Chapter Five – Details of Jesus’ Ministry

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John the Baptist, from prison, sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are You He that should come? Or look we for another?” (Luke 7:19-20). They wanted to know whether He was the Messiah foretold to come.

Jesus replied, “Go your way, and tell John what things you have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached” (Lk 7:22). Christ also “cured many…of evil spirits”—He cast out demons (Lk 7:21).

But why? How did healing the infirm, resurrecting the dead, freeing the demon-possessed, and other miracles, along with preaching the good news of the kingdom of God to the poor, define Jesus’ ministry?

Why Healing?

The four gospel accounts record that Christ performed astounding miracles. Many of His most dramatic were healings. Jesus made the lame walk, gave sight to the blind, healed lepers and other diseased people, and “healed all that were sick” (Matt. 8:16).

The record demonstrates that Jesus healed large numbers of people and captured the attention of constantly growing masses. Yet when Lazarus, a dear friend, was seriously ill, and then died before Christ came to visit him, family and friends grieved. They did not understand what Jesus meant when He said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).

They understood there would come a time when God would resurrect all human beings back to physical life. But they did not grasp that Jesus Christ not only had the power to heal, He possessed the authority to resurrect—not just at His Second Coming, but right then and there while He was in the flesh! (Read Jn 11:38-45.) Jesus is God. His power to heal and resurrect came from His Father, who also is God. Together, they are one God, one divine Family that is adding to its membership begotten children who will one day be born into that Family.

The ability to raise people back to physical life is a type of the ultimate healing to come: the resurrection. Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). This was not some emotional religious “high” millions have been deceived into accepting. Christ was talking about being born again literally! But not from physical to physical—rather from physical to spirit: “That which is born of the flesh IS FLESH; and that which is born of the Spirit IS SPIRIT” (Jn 3:6). God’s Word declares, “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (I Cor. 15:50).

While Jesus’ miraculous power to heal drew crowds, it also drew the ire of the scribes and Pharisees, who felt their status and influence over the people threatened. These spiritually blind religious leaders were much more concerned with elevating their “righteousness” in the eyes of the people than in sincerely serving their needs. Their focus was entirely wrong! They emphasized the importance of meticulously observing the “exactness” of the Law, which they made into a terrible burden with their unscriptural codes of “do’s and don’ts.”

For example, when Jesus healed on the Sabbath, the Pharisees were so focused on observing this weekly holy day their way that they failed to see the Law’s spiritual intent: Love, first toward God, then neighbour.

God’s Law is not a burden—it is “spiritual” (Rom. 7:14) and “the commandment [is] holy, and just, and good” (Rom 7:12). Keeping the Ten Commandments expresses selfless, outgoing concern toward God and neighbour, “therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10).

Remember Adam and Eve. They had two trees set before them—symbolically, two polar opposite ways of life—and the decision of colossal magnitude. Eating of the Tree of Life meant choosing a lifetime of faithful obedience to God, trusting in the Creator for His divine guidance, direction, knowledge, understanding and wisdom. But eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil meant rejecting God for guidance, and relying on oneself for judging how to live.

Man ate the fruit of the wrong tree—and for the past 6,000 years humanity has decided for itself what religious practices to embrace, what kinds of food to eat and how often, what types of governments and laws to administer, his own forms of education, whether men would look to God for healing or rely on complex medicines to overcome health issues, etc.

Today, similar to Christ’s time, people are sickly, diseased, overworked, overstressed, overweight and physically inactive. Usually people get sick because they have broken God’s laws and principles governing good health. Laws and principles governing…

Communicable diseases: Lev. 5:2-3; 7:19, 21; 11:24-28, 31-40; 13:2-59; 14:2-3, 8-9, 34-48,54-57; 15:2-13, 16-28, 32-33; 22:4-8; Num. 5:2-4; 9:6, 10; 19:11-16, 22; 31:19-20; Deut. 23:10-11; 24:8

Venereal diseases: Lev. 15:2-13, 16-28, 31-33; 22:4, 6

Quarantining the sick and diseased: Lev. 13:2-5, 31-33, 45-46; 14:2-3, 8, 34-38; 15:19;Num. 5:2-3; 31:11-20; Deut. 23:10-11

Disinfections: Lev. 2:13; 7:19; 11:24-40; 13:6, 34, 47-59; 14:8-9, 34-48, 54-57; 15:2-13, 16-28; Num. 31:19-20, 22-24

Sanitation: Ex. 29:14, 34; Lev. 4:11-12, 21; 6:30; 7:17, 19; 8:17, 32; 9:11; 16:27-28; 19:6;Deut. 23:12-13; Heb. 13:11

Food: Lev. 3:17; 7:15-19, 23-27; 11:2-23, 26-27, 29-43, 46-47; 17:10-15; 19:5-8, 26; 22:8;Deut. 12:16, 20-25; 14:3-21, 26; 15:22-23

Uncleanness: Lev. 20:2-6, 10-21; Deut. 27:20-23

Alcohol consumption: Isa. 5:11, 22; Prov. 23:19-20, 29-35

Disease resulting from gluttony: Num. 11:18-20, 31-33

Overcrowded living conditions: Isa. 5:8

Sometimes people inherit diseases, or the propensity to acquire them, from ancestors who brought on the effects of transgressing against the biblical principles of healthy living.

And in some cases, no one is at fault: “And as Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was blind from his birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

“Jesus answered, Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest [revealed, made obvious] in him” (John 9:1-3).

When Christ healed, it drew attention. It caused great numbers to stop and consider the power of God, and to listen to His message. Jesus, as the Lord of the Old Testament, was the One who led ancient Israel through the wilderness into the Promised Land—and therefore the One who announced, “I am the LORD that heals you” (Ex. 15:26).

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