The Healing Ministry of Jesus

Introduction

This paper looks at the healing ministry of Jesus.

This ministry is one of the most acknowledged yet controversial parts of His work on earth. However, He is the most recognized healer because of His expertise and compassion, as the paper will illustrate. This research is based on historical data on the work Jesus did on earth.

It will prove how important Jesus’ ministry was and the connection it has with today’s ministry.

Expository of Matthew 8: 16-17 KJV

“When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed…” Jesus used the words of His mouth to cast out spirits and healed the sick, which fulfilled the prophecy that Isaiah spoke of. Not one person has been recorded to have come to Jesus for healing and they remained ill after He ministered to them. All who went to Jesus for deliverance were tormented no more. Jesus was not an advocate of grave calamities. Though some people did not have enough faith, Jesus did not deny them their miracle. He would heal them and encourage others to realize what God could do with just a little faith. Jesus illustrated the will of God in His healing ministry.

The healing ministry of Jesus can be broken down into two parts: physical healing and spiritual healing.

The physical healing is that which He did before the cross and taught His disciples to do and which we can witness through our faith today. Jesus healed us spiritually when He died on the cross. By doing so, we were saved from sin and protected from death. This thesis focuses more on the physical evidence of healing.

Background information

Jesus was the greatest doctor of all time. He never lost a patient. Richard Lee asserts that He did not go to any medical school and did not require any tablets or manufactured medicine to perform healing on His patients.[1] Instead, like the herbal doctors, He made use of nature to heal many. Jesus on one occasion mixed his spittle with mud and used the mixture to heal a blind man’s eyes.

On the other hand, Isaiah Powers declares that He, unlike the herbal doctors, used the words of His mouth,[2] and miracle healings would occur. Many people went to Him with great faith and believed that they would be healed. People are left with their desires fulfilled and their needs met. The Holy Bible cites several cases of people who were healed by Jesus.

Although not all of Jesus’ patients were documented, here are a few of them from the Bible: One, in particular, is the story of a woman who had been bleeding for a long time. Her healing occurred when she touched the edge of the cloth that Jesus wore, and Jesus pronounced that her faith had finally healed her. There is also the story of the ten men that were laden with leprosy and who, after being healed went away without looking back, and one of them returned to thank the son of God. A blind man had his sight restored after Jesus had mixed His spittle with mud and told him to go and bathe at Siloam. The Bible illustrates this aspect of the ministry of Jesus in a verse in the Gospel of Luke: Luke 4: 40 (King James) says, “Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.”¹ At times, the miracles Jesus performed were unthinkable. He raised the dead. Lazarus had been dead for some time, but Jesus raised him, and the resurrected Lazarus did not stink.

Theodore Soares says that it is not likely that healing was in the earlier plans of Jesus. He believes that Jesus was concerned with the spiritual mission that He was sent to accomplish. Soares further opines that His work was to lead man toward a certain quality of life that would get rid of all the ills in humanity.² Jesus prayed that the will of God would be fulfilled on earth just as it was in heaven. Later, as Soares says, Jesus must have discovered that the will of God was likely to be fulfilled, if men would become what He was to His father in heaven. In the same perspective, they would cohabit in peace, as Jesus did. The physical tribulations which were a major distress to man would vanish when the relationship between God and man was corrected in this way.

Jesus found Himself in the midst of a suffering humanity. He perceived the kingdom of God as the avenue for the blessing of the ill fated. In His perception of the right relations resident in humanity, the poor would receive help, freedom would come for the oppressed, and those who suffered would discover a ministry that was kindly. In this way, the heart of the son of God went out to the suffering, and He took the responsibility to give them hope. Healing was in this way born to His ministry.³

