Jesus and the miracle of healing

1. Jesus and the miracle of healing

2. The Miracle of Healing 2 • A common view in some Christian circles: • If we had more miracles, more people would believe in Jesus.

3. The Miracle of Healing 3 • John 6:1-2: Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. • John 6:9; "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" • John 6:26: Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.”

4. The Miracle of Healing 4 • John 7:1-4: After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life. But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, • 3. Jesus' brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world." • 5. For even his own brothers did not believe in him. [Even though they saw miracles.]

5. The Miracle of Healing 5 • John 10:24-25: The Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me ...”

6. The Miracle of Healing 6 • John 10:31-33: Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?“ "We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."

7. The Miracle of Healing 7 • John 10:37-39: Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, • even though you do not believe me, • believe the miracles, • [so] that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” • Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.

8. The Miracle of Healing 8 • John 12:9-10: Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well [as Jesus]

9. The Miracle of Healing 9 • John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. • Question: What did they have to believe? • John 20:31: ... these are written that you may believe that Jesus is • the Christ, • the Son of God, • and that by believing you may have life in his name.

10. The Miracle of Healing 10 • John 20:30-31: Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written • [so] that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and • that by believing you may have life in his name. • Note: John calls the miracles Jesus did ‘miraculous signs’.

11. The Miracle of Healing 11 • Miracles • Miraculous signs • Evidential miracles • Question: • What did the miracles signify? • Answer: • That Jesus is the Christ /Messiah; Son of God. • Question: • How did they signify that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God?

12. The Miracle of Healing 12 • Isaiah 35:3-6: (Read) • Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you." • Then will the eyes of the blind be opened • and the ears of the deaf unstopped. • Then will the lame leap like a deer, • and the mute tongue shout for joy.

13. The Miracle of Healing 13 • Isaiah 35:4-6: "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come ... he will come to save you." • Then [at that time, when your God comes to save you] • will the eyes of the blind be opened • and the ears of the deaf unstopped. • Then [at that time, when your God comes to save you] • will the lame leap like a deer, • and the mute tongue shout for joy.

14. The Miracle of Healing 14 • Matthew 11:2-5: (Read) • When John [the Baptist] heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" • Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: • The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.”

15. The Miracle of Healing 15 • Mark 2:1-4: (Read) A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.

16. The Miracle of Healing 16 • Mark 2:5-7: (Read) • When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven.” • Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” • Question: Were the doctors of the law correct in this last statement?

17. The Miracle of Healing 17 • Mark 2:8-12. Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, `Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk'? • But [so] that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . ." He said to the paralytic, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” • When your God comes to save you ... Then ... At that time ... Healing! Jesus, here, is claiming deity.

18. The Miracle of Healing 18 • Mark 2:12: He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!" • Note: this is a significant miracle; a miraculous sign; an evidential miracle. • Question: but how did physical healing signify, imply forgiveness of sins and salvation? • Answer 1: Isaiah 35 • Answer 2: Salvation = spiritual healing (say some)!

19. The Miracle of Healing 19 • Answer 3: For the Jew ... physical healing and salvation were interlinked. • The Greek word sozo ... Over 100 occurrences in the NT • In the KJV translated • 92 – save (primary meaning) • 14 – made whole ; heal • 2 – others (preserve; do well) • Therapeuo & iaomai: see The Miracles of the Apostles

20. The Miracle of Healing 20 • Healing Miracles and Gentiles • God-fearing Gentiles • Pagan Gentiles (Dockers at Corinth to philosophers in Athens) • First, let’s look at the two God-fearing Gentiles that Jesus had dealings with.

21. The Miracle of Healing 21 • Luke 7; 1-5. (Read) • When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. • 2. There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. • 4. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.”

22. The Miracle of Healing 22 • Genesis 12:2-3: (Read) • "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; • I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. • I will bless those who bless you, • and whoever curses you I will curse; • and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." • The Abrahamic Covenant

23. The Miracle of Healing 23 • Luke 7: 6-9. (Read) • When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." • A God-fearing Gentile who attended the synagogue and knew, understood and believed what he had heard.

24. The Miracle of Healing 24 • Matthew 15:22-28: (Read) • 22. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession." • 23. Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." • 24. He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."

