“JESUS’ POWER OVER DISEASE”
LUKE 4:38-44

I. Introduction
There is something about a touch, isn’t there? Whether it’s as elementary as a simple handshake in church on Sunday morning, a bear hug between two old friends who haven’t seen each other in a long time, or the warm embraces of a married couple in the privacy of their own home – a physical touch can impart real blessings. These blessings can be emotional and spiritual, as well as physical.

I think Christians are well aware of this. Now I’m not suggesting that non-Christians don’t know anything about the benefits of physical touch. They do. The physical bene-fits of touching seem to be understood everywhere.

One website (www.lifescript.com) says this:
“The benefits of physical touch have been extensively studied in the world of science and health. Findings show that therapeutic touch is successful in managing fibromyalgia, and reduces symptoms in Alzheimer patients. Skin-to-skin contact between babies and mothers is so beneficial to the baby’s health that it is now a common hospital practice for premature babies. The importance of physical touch in marriage may also play a medicinal role, since touch has been shown to reduce stress and relieve pain.”

I’ve heard of scientific studies that say young children who are regularly touched tend to be physically and emotionally healthier than those who are not. Those who aren’t tend to be more withdrawn, have trouble learning to socialize, and struggle developing lasting relationships.

So it appears that physical touch contains blessings that can be emotional, spiritual, and even physical. If you and I are able to impart such blessings with a touch, can you ima-gine the divine blessings that came to those whom Jesus Christ touched when He walked on this earth? Enormous blessings were poured out on them. Today’s text tells us of the blessings Jesus bestowed on the people at Capernaum.

For the last few weeks we’ve been talking about who Jesus is. One way the Bible con-firms His identity is seen in His power and authority over every part of creation. Two weeks ago we saw His power over demons and evil when He ordered a demon to come out of a man. Who is Jesus? The demons know. “What do we have to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are…” (Luke 4:34)

Last week, on Resurrection Sunday, Jesus’ power over death and the grave was the sub-ject of the day. Who is Jesus? He is God in human flesh. After all, who else can raise the dead and give life?
“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies…” (John 11:25)

Since Jesus Christ is God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, and since He has power over evil, demons, death, and the grave, why would anyone be surprised that He has the power to heal broken bodies and human diseases? In Luke 4:38-44 He does just that.
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II. Text
Let’s set the stage here. Jesus declared His deity in the synagogue in Nazareth.
*Luke 4:18-21
18 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden,
19 to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD.”
20 And He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

There were essentially three responses to that statement. The Jews’ first response was clear and very direct. “He claims to be God. Kill Him!” The third response was the polar opposite. Some people actually believed Him. But the second response was sort of in the middle. There was some interest but mostly skepticism. “Oh yeah, prove it!” The Jews were always asking for signs.
Matthew 12:38; 16:1
38 …some of the scribes and Pharisees answered (Jesus), saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
1 And the Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Him asked Him to show them a sign from heaven.

John 2:18
18 The Jews therefore answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us?”

In this morning’s passage Jesus graciously chooses to show those around Him who He is.
He demonstrates His power and authority over disease by giving them a sign in the form of a miraculous physical healing.
*Luke 4:38-44 (Please stand with me in honor of reading God’s Word.)
38 And He arose and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they made request of Him on her behalf.
39 And standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately arose and waited on them.
40 And while the sun was setting, all who had any(one) sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on every one of them, He was healing them.
41 And demons also were coming out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Son of God!” And rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ.
42 And when day had come, He departed and went to a lonely place; and the multitudes were searching for Him, and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from going away from them.
43 But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”
44 And He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Luke begins this section by mentioning Simon (Peter) even though Jesus has yet to call Him. That comes at the beginning of the next chapter. By the time Luke wrote his gospel Peter was so well-known that he must have thought no special introduction was needed.

This passage can be broken into three parts. The first, vv. 38-40, addresses Jesus’ power over the natural world. The second, v. 41, deals with His power over the supernatural world. The third, vv. 42-44 makes reference to Jesus’ power over the eternal world. For the vast majority of us the supernatural world, while all around us and most certainly not to be ignored, is neither seen nor consciously experienced by us every moment of our lives. The eternal world is yet to come. We don’t ignore it but we don’t live there yet.

