Imagine for a moment that someone is going to write your biography. If you are like me, I would have to wonder why but for the sake of discussion, let’s assume that someone is going to write it.
First, who would you want to write it? If you are married, would you want it to be your spouse? Think about that one for a moment. They know things about you that no one else knows.
I know, how about your parents? Wait a minute, they know things about your teenager years you want to forget.
Why, of course, you could have your children write your biography. You raised them, paid their bills, and put up with their craziness. Certainly, they would have nice things to say about you.
But are nice things what you want to be in your biography? Do you want to present a pretty picture of yourself, or do you want people to know you for who you really are?
You see, it really matters who writes your biography. You want someone who would take the time to know you, understand how you thought about things and what mattered to you. So, let me suggest something completely different. Why don’t you use a complete stranger?
Today’s text was written by a Gentile physician who never met our Lord on a day in His life. He was won to the faith by the apostle Paul and would become his personal physician for all the troubles Paul would face on his journeys.
But what Luke brought to the table was a physician’s mind for facts and a skill in noticing details, which is what you would want in your own physician. Paul’s witness was so powerful that Luke not only accepted Christ into his life but with Paul’s imprisonment, Luke began to consider writing a history of the life of Christ using the same skill and mind of a physician.
We don’t know how often he and Paul discussed the idea but certainly Paul supported such a venture. In fact, this venture would eventually go beyond the life of Christ and address the early years of the church in the book we call Acts.
Before Luke penned a word of his gospel, he determined to interview all those who were close to Jesus and I assume, even a few that were not so close. With the detail of a doctor, Luke composed a view of Christ that is perfect for you and me. Luke sensed what we who would never meet Jesus in this life would want to know about Him.
In just the three verses of our text today, we find insight not just into Jesus’ life but His teachings.
As we left our Lord last week, He was going into the highways and byways to find every person that sought healing and every soul that needed redemption. Because three main caravan routes passed through the Galilee, Jesus was speaking to and healing more than just the Jewish faithful. Truth, be known, He was spending as much time with the Gentiles as He was His own people.
We see that played out in the 17th verse:
And Jesus came down with them and took His stand on a level spot, with a great crowd of His disciples and a vast throng of people from all over Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to listen to Him and to be cured of their diseases—
Here we see the doctor finding a detail that others would miss. Jesus often spoke to crowds from many places: from a boat, a hillside, a synagogue, even a street. But this time Jesus, left whatever high spot He was speaking from and moved to level ground.
Remember that Jesus knew there were those who wished Him harm, but Jesus was going to make it clear that He did not fear them. So now He put Himself where anyone could reach Him. This was what kept the disciples up at night. Jesus made Himself accessible to everyone, even children.
You see, Jesus was a rabbi, a teacher. By law, He was not to expose Himself to just anyone, especially not a woman. In fact, He was not supposed to be touched by another person lest they be ceremonially unclean and so contaminate Him.
But Jesus had this constant habit of touching people. He embraced them and when He healed, He usually touched them, even lepers. While the disciples were filled with anxiety, Luke was filled with admiration. His Lord may have been born poor and of a lower social status, but Jesus had no problem being with anyone, no matter their status.
The reason was simple as far as Luke was concerned. Jesus loved the people of His creation. From the very beginning, Christ knew what He had to do and didn’t hesitate. As far as Luke was concerned, this was the power of Christ.
Oh, yes, He created everything that was created. Without Him, nothing would exist. And yes, He was omnipotent in His divine nature and legions moved at His command. His very words formed the planets, healed the sick and drove out the demons.
But what moved Jesus, what motivated that power was His unlimited capacity to love these He had made in His image. He loved His children. In fact, He was love itself.
So, Luke notes all these who now crowded around Him. Some from as far away as Tyre and Sidon. This was a diverse crowd, and they were there for many reasons. Some sought physical healing, of course, others were intrigued by His teachings, and many were drawn by the hope and compassion that He offered.
Is it any different, today. People of all makes and models are drawn to Jesus. Most are looking for spiritual help and healing. Some come seeking guidance through a time of hardship. But for many, they long for the community of faith that Jesus provides.
Throughout time, man knows but does not admit, that there is within them this longing for purpose and connection to the eternal. They learn that nothing in this life can fulfill that need. Jesus’ message is just as relevant today as it was then.
No surprise that Luke names that power in the next verse:
Even those who were disturbed and troubled with unclean spirits, and they were being healed [also].
Luke offers us a view into that healing power of Jesus. Without fail, each healing act of Christ is a demonstration of both His compassion and divine power. It is also an insight into the trials that afflict us. For Jesus, there is no separation of the physical and the spiritual. They are bound to each other. You cannot address one without touching the other.
So, while you and I tend to separate His physical healings and His exorcisms, Jesus saw both sides in every healing. Sometimes, healing required casting out a demon. Sometimes, it meant healing a physical deformity or disease but always it was a matter of putting that soul, mind, and body back to the condition God intended.