The healing ministry of Jesus

Jesus’ ministry to the sick had three striking aspects. The ailing are defenseless and Jesus knows this. He is aware that they require taking care of. Daniel Parks concludes that, He therefore breaks through the barrier of disease by touching them both in the physical and spiritual sense and restores hope and worth in their lives.⁴ Some have become outcasts in society due to their illness. Jesus came to minister for the sick too, so they can know that they are important. During His ministry, the sick were viewed as outcasts because they were thought to be unclean or contagious. In the perception of the people, their illness was a punishment from God, and so they had to be separated from the holy ones of God. His disciples’ actually illustrate this. They at one time inquired of Jesus whether it was the blind man or his parents who had sinned for him to be born in that condition.⁵ Jesus challenged this perception by getting into contact with the sick and outcasts and bringing them back into the society. Finally, in His ministry, Jesus emphasized the need for spiritual healing. He told the man at the pool at Bethsaida to give up his sin so that he would not be overtaken by something worse.

Peter, the disciple of Jesus, recognized the work that Jesus did in healing the sick through his ministry. He says that Jesus went around doing good and healing the people who were under the power of the devil, and He did this because God was with Him.⁶ Peter had been a witness of the work of Jesus for a long time, actually more than three years. This left him with an overpowering impression so that in reviewing the ministry of Jesus, Peter talks of Jesus performing the miracles of healing through the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit. He told the people on the day of Pentecost that God did the great things they saw through His son Jesus. Jesus said that the miracles He performed were proof that He was sent by the Father.

Lee Strobel adds that the healing of the physical body is a part of the God’s grace, which is responsible for salvation in the world.⁷ Healing is therefore based on the things that Jesus did for mankind. The willingness of God to heal mankind is based on what Jesus did, and not on the efforts or work of humankind. William Craig explains that even though Jesus preached that sin and disease were in no way related, He at other times related the forgiveness of sin with healing.⁸ Powers further observes that, the man who was suffering from paralysis was lowered through the ceiling by his friends to Jesus, and then his sins were declared as forgiven.⁹ It was not for the forgiveness of sin that the man had come. He had come so that his physical body could be healed. This proclamation brought about argument from the onlookers, but Jesus was quick to defend himself. He told them that it was easier to say that one’s sins had been forgiven than to tell the man to rise up and walk. To Him, the forgiveness of sin resulted in the healing of the body.

The importance of healing in the ministry of Jesus

Jesus had the power to perform miracles. It is for this reason that healing was an essential part of His ministry. Jesus knew he had this power and so did the people who came to him in multitudes. Jesus derived his power from His father above, and so he was confident of what he was capable of doing. Robert Stein highlights that He welcomed all to witness this power regardless of their ailments.¹⁰ The blind, like Bartimaeus, came to him. The crippled were not left behind either. Those with leprosy had become outcasts in their communities, but they were welcome in the healing presence of Jesus. The dead were brought to Him too, and he did not disappoint their relatives and friends. He woke them up just as if they had been sleeping. Jesus did not encounter any problem that proved too big for His skill, neither was He intimidated at any particular time. He was a healer sent from God himself.

Stein points out that one other reason why healing was essential in the ministry of Jesus is the fact that He had compassion that was equal to the power He had.¹¹ There is a time as the Bible tells us when Jesus’ plans were interrupted by the rapidly increasing crowd of people. He had planned a quiet retreat with his disciples but He took time to heal and feed them. This was unlike the expectations of His disciples in Matthew 8:17, who wanted the crowd to be chased away.¹²

People were aware of the compassion that Jesus exhibited and took advantage of it. They knew that any time they went to Him they would receive help, if only they managed to get access to Him. In Mark 14:36, the woman who had bled for a long time, crept through a thick crowd only to touch the edge of the cloth of Jesus; better known as the hem of Jesus’ garment.¹³ The Canaanite woman was continuously dismissed by the disciples of Jesus, but she struggled through them to get to Jesus, since she knew that He would grant her what she wanted.

Stein observes that apart from the above, the most fundamental reason for healing was so that Jesus could assert Himself as the son of God.¹⁴ This was in no way a show off, and Jesus refused to honor Herod’s expectation of a miracle for the reason that it was a test on His powers. In the works that He did, Jesus showed that God loved mankind.