The natural world is where we reside. It’s the only world of which you and I have any direct and concrete knowledge. Now to be sure, we believe wholeheartedly in the super-natural and eternal worlds. We know they exist because God’s Word tells us much about them and the Holy Spirit has opened our eyes to their reality.

But again, the supernatural and eternal worlds are not where we live. Not yet! As such, we will spend nearly all of our time this morning in vv. 38-40. It is here where Jesus exhibits His power over the natural world in which you and I currently live.
*Luke 4:38-40
38 And He arose and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they made request of Him on her behalf.
39 And standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she
immediately arose and waited on them.
40 And while the sun was setting, all who had any(one) sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on every one of them, He was healing them.

Jesus had just cast a demon out of a man in Luke 4:35.
Mark tells us that Jesus immediately left the synagogue and, along with James and John, went to the home of Peter and Andrew. There they found Peter’s mother-in-law very ill with a high fever. In v. 39 it says Jesus stood over her and rebuked the fever. The paral-lel passages in Matthew’s and Mark’s gospels give us a more detailed account of this miracle of physical healing.
Matthew 8:14-15
14 And when Jesus had come to Peter’s home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever.
15 And He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose, and waited on them.

Mark 1:31
31 And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she waited on them.

When we bring it all together we find that Luke, Matthew, and Mark, give us a complete picture of this miraculous event in Peter’s home. Luke says Jesus literally spoke to the illness. Matthew tells us He touched the woman’s hand. Mark adds that Jesus not only touched her, He took her by the hand and raised her up.

What did Tricia just sing? “Then the hand of Jesus touched me, and now I am no longer the same…Something happened and now I know, He touched me and made me whole.”

What did we all sing? “Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, help me stand. I am tired, I am weak, I am worn…Hear my cry, hear my call, hold my hand lest I fall. Take my hand, precious Lord; lead me home.”

Luke tells us of a physical healing. But there is a much bigger issue. Everyone whom Jesus miraculously healed of an illness or physical malady eventually died. There are no exceptions. There isn’t even one. Peter’s mother-in-law died, didn’t she? Even Lazarus, whom some may argue, was Jesus’ “greatest” miracle, eventually died.

So when it comes to Jesus’ physical healings, there’s something we need to remember.
Even Jesus, the very Son of God, the “Great Physician,” whose healings were true mira-cles of God in every legitimate sense of the word, only healed temporarily. His healings served to testify to His deity. They served to display His power and authority. But they were temporal illustrations of eternal truths.

Jesus’ physical healings were merely a shadow of the spiritual healing that He offered to all who would receive Him by faith. If we focus solely on the physical aspect, we will miss the real point. That is, if we overemphasize the shadow, we are in danger of missing the substance. But that’s exactly what’s going on in too much of the church today.

There are those who take verses that point to spiritual healing, which is eternal, and apply them to physical healing, which by its very nature, can only be temporal.
One of the most common instances of this is found in Isaiah 52-53.
*Isaiah 53:5d
5d …and by His scourging (stripes – KJV) we are healed.

I have seen and heard countless modern “faith healers” use this one part of this one verse in their attempts to make all sorts of physical maladies disappear. But the question is, and frankly must be, “Is that what Isaiah 53:5 is for?” Does this verse teach physical healing at all, or is it about something else entirely?

The topic at hand begins in Isaiah 52:13 and runs through Isaiah 53:12. The subject is God’s Servant, His Messiah, who will finally be victorious and highly exalted. But first He must bear the sins of the people, He must suffer, and He must die. The fundamental truth that Christ became a substitute for us is clearly visible in this marvelous passage.
*Isaiah 53:4-6
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell on Him, and by His scour-ging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.

This whole segment of Isaiah prophesies the Messiah. Look at v. 4. Jesus bore our grief. Jesus carried our sorrows. This is all about Jesus as our substitute. Look at v. 5. Jesus was pierced (nailed) for our transgressions (faithlessness, rebellion). He was crushed (humbled, oppressed) for our iniquities (depravity). He was chastened (punished) for us. Jesus was bruised and wounded for us. He was pierced, crushed, and chastened for us.

