Determining Your Healing Style

Jesus Preached The Good News

One of the ways Jesus seems to have limited Himself was in the area of evangelism to gentiles. His earthly ministry focused primarily on the Jewish people. There are a few instances when He ministered to non-Jews. These, however, are mostly cases where the gentiles sought Him out, rather than the other way around.

Jesus did fulfill to the role of the evangelist, which is the proclamation of the good news. The word "evangelist" means, "one who proclaims good news." In Jesus' first public ministry at His home town synagogue in Nazereth, Jesus states that He is anointed to "preach good news." Jesus told His disciples that He had to continue to travel to all the towns and "preach the good news of the kingdom of God." That is why He was sent, to be an evangelist.

There are few examples in scripture of Jesus using healing as a tool of evangelism. One of those examples is found in Matthew 8:5-11:

And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto Him a centurion, beseeching Him, and saying, "Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented." And Jesus saith unto him, "I will come and heal him." The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, 'Go,' and he goeth; and to another, 'Come,' and he cometh; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he doeth it."

When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to them that followed, "Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven."

At another time, Jesus seemed to be reluctant about healing a Caananite woman's daughter. However, she was persistent and impressed Jesus with her faith. So He healed the girl. While Jesus was primarily sent to the house of Israel, He did, on occasion reach out to non-Jews. Sometimes He employed healing as a means of reaching them.

Many other times, healing was used as a method of convincing unbelieving Jewish people. On one occasion, this resulted in the entire household coming to faith in Christ. We see this in John 4:51-53:

While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour." Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.

A Prophet With Honor

After being rejected in Nazareth, Jesus proclaimed, "Only in his home town and in his own house is a prophet without honor" Matthew 13:57. The crowd in Jerusalem recognized Him as "Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee" Matthew 21:11. The Pharisees wanted to arrest Jesus, but they were afraid of how the people would respond because they all felt He was a prophet.

Jesus prophesied and operated keenly in prophetic gifts. He used the miracles to make prophetic statements. He also, at times, healed in a prophetic style. The healing of the man born blind demonstrates this style well. The timing and method used are prophetic, as is the way Jesus confronts the religious spirit in the leaders.

The entire chapter of John nine is devoted to telling this account. One Sabbath day, Jesus encountered a man that had been blind from birth. His disciples, bound by a legalistic notion that someone sinned in order for this man to be in this condition, are confounded. "Who sinned?" they asked. Jesus used their question to proceed into a prophetic discourse on the times. He spoke of night and day, light and darkness. Concluding with the statement, "I am the Light of the World." This statement is made in the context of a man who is blind and a nation that is blind. Without light no one can see. God would be glorified when this young man's eyes were opened, and darkness gave way to light. God would also be glorified when the nation was removed from darkness and brought into light.

After these statements, Jesus spit on the ground and mixed His saliva with the dirt. He took this "mud dough" and placed it on the man's eyes. This is prophetic act is reminiscent of creation. God formed man out of dusk. Some have suggested that perhaps Jesus was forming new eyes for the man. That is a possibility. What we do know is that by mixing the saliva and mud, Jesus was breaking a religious law. The law of kneading. It was forbidden to knead dough on the Sabbath. Jesus confronted a religious spirit without saying a word. After the man received his sight, the Pharisees were angered by this method.

They began to investigate and cross examined the man who was healed. In the process, some began to change their opinion about Jesus. The pharasees asked this man what he knew about Jesus. And he declared in John 9:17, "He is a prophet."

The man could now see and some of the Pharisees were beginning to have their spiritual vision restored. They were having their spiritual eyes opened. The once-blind man believed Jesus was a prophet. The Pharisees were enraged and threw the man out. When Jesus heard this, He said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind." John 9:39. Jesus used healing to prophetically show that He wanted to heal spiritual blindness.

Jesus The Apostle

The word "apostle" means one who is sent. Jesus repeatedly referred to Himself as one who was sent from the Father. He was The Apostle sent from heaven to earth. Jesus spoke often about the fact that He was sent. He seemed to rely on this as the credentials and motivation for His ministry.

Jesus understood the apostolic nature of His mission. In His first recorded sermon He said, " The Spirit of the Lord is on me; He has sent me to proclaim freedom for prisoners." In His last recorded prayer He prayed, "As You have sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world." He knew His apostolic calling and He ministered out of that calling.

Apostolic Healing In Jesus' Ministry

There are several examples of what I would call apostolic healing in Jesus' ministry. The one I would like to point out is the woman with a blood issue from Luke 8:43-48:

And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind Him and touched the edge of His cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

"Who touched me?" Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you." But Jesus said, "Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me."

Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at His feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched Him and how she had been instantly healed. Then He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace."

As we can see, Jesus moved in each of the healing styles. He taught as He healed, and He taught how to heal. He had great compassion and, at times, sought encounters for healing. On occasion, He reached out with healing to unbelievers. He used healing to make prophetic statements. He carried out an apostolic mission; which included healing. Jesus excelled at whatever He did.