Teaching, Preaching, and Healing
Matthew 9:35–38
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching . . . preaching . . . and healing. Matthew 9:35 (NIV)
What was Jesus doing at this time? Verse 35 tells us that Jesus was doing exactly what he had been doing all along.
1. Jesus taught in their synagogues. This is the point at which Jesus always began, and it is where we must start if we are to model our ministry after his. The people he saw were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (v. 36), and the reason they were helpless is that they did not know the Bible. They should have known it; they possessed the Old Testament, and their teachers should have been teaching it to them. But they were like people today. They had not been taught and they did not have the inclination to seek out Bible truths themselves. What they needed to know and what Jesus certainly taught them was who God is, what God has made us to be, how we have fallen short of God’s righteousness and corrupted his image within us, and how we need a Savior who can save us from sin and from ourselves.
2. Jesus preached the good news. This teaching leads to the “good news,” of course, which is what Jesus “preached” to them. Preaching is not the same thing as teaching. Teaching is instruction; it has to do with content, and it is primary. Preaching contains instruction but it is more than instruction. It is also proclamation, an announcement of what the listeners must hear and to which they must respond. Preaching is the point at which teaching becomes personal. The word that is used for “preaching” is the same word used for what a king’s herald does. A herald speaks for the king, making his decrees known. In this case, the proclamation was about the kingdom of God and his anointed King, Jesus, who is the Christ. This decree was good news, and the good news was that the awaited King, who is also the Savior, whom we need to save us from our sins, had now come.
3. Jesus healed their diseases. These were literal diseases, of course. His power to heal disease was one evidence that he was the Messiah. But the healing of physical disease is linked to and illustrates the far more important healing that has to do with sin. What we need most is forgiveness of our sins and reconciliation with God, which is what Jesus accomplishes. This is the really good news of the kingdom.
Today we have the power of the Holy Spirit to bless our words about Christ and bring those who hear our message to repentance and faith in him. In that sense our work is like that of Jesus. We teach the Bible, preach the gospel, and heal sin-sickness, as the Holy Spirit blesses our words and brings people to Christ.
Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865
Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.