Healing

What Jesus Said About Healing: Every Healing in the Gospels

What Jesus Said About Healing: Every Healing in the Gospels

Topic: Healing & Scripture | Audience: Anyone Searching for What Jesus Did and Said About Healing

DIRECT ANSWER BLOCK

Jesus never refused to heal anyone who came to him. Across 38 recorded healings and dozens of summary statements in the four Gospels, he healed every kind of disease, by every method, for every person who asked. He declared healing part of his mission (Luke 4:18), connected it to the Father's will, and demonstrated that sickness was never God's plan for his people.

KEY VERSE

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."
Luke 4:18 (KJV)

DEVOTIONAL BODY

If you want to know what God thinks about sickness, look at Jesus. He is the exact representation of the Father (Hebrews 1:3), and he never once told a sick person, "It's not my will to heal you." He never turned anyone away. He healed them all.

This matters more than we sometimes realize. Andrew Murray, writing in Divine Healing, put it plainly: "The pardon of sin and the healing of sickness complete one the other, for in the eyes of God, who sees our entire nature, sin and sickness are as closely united as the body and the soul." In other words, when Jesus came to save, he came to save the whole person. Body included.

What follows is every recorded healing Jesus performed in the four Gospels, and every direct statement he made about healing, sickness, and disease. These are not summaries. These are the scriptures themselves. Read them slowly. Let the pattern speak for itself.

What Jesus Said About Healing

Before looking at what Jesus did, consider what he declared. These are his own words about sickness, healing, and his purpose.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."
Luke 4:18 (KJV)

This is how Jesus announced his ministry. Healing was not an afterthought. It was in the mission statement.

"They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Mark 2:17 (KJV)

Jesus came for the ones who knew they needed help. If you are sick and searching, you are exactly who he came for.

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
John 10:10 (KJV)

Whatever steals life, Jesus opposes. Whatever destroys health, Jesus came to undo. The abundant life he offers is not limited to the soul.

"I will; be thou clean."
Matthew 8:3 (KJV), spoken to the leper who said, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean."

Three words that settle the question of God's willingness. The leper did not doubt Jesus' power. He doubted his willingness. Jesus answered that doubt immediately: "I will."

"Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee."
Matthew 8:13 (KJV), to the centurion whose servant was healed at a distance.

"Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague."
Mark 5:34 (KJV), to the woman with the issue of blood.

She did not ask permission. She did not wait for an invitation. She pressed through a crowd and touched the hem of his garment. And Jesus honored it. Faith that reaches for him is never turned away.

"Be not afraid, only believe."
Mark 5:36 (KJV), to Jairus, whose daughter was dying.

"According to your faith be it unto you."
Matthew 9:29 (KJV), to two blind men.

"Stretch forth thine hand."
Matthew 12:13 (KJV), to the man with the withered hand.

"Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity."
Luke 13:12 (KJV), to the woman bent double for 18 years.

Eighteen years of bondage, ended with a single sentence. Jesus did not say "endure." He said "loosed."

"Wilt thou be made whole?"
John 5:6 (KJV), to the man at the Pool of Bethesda, sick for 38 years.

"Rise, take up thy bed, and walk."
John 5:8 (KJV)

"Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."
John 9:3 (KJV), about the man born blind. Jesus rejected the idea that sickness was punishment.

"This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby."
John 11:4 (KJV), about Lazarus.

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Every Healing Jesus Performed: The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew, writing to a Jewish audience, presents Jesus as the fulfillment of prophecy. He records more summary statements of mass healing than any other Gospel writer, emphasizing that Jesus healed all who came to him.

This is no accident. Andrew Murray observed that Matthew quotes Isaiah 53 directly after one of these healing passages: "He healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet." Murray drew a conclusion from this: "It was because Jesus had taken on Him our sicknesses that He could, that He ought to heal them. If He had not done so, one part of His work of redemption would have remained powerless and fruitless."

In Matthew, healing is not a bonus. It is part of the redemption.

1. The Leper (Matthew 8:1-4)

"And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed."

Lepers were untouchable. Jesus touched him anyway. The first recorded healing in Matthew is an act of both power and compassion.

2. The Centurion's Servant (Matthew 8:5-13)

"And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour."

A Gentile soldier, requesting healing for someone else, at a distance. Jesus marveled at his faith and said he had not found its equal in all of Israel.

3. Peter's Mother-in-Law (Matthew 8:14-15)

"And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them."

4. Multitudes at Evening (Matthew 8:16-17)

"When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses."

5. Two Demoniacs of Gadara (Matthew 8:28-34)

"And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils... and he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine."

6. The Paralytic (Matthew 9:1-8)

"Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. And he arose, and departed to his house."

7. The Woman with the Issue of Blood (Matthew 9:20-22)

"Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour."

