4:24
Judea and Galilee belonged to the Roman province of Syria. This region had a Greek character, but also many Jews. News about Jesus spread throughout this region, no doubt the healings played a big part in this. As I write this (Feb 15, 2020) the corona virus is a big fear in the world. Suppose someone in China was able to cure people of the disease, they would certainly attract hordes of people. Jesus was doing better than this, for He healed all sorts of diseases, so people brought to Him all who were ill. Several groups are given: diseases, those suffering pain, the demon possessed and those having seizures. The people were able to distinguish between these various classes of illness. Note that demon possession is in there too. Diseases and demon possession can be linked, but are also distinct.
4:25
Large crowds followed Jesus. We will see in the next chapter that Jesus then started to teach the crowds. Today we have some who claim to have a “healing ministry”. Jesus did not have a healing ministry, He healed people. Healing is part of the ministry of the church, but we should not isolate it off from preaching and teaching. We are meant to present a whole. To use modern parlance, our ministry should be holistic. By the way, this also means that preaching or teaching should not be hived off as an isolated activity either.
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