what impressed me about today's passage was the order in which Matthew lists Jesus's activities as He starts His ministry. notice that although "people brought to Him all who were ill with various diseases" (matthew 4:24),"Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people" (matthew 4:23).
Jesus's primary activities were first and foremost going from place to place "teaching in the synagogues [and] preaching the good news of the kingdom (verse 23).
In other words, Jesus put a higher priority on the preaching of God's Word and the teaching of the people than on the healing of their diseases (even when the healing was the main reason for His popularity and the "great crowds").
i think this is so important. we so often come to Jesus when we have a problem. we desire comfort or relief from our afflictions,
when our most urgent need is not healing from our "diseases and pains", but to be in a right relationship with God. our first duty is not to seek healing, but to repent and "to believe in the One that He has sent" (john 17:3). our greatest need is forgiveness for our sins.
in the modern-day church, we are often encouraged to come to Jesus for a variety of reasons: failed marriages, substance abuse, physical healing, depression, financial difficulties, broken relationships, a troubled past etc etc.
and rightly so. Jesus proves in verses 24 and 25 that He has the power to heal "all manner of disease and pain" (verse 24).
yet whatever problems we may have, as legitimate as they are, they pale in comparison to the fact that we are estranged from God.
in fact, i wonder if many of our present unhappinesses come from the fact that we are so far away from Him and have been disobedient to what we know to be right and true.
Jesus recognized this. i think that's why He put priority on His teaching and preaching ministry. yes, He is the Healer and the Teacher, but first and foremost He is the Savior, and He came to this earth to give us "the one thing that is most needful".
we would do well to remember that our first and foremost need is to repent and "believe the good news" . all manner of healing will surely follow.
2 comments:
Samonim, that's really a good point of view on that part I think. We come to God and pray when we have problems. We don't want to listen to the words but just want to be healed more than anything. I wanna try to listen his words first and thank him first.
darla, thank you for a wonderful explanation of these verses... Jesus had great compassion for those in need of healing but as you pointed out his "priority" was to teach... may we change our priorities so that we seek the Words that leads to healing!
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