Matthew 4:12-25 Part III - Jesus heals the sick

The third part is the part where most people who think of coming to Jesus look at, Jesus as a healer, healing the sick. It gives me great pain to see how we are so centred to the physical word. Any sickness, any pain has the potential to break us down. The Bible says that the root of all sickness and death is sin. Jesus came to cut that root – sin. However, most of us look upto Him only as a Healer of the body and not the soul. I have a testimony to present before you and praise God that I am here to share this with you.

I was born in a Christian family and I am really blessed with godly parents who not only took care of passing on the Bible stories but also Christianity as a lifestyle. They used to tell us that Christianity is not a heredity passed on from generation to generation. Rather it is your personal relationship with the creator. I was religious but that did not mean that I let God decide things for me or depend on Him until I gave my life to Christ on the 2^nd of February 2004 when I was completely broken down by the problems in family and questions in my own life. It was during an incident shortly after this that God promised me that He has taken away all my sicknesses. And praise God because I have never fallen sick since then.

When you let God take complete control of your life and you put your trust in Him, He will never fail you. Of course, He can heal the sick but why not be healed from all sicknesses forever when He is ready to give you beyond measures.

The choice is always yours. Our God is a loving Father; he will never force Himself on you. You ought to say YES to Him.

Let’s pray:

Loving Jesus, your love is so great that it is impossible to fathom its depth. I believe and I know that you are interested in me and my life. Till today I have struggled to get a good life. Today I come before you with a repentant heart. I am sorry for all the times I have sinned against you. I know that you are the source of all good things. I offer my life to you. Lord, take my life and fill it with happiness, peace, contentment, holiness and all good things. Lord, take away all my sins and weaknesses and fill me with your strength that I can live for you. In your precious and mighty name I pray, AMEN.

Matthew 4:12-25 Part II - Calling of the first disciples

The second part has been the most heartening part for me. It is the calling of the first disciples. The heartening part is that God doesn’t look at qualifications and worldly success. He chooses people who seem to be rejected by this world. Right from Old Testament times (which we will try to understand later) God has called people of little merit and lifted them up. Here in this passage, Jesus calls fishermen as His first disciples. In the Jewish custom, “Rabbi” is the most high and respected position. And most Jewish boys aspire to become “rabbi” and the “followers of rabbi”.

A bit of Jewish history helps here. To become a rabbi, a person should pass the following three stages. The first stage is known as the “Bits of Saffire”. During this stage, a child is expected to memorise the Torah (first 5 books of the Bible written by Moses). Those who qualify the first stage proceed to the second stage “Bits of Talmud”. This stage requires more vigorous study, after qualifying which a person enters the third stage known as the “Bits of Midrash”. During this stage the rabbi calls the most fit students to follow him. Others who have been rejected at any stage go back to the common way of life choosing their family occupations or something else.

As we see in the passage, though Jesus had never followed any Rabbi, because of His enlightenment, He was addressed a Rabbi and He called fishermen to follow Him. Believe me, if today you feel broken and small, it’s Jesus who is ever ready to lift you up. God does not look at how qualified you are, He just looks at your willingness.

Matthew 4:12-25 Part I - Jesus Preaches

These verses are divided into three prominent parts in the Bible. The first part is about Jesus beginning to preach. It might be a bit amusing because Jesus would have had to preach to the masses to believe in Him to be saved. It sounds kind of normal when you and I would preach “Believe in Jesus and be saved”. However, strange though it may appear, our God Almighty is a loving God. Remember, the 12^th verse says “When Jesus heard that John (the Baptist) had been put in prison...” I have read the gospel of Matthew a number of times but this is the first time I felt something different. John’s purpose was to prepare the way for the arrival of Jesus. John had to preach repentance and the nearness of the kingdom of God. And what was Jesus’ purpose? All I knew was that Jesus came on this earth as the second Adam to be sacrificed as a sin offering to take away the penalty of our sins forever. Whether preaching was the central theme of Christ’s purpose is still a question for me. If it was, why was He waiting for John to be captured before He could start preaching? Jesus appears to me as a great example of taking up charge and taking up responsibility to fulfil the main goal. Jesus was well aware that everyone should get a chance to repent, everyone should be saved. This is the love of God that He does not want a single soul to perish. When the message of repentance was yet to reach all the people, Jesus takes up charge. Through, this He is calling up you and me to share the gospel of salvation with all people, He is calling us to take charge and help in ushering in the Kingdom of God.