Stein advocates, still another reason why healing was essential to this ministry; it was a symbol of the success of Jesus in the spiritual warfare that existed between Him and Satan.¹⁵ It is factual that disease, illness, and disaster in general entered the world through Satan. Jesus therefore had an obligation to defeat Satan by fighting these phenomena, and one of the ways He could achieve this was by healing the sick. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus Himself identified Satan as the enemy who was responsible for the harm that came upon humanity.¹⁶ The last book of the bible reveals Satan as a God-hater, and the only way to get back at God is to bestow harm on His creation, knowing well enough that humanity is created in the image of God.¹⁷

Extending the healing ministry of Jesus Christ

Jesus healed all the people who were brought to Him. The healing ministries in today’s world should base their works on this example from the Holy one. It is therefore wrong when our beliefs on healing are built on the experiences we have had or those that other people have had. These experiences discourage many from seeking God’s healing, as they say they know of a person or people who trusted God for healing, and yet their illnesses did not go away. Unfortunately, experiences like these are used by many to argue against the healings that have come from Jesus. The ministry of Jesus however should be the source of inspiration and confidence in overcoming disease.

Ellen White speaks of an erroneous dichotomy, saying that it is only in modern religion that preaching is separated from healing.¹⁸ It is evident from the scriptures that people were healed in all the places that Jesus appeared and preached. In every meeting that He graced, He was not only the preacher, but also the doctor, and the sick were brought from everywhere to receive His miracle. Today, if anyone goes to a prayer gathering for healing, one has to wait until the preacher calls out to the sick for them to receive their healing. This was not so with the ministry of Jesus. Healing could be slotted anywhere within His schedule. Jesus would heal the sick before, during, and after His preaching. All one needed to do was get to Him.

After resurrection, Jesus sent out His disciples to preach the gospel. He did not forget to remind them that wherever the gospel was preached, healing was to be to delivered to those that sought it. White wrote that Jesus believed that if anyone believed in Him and the work He did in the world, then that person or those people had to do exactly what He did in His ministry.¹⁹ Since healing had been part of His ministry, they therefore had the responsibility to take over the full ministry from Him. In the same way that Jesus had healed the sick, his disciples also did what He expected of them. Peter and John, for instance, told the man at the temple gate that they had neither silver nor gold to offer but could offer, him healing in the name of Jesus. The man walked away, complete again.

White further points out that the disciples faced a lot of opposition from the authorities for their healing ministry.²⁰ They were thrown into prison for what they did. However, when they left prison, they prayed that God would increase the healing anointing in the church. They were the true followers of their teacher. Paul was another man of God who healed and performed miracles, believing that healing and performing miracles were of the essence in establishing the kingdom of God. He had not been one of the disciples, but he believed strongly in Jesus as the son of God. In modern church ministry, healing the sick is not a major focus, but there is no biblical basis for ignoring the sick. The Bible sets a clear example of how the Gospel should be ministered, but we are adamant in following cultural practices and psychological reasoning.²¹

Matthew claims that Jesus preached the same message that John the Baptist had preached, before the latter baptized Jesus. This message is referred to by Matthew as the good news of the kingdom.²² Strobel describes the healing work of Jesus in a less metaphorical way than Stein does. According to Strobel, the presentation of the healings He carries out is more literal, and refers to the healing of all the diseases and illnesses that were present.²³ He fails to recognize the fact the healings were in every way miraculous. He also fails to indicate whether the healing had anything to do with the knowledge Jesus had on medicine and herbs. In those days, many religious people expected to have a good amount of knowledge of medicine and herb health remedies. Many Christians, however, believe that all the healings that Jesus carried out were purely miraculous.

Strobel further states that people came from different regions to be healed by Jesus.²⁴ This implies that the Gospel of Jesus and the work that He did was spread far and wide. Hence, Matthew lists several of the regions that brought out sick people to be cured of their illnesses.