Twelve years of bleeding, spent all she had on physicians, and nothing helped. She did not approach Jesus with a formal request. She reached out and touched his garment. Her faith was not perfect. It was desperate. And it was enough.

8. Jairus' Daughter Raised (Matthew 9:23-26)

"He went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose."

9. Two Blind Men (Matthew 9:27-31)

"Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened."

10. The Mute Demoniac (Matthew 9:32-33)

"And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel."

11. All the Cities and Villages (Matthew 9:35)

"And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people."

12. The Man with the Withered Hand (Matthew 12:9-13)

"Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other."

13. Great Multitudes Follow (Matthew 12:15)

"Great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all."

14. The Blind and Mute Demoniac (Matthew 12:22)

"Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw."

15. Multitudes at Gennesaret (Matthew 14:34-36)

"And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased... and as many as touched were made perfectly whole."

16. The Canaanite Woman's Daughter (Matthew 15:21-28)

"O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour."

A Gentile mother, outside the covenant, refused to stop asking. Jesus initially seemed to turn her away, but her persistence moved him. She would not leave without what she came for. And he gave it.

17. Multitudes on the Mountain (Matthew 15:29-31)

"And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet; and he healed them."

18. The Epileptic Boy (Matthew 17:14-18)

"And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour."

19. Two Blind Men at Jericho (Matthew 20:29-34)

"So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him."

20. The Blind and Lame in the Temple (Matthew 21:14)

"And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them."

The Gospel of Mark

Mark is the action Gospel. His account moves fast, using "immediately" and "straightway" repeatedly. In Mark, you see Jesus healing with urgency and authority. He does not deliberate. He acts. He speaks and it is done.

John G. Lake, the healing minister who founded the Spokane Healing Rooms, understood this kind of authority. He wrote: "There is a conscious dominion Jesus Christ gives to the Christian soul." He pointed to Peter at the Beautiful Gate as the picture of it: "Peter exercised the dominion that was in his soul. The divine flash of the power of God went forth from his soul, and the man instantly arose."

That dominion came from somewhere. It came from watching Jesus. And in Mark, you see the original pattern: authority exercised without hesitation.

21. The Man with an Unclean Spirit (Mark 1:23-26)

"And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him."

22. Many Healed at Capernaum (Mark 1:32-34)

"And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils."

23. Healing Throughout Galilee (Mark 1:39)

"And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils."

24. The Deaf Man with a Speech Impediment (Mark 7:31-37)

"And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain."

25. The Blind Man at Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26)

"After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly."

This is the only healing in the Gospels that happened in two stages. The first touch brought partial sight. The second brought full clarity. Sometimes healing is progressive, and Jesus did not abandon the process halfway.

26. Blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52)

"And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way."

The crowd told Bartimaeus to be quiet. He cried louder. Bold persistence in the face of opposition is never rebuked by Jesus. It is rewarded.

The Gospel of Luke

Luke was a physician. He records healings with clinical precision and a particular focus on people at the margins: women, the poor, Samaritans, Gentiles. In Luke, Jesus' healing ministry is inseparable from his compassion.

More than any other Gospel, Luke shows us that healing and forgiveness belong together. Murray wrote about this connection: "Jesus came to deliver men from sin and sickness that He might make known the love of the Father. In His actions, in His teaching of the disciples, in the work of the apostles, pardon and healing are always to be found together." Luke's account of the paralytic lowered through the roof is the clearest example. Jesus begins by saying, "Thy sins be forgiven thee," then adds, "Arise and walk." The whole person, healed.

27. The Man Full of Leprosy (Luke 5:12-15)

"And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him."

28. The Paralytic Lowered Through the Roof (Luke 5:17-26)

"And the power of the Lord was present to heal them... Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before them."

Notice the opening phrase: "the power of the Lord was present to heal." Luke, the physician, records what he sees: healing is not random. It is the power of the Lord, present and purposeful.

29. The Centurion's Servant (Luke 7:1-10)

"I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel... And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick."

30. The Widow's Son at Nain Raised (Luke 7:11-17)

"And he came and touched the bier... And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak."

Nobody asked for this miracle. Jesus saw a grieving mother burying her only son, and he was moved by compassion alone. Sometimes healing comes before we even know to ask.

31. The Woman Bent Double for 18 Years (Luke 13:10-17)

"Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God."

32. The Man with Dropsy (Luke 14:1-6)

"And he took him, and healed him, and let him go."

33. Ten Lepers (Luke 17:11-19)

"And as they went, they were cleansed."

Ten were healed. One returned to give thanks. Jesus asked, "Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?" All ten received the miracle. Only one responded with gratitude. Murray reflected on this passage: "Of ten who were healed, only one returned to give glory to God. How often do we forget that every healing is a miracle of grace calling for thanksgiving?"

