. So, Scripture was written very intentionally. The woman had been bleeding for the entire life of this girl. She had been struggling for the entire life. And there were two, they're both two daughters here. So while he was on the way to heal this daughter, he healed his other daughter. But here in this story, with the little girl that he raised from the dead, he demonstrated the coming kingdom of God. Now, you can make an argument that this is very much demonstrating his power and compassion, and that is true too. They're not all compartmentalized. But here, he is showing what the kingdom of God is going to be like. He was pointing to what is to come. In the kingdom of God, there are no more consequences of sin. There is no more brokenness. There is no more suffering or problem of evil. There is wholeness. There is life. There is new. There is restoration. In the coming kingdom of God, he will call all of us to rise from our sleep. And as he told them to give her something to eat, he will prepare a feast for us at his table in glory. Death and evil has been defeated. And he wanted to show that. Look, I have the power to raise from the dead, and one day, everyone will be raised with me. There will be no more sin or crying. There will be no more pain. And as we see his power, his compassion, and his coming kingdom.
There's a passage in Matthew 15 that says, "Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others. And they put them at his feet, and he healed them." This is one of those times where just a general healing that he did. So he healed them so that the crowd wondered when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel. All of his healings were to point to the Father. His power and his compassion came from God the Father. And he wanted them to glorify and worship him because of their healing, just as we will in eternity. Now, I think something that we should take note of that I think is important is this, Jesus kind of displayed this pattern of faith when it came to healings. There's this, throughout many of the healing stories, there is some sort of belief and then wholeness, faith and then healing. He talks about the woman in our story today. She had, he said, "Your faith has healed you." Jairus had faith. He sought him out and came to him. That was faith. But then Jesus told him to keep believing, even after he had the news that she was dead. There's another story, I think of Luke 5, that there was a group of friends that had a friend that was paralyzed, and they wanted to take him to Jesus, but that Jesus was preaching in a house, and it was totally packed. They couldn't get to Jesus. So they problem solved, and they went on the roof, and they cut a hole in the roof, and they dropped their friends down at Jesus' feet. They were gonna get to him one way or another. But Jesus credited their faith for his healing after he healed the paralytic man. No, this is not always the case. There are instances where maybe faith came later, like there's John 9. There was a man who was born blind, and Jesus had healed him more or less to make another point, but then afterwards, the man put his faith in him. So there's some aspect of faith, either from the person being healed or from an advocate, a friend or family member, or even from the person doing the healing, but there's always an aspect of faith that is connected to the healing. Now, please hear me on this. This doesn't mean if you are not healed or the people you are praying for are not healed that you didn't have enough faith. I'm gonna say that one more time. If you are not healed or the person you're praying for is not healed, that does not mean you didn't have enough faith. While faith is connected, and we see it demonstrated multiple times, there is no measurement of how much faith these people had in order to receive healing. We don't know that they have this much faith, so they got their healing, but they only, that is not biblical. That is not in the Bible. It was God's mercy and His kindness and His grace that allow for those healings this side of heaven.
So healing or praying for healing does require faith. But our faith does not always equal healing. Here's the good news, though. When we put our faith in Jesus, healing is inevitable. For those of us that are in Christ, healing is inevitable. There will be healing either in this life or in eternity. Revelation 21, 4 says, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain "for the old order of things has passed away." Amen. Sometimes when you're going through the thick of it and you are in the trial or the suffering, hearing someone say that healing is inevitable, whether now or in the time to come, that sounds a little bit like a platitude and I know it has been used as one, but I promise you it is good news. God will heal us now or in eternity. There's so much about this world and my own body that I can't wait for the Lord to heal and redeem and restore. So I wrote some things down that I thought, "What's not going to be in eternity?" In the coming kingdom of God, there will be no broken bones, no colds, no flus, no autoimmune disease, no infertility, no acid reflux, no weight issues, no cancer, no anxiety, no seizures, no autism, no higher load blood pressure, no strokes, no cuts or bruises, no splinters, no degenerative diseases, no sleep apnea, no blood sugar imbalances, no depression, no blood clots, no miscarriage, no headaches, no medications, no insomnia, no ADHD, no back pain, no joint replacements, no allergies, no digestive issues, no tendonitis, no comas, no fevers, no death, no more pain and no more crying. Can I get an amen? I can't wait. So for those of us who don't get the healing now, we can remember that heaven is coming. It feels far sometimes, but it's coming. And there's grace and there is purpose today and in our suffering now. And for those of us who do get the healing this side of heaven, we can celebrate and give God all the glory for that. We should celebrate. And we can also look towards the coming kingdom where all things will be made new because the reality is even if we get the healing now, something else could happen. We're all still going to die. That little girl he raised from the dead still died eventually. So while we're waiting, we can look towards heaven, we can look towards eternity and we don't have to worry about the cancer coming back or another traumatic experience or for the other shoe to drop. We can know that he is with us here and that we have eternity waiting for us where all will be made new, all will be restored and redeemed. So today I just encourage us to allow the healing ministry of Jesus to remind us of who he is, of his power and his compassion and the kingdom he's creating for us and to keep pursuing wholeness through faith even today.
Let's pray. Jesus, we thank you for your power and your compassion and your kingdom. We thank you that you do heal. Miracles and healing happen today, right now. Right now in their world. We thank you for that truth and we pray for those. But God, I also just thank you that heaven is coming, eternity is real and you will make all things new and you will bring restoration to all of our hurts and all of our pain and all of our sufferings that there will be no more crying or mourning or pain. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.