Since Jesus’ time of ministering the word and healing the sick, one of the signs of the kingdom of God for the Christians is care for the sick and the diseased.²⁵ In following the example set by Jesus himself, the Christian community has the responsibility to remove the barriers that those who are suffering sickness or are on the deathbed feel. Christians must attempt to make these people feel a part of the community.²⁶ Reaching out to the sick extends the sick’s expectation and hope of a gradual healing or a miraculous one, and forgiveness of their sin. The modern church continues the work that Jesus started through hospitals and such other care as providing palliative facilities, which are especially a necessity for those with no hope of recovery.

Christ exhibited compassion, generosity, and self-sacrifice by healing all those that came to Him. By imitating this character of Christ, the church will be the modern day Christ for those in need. Home care is also provided as an extension of the services of the church. It is given to the elderly people with disabilities, and others who cannot get access to hospital care. This mission should be the responsibility of every member of the society; everyone knows that one day, providing one lives long enough, they are going to get old, and reap whatever they have sown or not sown for caring for others. The healing ministry is instituted by the church so that care –givers can be brought together to assist those in need in the example of Jesus.

The twelve disciples in the healing ministry of Jesus

Jesus called the twelve disciples so that they could preach the word of God with Him wherever he went. However, the Gospel of Mark gives more reasons why Jesus called the twelve. One of these reasons is that Jesus wanted the disciples to be with Him. This was to accompany them in His work ministering to the people. By accompanying Him wherever He went, the disciples would learn about Jesus and learn from Him. The scriptures say that they were called to witness His activities as well as to master what He taught. They were well placed with Him as then they would observe and master His teachings. Jesus knew that ultimately, He would entrust the work He did to the disciples and so He needed them to be in close contact with His work.

In addition to this, Jesus needed the disciples to become His apostles.²⁷ He needed them to minister elsewhere and to be assistants in His healing ministry. Jesus, trusting His disciples, sent them out on their own to represent Him, preaching what He preached. Among the responsibilities that they had, they were to preserve the ministry and the testimony of Christ. This was the foundation the church would grow from. Though Christ is the beginning of the church, the Bible asserts that it was founded on the efforts and documentations of the apostles.

Variations in the healings of Jesus Christ

When patients were brought to Jesus, they expected to be healed. Not a single report was found, of a person believing that what he or she was suffering from is an unknown illness or a disease that Jesus could not heal. Soares explained this simply stating, that Jesus healed all sorts of diseases.²⁸ White echoes Soares sentiments saying, those that believed, approached Him and received.²⁹ He received people with leprosy and they went away happy. He healed fevers and paralysis alike. He was not hindered by demons, and was able to cast them out by with His words. He also cured blindness, muteness, and a 12-year hemorrhaging problem in one woman. Death did not intimidate him, nor prove to be an exception to His healing power.

In modern society, there is a lot of discrimination. Usually, this is based on sex, race, and age among other things. Jesus preached love. Gerrie Haar agreed with Soares and White and said that, He demonstrated this by the variety of people that He healed.³⁰ He healed both Jews and Gentiles, two groups of people that never mixed. As an example, a servant of the Roman centurion was an outcast and a member of the low class was a Gentile. He healed him just as He did an Israelite leper who was also an outcast and a low-life. He welcomed both the young and the old, male and female. He did not choose between the social classes for special treatment. He healed the rich and the poor. He even healed the ear of one of His arresting officers.

There were those that were able to come to Him and those that were brought to Him on stretchers. It was recorded, that He healed one paralytic that was so determined to be healed that the paralytic’s friends carried him on a stretcher and lowered him through the ceiling to Jesus. Soares advocates that, He went after two people that were possessed by demons to illustrate that He could also go to those who needed healing.³¹ All these He sent away as new persons. Others he touched while others had to touch Him in order to receive their healing. He healed the dead as well as those who had already died. A dead girl was made to live again through the faith of her family. His skills were for the physical and the spiritual needs of humanity.