Do you think these things were done to Jesus so that you and I might be healed from a disease or illness of the physical body which, by the way, is corrupt and will finally decay anyway? Look at the context. It has nothing to do with physical healing. It’s about sub-stitution. It’s about Jesus’ righteousness and holiness and perfection. But God demands that we be righteous and holy and perfect if we are ever to enter into His heaven.
Matthew 5:48 (Jesus speaking)
48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

But since God knows we can’t be perfect He gave His only begotten Son as a substitute for us. Do you see how this passage in Isaiah is about the suffering Servant taking our unrighteousness and unholiness and imperfection upon Himself. Everything in Isaiah 53:4-6 is about what was done to Jesus for us – so that it wouldn’t have to be done to us.

He is our perfect and eternal substitute. All who put their faith in Jesus Christ will be complete and spiritually healed forever. You may live in a strong healthy body today.
You may live in a weak sickly body today.
If the latter is true it is a fact that God can heal your body instantaneously should He choose to do so. There is no question about that. But you can be sure of this. If He does, He won’t need a modern “faith healer” to do it.

Listen, God cares about every hair on our heads, but He is far more concerned about our eternal souls than our temporal bodies. Why? These bodies are not eternal. It’s because these bodies are a mere shadow of the ones to come. Whether God chooses to heal or not, these bodies will die one day and we will receive eternal bodies that will never die.

Now look at Isaiah 53:6 once again. The Holy Spirit drives it home. “…the LORD has caused the iniquity (the depravity) of us all to fall on Him.” Substitution, a suffering Ser-vant, Christ in our place and dying for us! There’s nothing here about physical healing.

But there is physical healing in Luke. Lots of it! Luke 4:40 says that multitudes were coming to Jesus and He was healing them all. At least seven things about Jesus’ healings are significant and worth noting. Those who claim to heal today can do none of them.

First, Jesus healed with a touch of His hand as He did with Simon Peter’s mother-in-law.

Second, Jesus healed with a spoken word. What’s so amazing about this is that the one healed didn’t even have to be there.
Matthew 8:5-8, 13
5 And when He had entered Capernaum, a (Roman) centurion came to Him, entreating Him,
6 and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering great pain.”
7 And (Jesus) said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
8 But the centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”
13 And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; let it be done to you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed that very hour.

Third, Jesus healed instantly. There was no such thing as progressive healing. There was no such thing as a limp slowly improving or a fever gradually coming down.
Mark 1:40-42
40 And a leper came to Him, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”
41 And moved with compassion, He stretched out His hand and touched, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”
42 And immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

Try to imagine how truly awesome this is. Leprosy (known today as Hansen’s disease) can be extremely disfiguring and quite horrible to look upon. Seeing the immediate healing of a leper would be like seeing an amputee grow a new arm or leg while you stand there and watch it happen. Do you think that might get your attention?
Fourth, Jesus healed totally and completely. Just as there was no such thing as progress-sive healing, there was no such thing as partial healing. Peter’s mother-in-law was so completely healed that she went from being bedridden to preparing and serving a meal.

Let me attempt to illustrate this. Just as a woman cannot be partially pregnant, and just as Lazarus was not partially raised from the dead, and just as you and I cannot be partially saved, Jesus did not partially heal. What Jesus does, He does perfectly, totally, and com-pletely. So Jesus’ temporary physical healings had to be perfect, total, and complete if they were to be a true picture of Jesus’ eternal spiritual healings. Do you see that?

Fifth, Jesus healed everyone who came to Him. If they came they were healed. No one was denied. He did not leave people standing around because they couldn’t get close to Him, or didn’t have a ticket, or hadn’t made a contribution to the ministry.
Matthew 4:24
24 And the news about Him went out into all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, taken with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epilep-tics, paralytics; and He healed them.

Luke 6:19
19 And all the multitudes were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.

Jesus not only healed every one, He healed every thing.
Matthew 9:35
35 And Jesus was going about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

Sixth, Jesus even healed unbelievers. Today’s faith healers usually blame the victims if they aren’t healed. They often tell those who are relying on them, “If only you had more faith you would be healed.” That is not only cruel, it is a lie. It seems that few of the people Jesus healed were believers at all prior to their healing.

