Luke 7:19-22 And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? (20) When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? (21) And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. (22) Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye 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.
Yesterday, I talked quite a bit about Jesus’ power to perform miracles and especially his power over death. In doing so, I made a distinct contrast between what Jesus did and his REAL power over illness, nature and death versus the claims that so-called “faith healers” make today. Apparently part of the problem with this issue is the misunderstanding of why Jesus did these miracles.
Did Jesus heal the crippled of his day to rid our society of crippling disease? Surely not because either it would be wiped out, or Jesus failed because we still have it rampant in our world. Did Jesus still storms to put an end to natural calamities? He must not have, because we still have them.
Jesus demonstrated the deistic power to prove that he is IN CONTROL and to cause the people of his time and all people of the future, to believe in HIM! (John 20:29-31) That is proved out by our text today.
I once met a preacher that claimed that he had all of the power that Jesus did. I was amazed to say the least. I frankly, but politely told him that I did not believe that he did. So I asked him to prove it. I suggested that we go to the nearest cemetery and that he raise someone from the dead. He refused my challenge because there was no point in that because I didn’t believe. I assured him that if he truly caused a dead man to live again I WOULD be a believer. He still refused. This man and all others like him has not read what Jesus says about why he did these things.
In our text today, John the Baptist sends two of John’s disciples to find out if Jesus is THE Messiah of which they were looking. What was Jesus’ response? He let his actions do his talking.
Luke 7:21-22 And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. (22) Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye 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.
Jesus did not tell these people they would never believe it even if they saw it. He performed MANY miracles, of all varieties, for the purpose of proving to these two men that he had the power! Now lets look at the last seven words of our passage today. This again is a real distinction between how and why Jesus performed miracles verses the pretenders of today.
Luke 7:22 ....to the poor the gospel is preached.
All of the benevolent works that Jesus did was for this purpose: To PREACH the gospel. Everything that he did was for the purpose of capturing attention of the followers so that they would listen to him about the will of God. Every so-called faith healer I have ever seen or heard up until now, the “healing” was their message! That is all they talk about. It is the focus and center of their religion.
Again, Jesus did NOT COME TO heal. He healed so that he could preach and lead lost souls to a knowledge of the truth that would save their eternal lives.
Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Let us all have the same motives and focus that Jesus had!
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