Common characteristics in the healings of Jesus Christ

Jesus healed with compassion and turned away not one person. His healings were evidence of the compassion He had for the needy. His works proved that He was from the Lord and sent to do the will of the Father. No man could do the works that Jesus did, least God be with Him. Today, whenever a minister of the word heals the sick, they often ask for an offering. They claim that this is to enable them to carry on the work of God. The only thing Jesus ever asked for prior to healing someone was belief in Him that He was able to do it. God had given Him the power to do it. His work was to glorify God by doing what He was sent to do for humanity.

In modern ministry, faith healers are known to tell their followers to go away and await their miracle once they have prayed for them. Strobel points out that, most of the recorded healings by Jesus were instantaneous and did not fail.³² In addition, there was no trumpet blast in the healing ministry of Jesus like exists among our current healers. Once He had pronounced healing or touched the sick, the show was over and the healed went away while He continued with His work. Like today, Jesus provoked the hatred of his enemies and He often told those who received His miracles not to tell anyone. His enemies were mostly Religious leaders and this is no different from modern day religion.

Conclusion

Many Christian church ministers today, claim to be involved in healing. Jesus used His authority nature and the inspiration of God to cure disease. His healings could therefore be said to been miracles. Lee interjects that, ministers today, involve diagnosis and therapy.³³ These methods are not like the example Jesus gave, and are based on scientific evidence and inventions. Medicine eliminates physical symptoms of diseases. Therapy such as psychotherapy deals with psychological disorders. Jesus had only one discipline in the field of medicine, His words, and touch. We could therefore ask what the relationship between the healing ministry and the scientific healings today is.

Robert Thomas found, evidently, Jesus ministry is above the scientific disciplines.³⁴ The Christian churches therefore, in accordance with the works of Jesus, have a special healing ministry. To interpret the healing ministry of Jesus, it is essential to understand the healing miracles He performed. His healing miracles are interpreted within the context of His words that the Kingdom of God was in the midst of the people. This meant that Jesus was the one who would fulfill their hope of salvation. It is therefore through His son that God devoted His attention to the world. Jesus healing is not the healing of today’s medicine. It does not just provide physical or psychological relief but provides a connection with God.

Jesus did not use healing as an identity and therefore entrusted His work to His disciples because He desired that the work continue after Him. He gave His disciples the authority and the power to continue healing the sick. Luke says that He also entrusted the ministry to seventy-two other disciples. The gospel He preached could not stand without the salvation, which His healings illustrated. The healings, hence, had to be within the framework of the Gospel.

Thomas annotates that the healing ministry does not only apply to the disciples that Jesus addressed directly. It is therefore not limited to the early church alone but to contemporary Christianity as well.³⁵ God intervened into history through His Son. Strobel writes, Jesus left a helper in the name of the Holy Spirit and so His work is still evident in the healing miracles today.³⁶

White concludes, that unfortunately, Jesus’ healing ministry has been neglected, because of the advances in medicine.³⁷ Science is now credited for the advances in medicine, and that medicine has taken precedence over the competence of physical and spiritual healing. It is therefore true to state, that the miracles that were performed by Jesus have fallen to the hands of medical doctors, sociologists, and psychologists. Christianity no longer has a place in therapy. The Christian tradition, though still prevalent, is currently ignored, and on most occasions, deemed as irrelevant by dispensationalist and surprisingly, some Christians. Consequently, the finding on the healing ministry of Jesus, past and present, will always be controversial for unbelievers, until the doctor tells one that they are terminally ill, and there is nothing more that he can do to heal their body.