In fact, some that Jesus healed didn’t even know who He was. John 9 gives the account of a man blind from birth. Here are just a few highlights from that chapter.
*John 9:7, 25, 35-38
7 (Jesus) said to him, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam.” And so he went away and washed, and came back seeing.
25 (The man answered the Pharisees, saying…) “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.”
35 (Jesus said to the man…) “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36 He answered and said, “And who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”
37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.”
38 And He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshipped Him.
It’s in the very next verse we hear Jesus tell us unequivocally that the physical healings, marvelous, wondrous, and miraculous gifts from God that they were, were not the point.
*John 9:39
39 And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”

Let me paraphrase this. Jesus is saying, “I came to open the eyes of those who know they are in spiritual darkness; and to blind the eyes of those who think they are in the light.”

So we’ve seen six things that distinguish Jesus’ healings from what goes on today in the world of “faith healing.” Jesus healed with a touch of His hand. He healed with a mere word from His lips. He healed instantly, totally, and completely. He healed every one and every thing. He healed people without regard to their level of faith. Furthermore, He healed some who had no faith at all or didn’t even know who He was.

Today’s faith healers don’t do those things because they can’t do those things! And here is something they can’t do. It’s the seventh thing about Jesus’ physical healings and it is the most amazing of them all. Jesus “healed” the dead by bringing them back to life. The faith healers can’t do that. Medical science can’t to do that.

You just can’t be any “sicker” than dead. Lazarus wasn’t sick. He wasn’t in a coma. He was dead. He was already in the grave. His body was on the verge of decay.
*John 11:39-40
39 Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be stench, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you, if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

The ultimate healing! How much would some of you pay a faith healer if he or she could do that? “Come to the graveyard with me and raise my grandmother, my father, my wife, my child.” Only God can do that! But even that… even then… Lazarus died again.

God may choose to glorify Himself by healing a loved one’s body. But ask yourself this: What eternal good accrues to the one healed if God does not also heal their soul? What eternal good is there in a physically strong body that houses a spiritually dead soul?

Now let me repeat what I said earlier. The physical healings that Jesus did were merely a shadow of the spiritual healing that He offered to all who would receive Him by faith. So if you and I focus solely on the physical aspect we will miss the real point. If we over-emphasize the shadow, we are in danger of missing the substance.

The miraculous physical healing we see in the NT was not to keep God’s faithful people healthy. It was to illustrate Jesus’ deity, authenticate the gospel, and identify His hand-picked apostles.
As the first century went on, the NT was written, and the canon of Scripture was closed, even the apostles themselves lost the ability to heal anyone.

Galatians 4 tells us Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was not healed. Philippians 2 informs us that Epaphroditus, “sick to the point of death,” was not healed. 1 Timothy 5 reveals that Timothy’s “frequent ailments” were not healed. And 2 Timothy 4 makes it clear that the Apostle Paul was helpless to heal his own friend Trophimus, whom Paul says, “I left sick at Miletus.” So he was not healed.

Well, there is so much more that could be said about all of this but time demands that I wind it down. (back to Luke 4) Luke 4:40 tells us that as the day wore on multitudes came to Jesus for healing. This verse depicts a truly beautiful scene. The sun is setting, the Sabbath is over (6:00 p.m.), the multitudes come to Jesus and He touches them. “…and laying His hands on every one of them, He was healing them.”

We’ve seen Jesus’ power and authority over the natural world of disease. In v. 41 we again see His power and authority over the supernatural world.
*Luke 4:41
41 And demons also were coming out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Son of God!” And rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ.

Why did Jesus silence them? It may be that it was wrong for Satan’s demons to proclaim the truth while the people Jesus came to save did not. Or it may be that it would give the Pharisees more opportunities to blaspheme and say Jesus was in league with the devil.

The last part of this morning’s passage refers to Jesus’ power and authority over the eternal world.
*Luke 4:42-44
42 And when day had come, He departed and went to a lonely place; and the multitudes were searching for Him, and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from going away from them.
43 But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”
44 And He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

In its entirety “the kingdom of God” refers to full the realm of salvation that’s for all who have received Jesus Christ by faith. He had to preach it outside of Capernaum too.
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III. Conclusion
Have you been spiritually healed? Has Jesus touched your soul? That’s what matters for eternity. It’s infinitely more important than Him touching your body. Reach out to Him and you will find Him reaching down to take you by the hand, to touch you.