In this message, Pastor John explores the significance of healing by Jesus in the gospels. Throughout the bible, physical sickness and disease is used to depict sin and its effects. When Jesus healed the sick and the lame, he was sending a clear message: a healer had come who could heal not only physical illness, but also the spiritual disease of sin.
In Matthew 9:12, Jesus tells the religious leaders of the day that only the sick need healing. If Jesus spoke only of physical sickness, that statement would have been needless. Jesus was speaking of sin. In this chapter of Matthew, Jesus has just called the publican Matthew to leave his unethical trade and become a disciple. Matthew has responded eagerly, staging a feast where his friends can meet his new Master. In polite Jewish society, Matthew and his friends were not accepted. Jesus faced criticism for joining the feast: “Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?” demanded the Pharisees. His answer surely must have puzzled them. He further explained: “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
When we deny our own sickness, our own sinfulness, we join the Pharisees in disparaging the needy sinners who receive Christ with joy. The bible teaches us that all have sinned. Not only did Jesus Christ die to defeat sin, He lives and intercedes in our lives today to bring healing from the effects of sin.
