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Jesus’ healing miracles are typically thought to be instances of God’s kindness and mercy wrought through the power of God the Son. That is certainly true—the miracles exhibit the love and compassion of God, as well as God’s power, and thereby are remarkable in and of themselves. But they are far more than mere medical marvels. The healing miracles are signs that point us to spiritual truths. If that were not the case, one would have to ask why so few individuals were healed, not why so many were. Clearly, Jesus healed a lot of people, but He did not heal all the people in the world. If you were God and you were here in this world and you could heal at a distance at a mere word of command, would you not care about people enough to heal all people everywhere at once? There must be a larger story and purpose to Jesus’ healing miracles. For the sake of examining this purpose, we will consider the healing miracles in Matthew’s gospel. There are perhaps around twenty of them, though sometimes they are combined and can therefore be considered as one instance. We will examine five occurrences.
matthew 4:23–24
When Matthew says that Jesus was proclaiming and healing throughout Galilee, we immediately have a sense of the meaning of the miracles, and not merely the miraculous nature of them, for they are combined with the preaching of the gospel. The two go together: one is a verbal message; the other is a visual or physical message. But the connection between the preaching and the healing as one whole ministry message strongly suggests that the miracles of healing are to tell us something. Moreover, these healings, along with the preaching, are written in Matthew as part of the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy that the people of Galilee who were dwelling in darkness have now (in Jesus) seen a great light (v. 16). The miracles reveal who Jesus is.
matthew 8:5–13
We next come to the healing of the centurion’s servant. Here the lesson is made quite explicit by Matthew in his account. It is a lesson of authority. The centurion understands. Jesus has the authority to heal simply at a word. The point being made, therefore, is that faith rests in the nature of who Jesus is as God. He has the authority to heal anyone merely by saying so. While the religious (the “sons of the kingdom”; v. 12) can overthink it, the pagan centurion grasps it. Just say the word, Jesus, and he will be healed. The miracles, then, are designed not only as compassion but also as evidences of authority intended to draw out saving faith in the God who can save even us simply through His word. I cannot but underline the point being made by reference to the parallel account in Luke. There the Greek word for “heal” is also the word for “save” (Luke 7:3). This insight—the lexical overlap between the idea of healing and saving—is a window into a vast new room of meaning. The healings are temporary (all those healed by Jesus, even Lazarus, died in the end). They are meant to show us how to find final, eternal healing—that is, salvation.
matthew 12:9–14
In this passage, we find Jesus healing in the synagogue on the Sabbath. This provokes a significant controversy over whether healing is a lawful Sabbath activity. Jesus’ answer is that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Objecting to Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath, the Pharisees, incensed, have no objection to plotting to kill Jesus on the very same Sabbath. Their hypocrisy is breathtaking. The point of this healing miracle is further explained in another quotation from Isaiah that follows in verses 18–21. Jesus, by healing on the Sabbath, shows the kind of gentleness, commitment to justice, and spiritual power to do good that was to characterize the Messiah servant of God. So again, the healing is not merely a medical marvel; it is a biblical-theological fulfillment to cause us to put our trust in Jesus and be saved. He is the One who, despite the objections of the religious legalists, reaches out to us and enables us to reach out to Him (“stretch out your hand”; v. 13), that we might be healed/saved.

matthew 12:22–32
In this instance, Jesus “healed” a man who was “demon-oppressed,” as evidenced by his being blind and mute. We are not given diagnostic details that might fascinate, but we are simply told that “he healed him” (v. 22). The people are amazed, and they ask the right question: “Can this be the Son of David?” (v. 23). The Pharisees, however, object in the strongest possible terms (now having determined to do all they can to kill Jesus) that His amazing miracle is performed only with devilish power. This objection to healing miracles has a long track record. If someone whom you hate does something so amazing that you cannot gainsay it, the only possible move is to attribute the amazing deed to a force of malevolence. Jesus’ answer is stunning: If He were doing this miracle by a malevolent spirit, then it would mean that Satan had a divided kingdom where Satan was casting out Satan. Instead, Jesus does this miracle by the “Spirit of God” (v. 28). The right conclusion, therefore, is to accept Jesus as God’s Son. But Jesus warns them of the danger of rejecting Him, and indeed the far greater permanent danger of rejecting Him by attributing the work of the Spirit to the work of the devil: this is the famous unforgivable sin (v. 32). The topic of that sin would take a paper, if not a book, all its own to explore rightly, but it is worth noting that what is unforgivable is the sin of not asking for forgiveness. Those who truly ask for God’s forgiveness will be forgiven. In my years as a pastor, I have never yet met a non-Christian who worries about having committed the unforgivable sin. It is, by definition, something that you cannot have done if you fear that you might have. That pastoral note aside, the point of the healing miracle is to reveal Jesus as the One who conquers the devil. In some parts of the West, this idea of Jesus’ power over evil feels positively medieval, but in much of the world the reality of the forces of darkness is more accepted, and so this story naturally draws us to gratitude and worship. Jesus is who He says He is and is able to defeat the devil.
matthew 17:14–20
The last miracle is perhaps the most difficult of the healing miracles that we will consider, but in another way it is also the simplest. Jesus’ disciples are unable to heal a boy, but our Lord can. Jesus bemoans the faithlessness of those—even His disciples—who cannot heal the child. When the disciples ask Jesus why they could not, He says that it is “because of your little faith” (v. 20). Then, somewhat confusingly, He says that if they had faith even as small as a grain of mustard (a very little thing), they could move mountains. What does this miracle teach us? Remember that Jesus has just been on a mountain (the Mount of Transfiguration; 17:1–12). There He was revealed in His glory, and the disciples were urged by God’s voice from the cloud to listen to Jesus. Also remember that in a moment He would be going to another mount, the Temple Mount. The mountains are about to change, and the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus as the Son of God, God with us (a key theme in Matthew; see 1:23; 28:20), now to go to all nations, is a mountain-changing event that we receive through even the smallest faith (faith as small as a mustard seed). In other words, the point of this miracle is to reveal that Jesus is the One who will be crucified and that through faith in Him and His cross we are saved. (Immediately after healing the boy, Jesus predicts His death and resurrection; see 17:22–23.) The point is that there is a message of salvation to take not just to the Mount of Transfiguration or the Temple Mount but to all nations.
In short, Jesus’ healing miracles are not only miracles of compassion; they are signs of the Christ.