25. The Miracle of Healing 25 • Matthew 15:25-26. The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said. He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." • 27. "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." • 28. Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

26. The Miracle of Healing 26 • So what about Pagan Gentiles? • i.e. those who knew nothing about the God of Israel and the scriptures (OT). • What was the effect of healing miracles upon them?

27. The Miracle of Healing 27 • Pagan Gentiles: those who knew nothing about the God of Israel and the scriptures (OT). Acts 14:8-12 (Read) • Acts 14:8. In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. • 9. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, "Stand up on your feet!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. • 11. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!" • 12. Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.

28. The Miracle of Healing 28 • Acts 14:13-17 (Read). • 13-14. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: • 15-17. "Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. In the past, he let all nations go their own way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy."

29. The Miracle of Healing 29 • Acts 14:18: Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.

30. The Miracle of Healing 30 • Acts 17:22-30. (Read) • Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you ... • The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. ... We are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone - an image made by man's design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

31. The Miracle of Healing 31 • Acts 17:31-32: For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead." • When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject.“

32. The Miracle of Healing 32 • Acts 28:1-6 (Read). • 1-2. Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. • 3-4. Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, "This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”

33. The Miracle of Healing 33 • Acts 28:5. But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. • 6. The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god. • Comment: Gentiles & Miracles

34. The Miracle of Healing 34 • ‘Faith’ to be ‘healed’??? • Acts 14:8-10: In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, "Stand up on your feet!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. • Healed = sozo; saved or healed? • Question: Which is it? Healed or saved? • Question: What was Paul speaking about?

35. The Miracle of Healing 35 • Luke 17:12-19 (Read). • As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!“ When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.

36. The Miracle of Healing 36 • 15-16. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him--and he was a Samaritan. • 17-19. Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well." • Made well = sozo; saved or healed?

37. The Miracle of Healing 37 • Question: Which is it? Made well or saved? • Answer: saved . • Why? What about the other nine? They were healed and they showed no faith, but they were healed.

38. The Miracle of Healing 38 • Mark 5:25-34. (Read) • And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 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 her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

39. The Miracle of Healing 39 • Mark 5:30-32. 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.

40. The Miracle of Healing 40 • Mark 5: 33-34. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, 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." • Healed = sozo; saved or healed? • Question: Which is it? Healed or saved? • Go in peace (salvation) ... and ... • Be freed from your suffering (healing) • You faith has saved you [so] go in peace and be healed.

41. The Miracle of Healing 41 • Luke 7: 37-38: (Read) • When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet wit9h her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

42. The Miracle of Healing 42 • Luke 7:47-48. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven - for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." • 50. Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." • Note: Being healed does not give you peace with God, but knowing God has forgiven your sins does. • Woman with an issue of blood: Daughter, your faith has healedyou. Go in peace; healed should be saved

43. The Miracle of Healing 43 • Mark 10:46-52 (Read) • Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!“

44. The Miracle of Healing 44 • Mark 10: 48. Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!“ • 49. Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." • 50. Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

45. The Miracle of Healing 45 • Mark 10: 51-52. "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him. The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see.” "Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. • Healed = sozo; saved or healed • Question: Which is it? Healed or saved? • he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David ... • he shouted all the more, "Son of David ...

46. The Miracle of Healing 46 • Faith = pistis; saved = sozo • Luke 7;49-50; The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?“ Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith (pistis) has saved (sozo) you; go in peace." • Luke 18:41-42: Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith (pistis) hath saved (sozo) thee. (NIV has healed) • Ephesians 2:8: For it is by grace you have been saved, (sozo) through faith (pistis).

47. The Miracle of Healing 47 • Romans 3:28: For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law • Romans 4:5: However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. • Romans 5:1: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, • Galatians 3:24: So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.

48. The Miracle of Healing 48 • James 5: 14-16 (Read) Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. • 15. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. • 16. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective • Note: Nothing to do with the faith or prayers of the ill person • Question: What is going on here?

49. The Miracle of Healing 49 • Question: What is going on here?

50. The Miracle of Healing 50 • James 5: 14-16 (Read). • Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. • 15. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well [soz0]; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. • 16. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective • Note: Nothing to do with the faith or prayers of the ill person • Question: What is going on here?