As a physician, Luke knew that all these physical healings were miraculous but also temporary. Luke had seen many of his patients eventually pass despite his efforts to heal them. Luke understood more than most that Jesus didn’t come to save us from the condition of this world. He saved men and women for a better life and a better world. We call that world the Kingdom of God.
As humans, we prefer to define kingdoms by physical boundaries and use words like nation and country. What lies behind those words are the political powers that define those nations. Each nation claims its borders and each country has its own forces to protect those borders.
When I say, England or Russia, you understand the difference. Even the world perceives the United States by the liberties and freedoms we enjoy. We also know that those freedoms are not common to the rest of the world.
Jesus came to establish a new kingdom, a kingdom of God. Those words would frighten the powers of His day and be the reason behind His execution. What they could not grasp was that the kingdom Jesus was bringing was in the minds and hearts of the people.
Its boundaries would not be laid out by distance or shorelines. It would be measured in the hearts of people who accepted the world that was to come, who were willing to have their spirits restored and their minds renewed.
That was what bothered the earthly powers the most. You can’t contain someone’s mind. You can’t put boundaries to someone’s thoughts. One way or another, the body was doomed to die but the soul and spirit of man could be saved.
Even now, we know that to minister in the name of Christ requires that we address the physical as well as the spiritual. We cannot want the spiritual restoration of a man if we don’t care enough to address his physical suffering.
Because of Jesus, we have a completely different view of suffering and wellness than the world. Some would use the world holistic but for us, it simply means that unless my soul and spirit are addressed, my healing is not complete.
So, it is incumbent upon us when we share all our prayer requests and lift these up in prayer that we go beyond their physical suffering and needs and address the health of their souls and spirits. In fact, our prayer life is changed when we attend to this in our prayers. God may not heal their physical needs as we would want but He is more than willing to restore their spirit and soul if we ask.
If you gain nothing else from today’s lesson, gain this element in your prayer life. It will not only change you for the better but all those who are a part of your prayer life.
It is Luke’s final words in this text that bring this all together for us.
And all the multitude were seeking to touch Him, for healing power was all the while going forth from Him and curing them all [saving them from severe illnesses or calamities].
Here Luke reveals a tangible side to faith that we may sometimes miss. These people may have come to have their diseases healed but they left moved by a faith to want to remain in the presence of Jesus, to touch Jesus. This is the tangible impact of faith upon a person. This is what we long for in the lives of those to whom we share our faith.
Of course, we want the people we pray for to be healed but we also want for them to know the inner healing that He can bring to one’s life. What those people experienced that day with Jesus was the impact of faith in His power and His love. They couldn’t get enough of Him. They wanted more and they wanted to do something about it.
That is what healing can do to your life. Not just physical healing but spiritual and emotional healing. When Jesus brings wholeness to your life, you cannot help but want to draw closer to Him and find some way to express that yearning in physical, tangible actions.
You cannot help but want to sing praises to Him, offer thanksgiving to Him and experience a sense of peace and joy you cannot find anywhere else. And doing so, opens a whole new perspective of who you are.
You are not just a child of God but a tool of God. Your faith is not just your own but has arms and legs that reach into the lives of those around you. Like Jesus, you are driven by compassion for those who struggle in a broken world, and you seek any way you can to bring God’s blessing into their lives.
This could be a sense of peace they lack, moral guidance to their confused life, or just being present in their lives but you cannot help yourself. Your prayer life increases, your attention to His Word improves and your joy in worshipping with others makes you whole.
You realize that you have crossed into a new era in your spiritual life. You know that you would miss this worship not because you were taught to go to church but because it nourishes your faith. If you have to be away, you find yourself missing this experience of faith. You miss this not out of habit but out of desire.
You want to be near Jesus. You want to sup with Jesus at His table. You want to be touched by Him. You are now living in a new kingdom, the kingdom of God.
Luke realized that drawing near to God is drawing near to His power for you cannot draw near to God and not be touched by His power, His love, and His presence.
I remember in my pastorate in Kentucky, there was a lady we all called Aunt Nell. She was a little over 5’ tall and probably weighed 90 lbs. soaking wet but she had this immense character that just loved everyone, and you couldn’t help but love her.
She was a widow who had a penchant for knowing when you were a little low and she would show up at your door with her famous folded apple pies. I never heard her speak a mean word and never failed to find her helping others though she was poor in her own right.
I remember a younger lady in the church remarking that she hoped that she could be like Nell when she was that old. I smiled for it was a good ambition, but I reminded her that such a faith as Nell’s comes with a price.
She had lost a son and her husband died in prison, but she never stopped praying for their souls and knew that God was with them where she could not be. She knew that God loved them just as much as her and in heaven she would finally know what God has done.
So how do you see the world around you? Do you find cause for concern or inspiration to draw nearer to God and lift all these things to Him in prayer? It all depends on how badly you desire to touch Him and be touched by Him.