Works Cited

1. Craig, William. Reasonable Faith. West Monroe, Louisiana: Howard Publishing, 1995. p. 147.
2. Haar, Gerrie. Spirit of Africa. C. Hurst and Co Publishers, 1992. p. 381-384.
3. Lee, Richard. The Healing Touch of Jesus. West Monroe, Louisiana: Howard Publishing, 1995. p. 65.
4. Powers, Isaiah. Healing Words from Jesus. London: Oxford University Press, 1998. p. 3
5. Soares, Theodore. Jesus’ Work in Galilee: His Healing Ministry. The University of Chicago Press, 1910. p. 118.
6. Parks, Daniel. “The Healing Ministry of Jesus Christ”. Western Catholic Reporter (2005). p. 1
7. Stein, Robert. Jesus the Messiah. New York: Intervarsity Press, 1996. p. 24
8. Strobel, Lee. The Case for Christ. London: Zondervan Publishers, 1998. p. 101.
9. Strobel, Lee. The Case for a Creator. London: Hobart Publishers, 2000. p. 11.
10. Thomas, Robert. A Harmony for the Gospel. London: Zondervan Publishers, 1995. p. 91-96
11. White, Ellen. The Ministry of Healing. N, J: Pacific Press Publishing, 1942. p. 102-104.

Footnotes

1. The Holy Bible King James version Luke 4: 40.
2. Theodore Soares, Jesus’ Work in Galilee: His Healing Ministry (The University of Chicago Press, 1910), 117.
3. Soares, 117.
4. Daniels Parks. “The Healing Ministry of Jesus Christ” Western Catholic Reporter (2005), 1.
5. John 9:2.
6. Act 10: 37.
7. Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ (London: Zandervan Publishers, 1998), 24.
8. William Craig, Reasonable Faith (Louisiana: Howard Publishing, 1995)
9. Powers, Healing Words from Jesus (London: Oxford University Press, 1998)
10. Robert Stein, Jesus the Messiah (New York: Intervarsity Press, 1996)
11. Stein, Jesus the Messiah (New York: Intervarsity Press, 1996)
12. Matthew 8:17.
13. Mark 14: 36.
14. Stein, Jesus the Messiah (New York: Intervarsity Press, 1996)
15.  Stein, Jesus the Messiah (New York: Intervarsity Press, 1996)
16. Luke 13: 16.
17. Revelation 12: 12.
18.  Ellen White, The Ministry of Healing (N,J: Pacific Press Publishing, 1942)
19.  White, The Ministry of Healing (N,J: Pacific Press Publishing, 1942)
20.  White, The Ministry of Healing (N,J: Pacific Press Publishing, 1942)
21. Hamilton and Helena Filmalter
22. The Holy Bible (New King James Version) Matt.
23. Strobel, The Case for Christ (London: Zandervan Publishers, 1998), 53.
24. Strobel, The Case for Christ (London: Zandervan Publishers, 1998), 24.
25. Craig, Reasonable Faith (Louisiana: Howard Publishing, 1995)
26.  Stein, Jesus the Messiah (New York: Intervarsity Press, 1996)
27. Stein, Jesus the Messiah (New York: Intervarsity Press, 1996)
28. Soares, Jesus’ Work in Galilee: His Healing Ministry ( The University of Chicago Press, 1910), 118.
29. White, The Ministry of Healing (N,J: Pacific Press Publishing, 1942)
30.  Gerrie Haar, Spirit of Africa (C. Hurst and Co Publishers, 1992)
31.  Soares, Jesus’ Work in Galilee: His Healing Ministry ( The University of Chicago Press, 1910), 118.
32.  Strobel, The Case for Christ (London: Zandervan Publishers, 1998), 101.
33. Lee, The Healing Touch of Jesus (Louisiana: Howard Publishing, 1995), 65.
34. Robert Thomas, A Harmony for the Gospel (London: Zondervan Publishers, 1995)
35.  Thomas, A Harmony for the Gospel (London: Zondervan Publishers, 1995)
36. Strobel, The Case for a Creator (London: Hobart Publishers, 2000)
37. White, The Ministry of Healing (N,J: Pacific Press Publishing, 1942)