Luke 7:21-23
Jesus Heals Many
21 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22 So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 23 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
Mark 7:31-35
31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.
33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). 35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.
Mark 8:22-26
22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”
24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”
25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into[a] the village.”
Matthew 8:1-4
Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy
1 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
Mark 2:1-12
Jesus Heals a Lame Man
1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
Luke 7:11-17
Jesus Raises the Dead
11 Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 12 As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”
14 Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.
16 They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” 17 This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.
Luke 4:14-21
Jesus Preaches the Good News to the Poor
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus teaches us and told John the Baptist's disciples that “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor...Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”...He truly is the Great Physician and Great Healer...He was also One who did many great miracles...Many of His miracles were healing miracles...And just as He stated, there are examples of all these healings and His preaching the good news about God throughout the four gospels...
In some of His healing miracles it seems that some were done immediate, but some took longer for the healed to understand and be healed...For example, when He healed the leper, he seems to be healed immediately...Then when He healed the deaf and mute man, He heals him is steps...He put His fingers in the man's ears as the first thing He does...And then He spit and touches the deaf man's tongue...Jesus being who He is, could have healed Him in one touch, or in that instance of His touch or word...But He preferred to heal Him in stages...The deaf man would not only need to learn to hear again, he would need to learn to talk again...Learning both to hear again and speak again (after not doing this for years) might take some time...
He also heals the blind man in stages...When He is healing the blind man, He spits on His hands and touches the blind man's eyes...Jesus then asks Him if he can see anything...And it is a great mystery to me why Jesus would ask him if He could see, because He knew what the blind man could see and not see...But anyway, the blind man says “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”...Jesus takes (for some reason) an additional step in this miracle...The blind man, it seems, was only partially healed -and Jesus wanted him to respond to His first step in the healing process...The blind man honestly answered, and still did not have the best of vision and sight...Jesus does not leave things partially finished...So once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes...Then, only after this second step, the blind man's eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly...This healing was a process...The miracle was not instantaneous...And this was exactly the way Jesus planned it...The blind man had to learn to see all over again...The blind man now had perfect vision...He could now see the Light...The Great Physician went beyond men looking like trees, and finished a perfect miracle...Men now looked like men, to the once blind man...
There is a reason Jesus did some things instantly and immediate, and some things He would do in stages and steps...There is always a reason for what He does...Maybe some of the people and healings and miracles He did, needed to take some time for the brain to fully understand what is going on...John Sarno, author of the Divided Mind, says it seems to him that the brain's unconscious part sometimes needs some time to catch up to the conscious part, as they are not always perfectly in sync ...And in the book How God Changes Your Brain, the author Andrew Newberg, says the brain can be belligerent...When we are trying to retrain our brains, after many years of doing the same things day in and day out, the brain does not want to change, especially change quickly...Now whether, Jesus did not want to override this process of the brain playing catch up or Jesus wanting to give those He was healing more time -I lean on the side of believing He was giving some of the ones He was healing more time...They needed time to process and think about what He had just done...
Jesus was so overwhelming a Man and Healer that I (personally) would not have immediately grasped what He was doing (had I been there)...I might have first guessed He was a magician (and a great One at that)...Understanding a Man who says He is Truth can take time to understand...The reality of all that He did, I do not know how long, I would have needed to understand...But one day and two lessons would not have done it for me...We all cannot grasp something as powerful and as great and something so hard to understand (at what He was doing) always instantly... Sometimes learning things are best not rushed, and need for the mind and body to get in sync, so to speak...Seeing things clearly and hearing things clearly and the understanding of things, I think (at least for me) takes time...And of course Jesus knows this...Sometimes finding Him and realizing and seeing who He is, takes time...
It is very hard for me to say Father, I understand clearly your will -on a regular basis...Seeing the Father and Son clearly, at least for me, is not an easy thing to do and has taken time...Jesus knows that when we come to Him, we might be in sort of a fog and He may not be clear to us, like the people who looked like trees...Often our spiritual lives are clouded by doubt, unbelief, and obstacles...After our faith strengthens, then people look like people, we see things clearer -and only then do we see Him better...