There were several types of healings in the Gospels and they all meant a whole lot more to the Jews than the typical Benny Hinn healings mean to us today.
When Jesus forgave a man's sins and healed him, He demonstrated that He had power over sin, which in turn demonstrated that he was either God or equal to God. From several biblical accounts, we learn that sickness was believed to be the result of somebody's sin. I have already shown this in a past blog. Suffice it to say that even biblical writers believed that sickness could be the result of sin. So if Jesus forgave a man's sin he demonstrated it by healing him as well. The logic was simple - sin caused the sickness, so if the sickness goes away it is because the source (sin) was gone. Jesus forgave a man's sin in Mark 2 which caused a stir; "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" was the response from those who knew the scripture when they heard Jesus forgive a man of his sins. Jesus healed the man to show to those who were there that he had the ability to forgive sins and if he could forgive sins, then He was more than mere human.
When the unclean touched Jesus (such as the woman with an issue of blood) or when Jesus touched the unclean (such as a dead body), Jesus did not become unclean but rather, the unclean were cleansed - the issue of blood stopped and the dead rose from the dead. Such healings from unclean diseases revealed that Jesus had power over the clean and unclean. In a discussion between God and Haggai, God asked Haggai (in chapter 2) if it was possible for someone or something clean to cleanse the unclean by touch. The answer was no; the unclean will automatically corrupt the clean. There were no exceptions. When people who were unclean touched Jesus they were cleansed and when Jesus touched them they were cleansed. This left a huge impression with the Jews of Jesus' day. He had power no other person on earth had over the clean, reversing a law of God and nature.
Raising the dead not only showed us that Jesus had power over the unclean, raising the dead also demonstrated that he had power over death. In John 11 Jesus said he was the Resurrection and the Life and then he raised up Lazarus. The book of John connects Jesus' healings to certain of Jesus' attributes. When Jesus healed the blind he showed that he had the power to make people see spiritually as well as physically. In John 9 Jesus healed a man born blind and then said, "I am the Light of the world." He also said, "For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind (Jn 9:39)."
When Jesus cast out demons he demonstrated to all that he had power over the demonic. Jesus told us that casting out demons was a demonstration that the kingdom of God had come. When Jesus cast out demons people were to understand that it would not have been possible unless Satan had been bound and that his possessions were being taken away from him (Matt 12:25-30).
Every kind of healing revealed that the kingdom of God had come for sinners and that God was accepting them. In the ancient world view, possession, poverty and sickness was caused by sin. Here is how the system worked:
1. God blessed the righteous with prosperity and that means wealth as well as health and long life. Those who ruled or who were fortuneate enough to be wealthy were those who had the best of this life and who easily bought into this belief because it justified their advantages and not only justified the imbalance of wealth, but made their lion's share of the wealth look like a gift from God himself.
2. God may discipline his beloved, but it was temporary and the promise of prosperity would return to the disciplined.
3. The wicked may prosper, but their prosperity was temporary.
4. Sickness was a sign that someone sinned. In most cases it was the sick person's sin, but in some cases it could be a parent who had sinned (Jn 9:2).
5. Poverty was seen as a sign of sinfulness, because God prospered the godly.
The priveledged class was not the only group that believed this hierarchy of faith, I believe the people themselves bought into the same ideas, so that even the poor and the sick believed they had somehow come under the displeasure of God.
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