Jesus did so many things. In fact, John claims at the end of his Gospel that if someone recorded all the things that Jesus did, the world could not contain the books. This may be more literal than figurative when we consider that Jesus made everything in this world (Colossians 1:16). Just the DNA instructions alone from one person, if written out, would fill the Grand Canyon 40 times! His works are far beyond awesome. But it’s what Jesus did NOT do that also captures my attention.
First, and foremost, He never stopped someone who worshiped Him. Throughout the Bible either men or angels began to be worshiped and the first thing they did was to stop it because they were not God. Jesus, however did not stop it. This is a glaring indication that either He was guilty of sin by allowing a false god to be worshiped thus breaking one the biggest Jewish Laws or He was God in the flesh. There are several other supports to His deity, but this one seems to get little attention.
Second, after rising from the dead, there is no indication from Scripture that He appeared to His enemies that arranged His brutal crucifixion. He could have done this to prove to them how wrong they were. It would be like us sticking out our tongue at someone when we are proven correct about something. Our God has amazing, deep humility.
Third, He did not heal everyone who needed healing. He did heal all who came to Him, but there were many more who needed a touch from God in the areas where He preached. One time there were many people sitting around the Pool of Siloam that needed healing, but He healed just one man. A critic commented that he did not want to believe in a god that healed just a few but rather healed all. We must understand what Jesus’ mission was. It was to preach the Kingdom of God first then sacrifice Himself to open doors of eternal life for people. If He healed every person in Israel and beyond, He would not have had time to teach and establish the New Testament Word of God for future generations. Jesus also realized that if He cast out demons from all who needed it, many would later be 7 times worse because they did not get the Kingdom in their hearts (Matthew 12:43-45). Therefore, He had a difficult tightrope to walk on. He had to balance miracles, healings, and exorcisms with getting out the Truth about His Kingdom. An amazing prophecy in Daniel 2:44 speaks of God setting up His Kingdom “in the days of those kings” (context is Roman Empire) that will never be destroyed. This, I believe, was describing Jesus coming to earth the first time (Daniel 7:13-14). So Jesus had to multi-task but also had to keep a proper balance to do just what His Father was telling Him to do (John 5:19).
Feedback:
Jim M – Boy did I enjoy reading this!!!
AR – Thank you – I intend to pass this on to my Sunday Adult Bible study class and a few others.
VG – I liked that 3rd point. That gave me clarity on why God didn’t heal everyone. His purpose was foremost, as you said, for people to come into the kingdom or else the permanency of the healing would be abridged.