34. The Servant's Ear Restored (Luke 22:50-51)

"And he touched his ear, and healed him."

The last healing before the cross. Even as he was being arrested, surrounded by soldiers and betrayal, Jesus healed. His compassion did not stop when his own suffering began.

The Gospel of John

John records fewer healings than the other Gospel writers, but he treats each one as a sign pointing to who Jesus is. These are not just miracles. They are theological statements. Each healing in John reveals something specific about the nature of God and the purpose of the Son.

Where Matthew emphasizes prophecy fulfilled, and Mark emphasizes authority in action, and Luke emphasizes compassion at the margins, John asks you to see what the healing means. Every sign points beyond itself to the One who performed it.

35. The Nobleman's Son (John 4:46-54)

"Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way... and himself believed, and his whole house."

The nobleman believed the word before he saw the result. He went home in faith. The healing had already happened. This is John's portrait of faith: trusting the word of Jesus before the evidence appears.

36. The Man at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-15)

"Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked."

This man had been sick for 38 years. Jesus did not ask about his faith. He asked, "Wilt thou be made whole?" Sometimes the question is not whether God is willing. It is whether we are ready to receive.

37. The Man Born Blind (John 9:1-7)

"He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam... He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing."

When asked whose sin caused the blindness, Jesus rejected the premise entirely: "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents." Sickness is not punishment. This healing exists, Jesus said, so that "the works of God should be made manifest in him."

38. Lazarus Raised from the Dead (John 11:1-44)

"And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth."

Four days dead. Jesus wept at the tomb, then spoke life into death. This is the ultimate sign in John: Jesus is not only the healer. He is the resurrection and the life.

The Summary Statements

Beyond the individual healings, the Gospel writers record that Jesus healed on a scale too large to catalog individually.

"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people."
Matthew 4:23

"And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet; and he healed them."
Matthew 15:30

"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him."
Acts 10:38

"And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written."
John 21:25

What the Pattern Tells Us

Across 38 specific healings and dozens of summary statements, not once did Jesus say no to someone who came to him for healing. Not once did he say, "This sickness is my will for you." Not once did he turn someone away because their faith was not strong enough, although he praised great faith when he saw it.

The pattern is consistent, and it matters:

If you want to know God's heart toward sickness, you do not have to guess. You just have to read what Jesus did.

John G. Lake understood this when he wrote that "Divine Healing is a portion of the Spirit of God transmitted through the spirit of man." The healings of Jesus were not performances. They were the overflow of who he is. And because he is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), what he did then, he still does now.

CALLOUT

"If He has borne your sicknesses, why then bear them yourself?"

This question, drawn from the teaching of Andrew Murray, cuts through every theological debate about healing. Isaiah 53 says he bore our sicknesses. Matthew 8:17 confirms it. If the work is already done, what remains is for us to receive it.

APPLICATION

Three ways to use these healings in your own faith:

  1. Read the healings aloud. There is something different about hearing the words spoken. Read through one Gospel's healings at a time. Let the repetition build. Jesus healed. Jesus healed. Jesus healed again. The pattern itself becomes the sermon.

  2. Find the healing most like your situation. Are you the one who has been sick a long time, like the man at Bethesda? Are you the parent standing in the gap, like the Canaanite woman? Are you the friend who cannot get to Jesus on your own, like the paralytic whose friends lowered him through the roof? Find the story that mirrors yours, and let it become your prayer.

  3. Pray the words Jesus spoke. Turn his words into your confession. "Lord, you said 'I will, be thou clean.' I receive that today." "Lord, you told the woman, 'Thy faith hath made thee whole.' I bring my faith to you now." The words of Jesus are not historical artifacts. They are living words, and they still carry the same power.

FAQ BLOCK

Q: Did Jesus heal everyone who came to him?
Yes. Across all four Gospels, there is no record of Jesus refusing to heal anyone who came to him. Matthew records multiple summary statements such as "he healed them all" (Matthew 12:15) and "healing every sickness and every disease among the people" (Matthew 9:35). He healed Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, those with great faith and those with none.

Q: Why did Jesus tell some people not to tell anyone about their healing?
Jesus sometimes instructed those he healed not to tell others (Mark 1:44, Mark 7:36). Scholars call this the "messianic secret." Jesus wanted people to come to him because of who he was, not simply because of what he could do. He was not building a reputation as a miracle worker. He was revealing himself as the Messiah on his own terms and timeline.

Q: Can Jesus still heal today?
Yes. Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." Andrew Murray wrote, "The same Jesus who, during His earthly ministry, healed all who came to Him still continues to heal. His name is still all-powerful." James 5:14-15 instructs the church to pray for the sick with the promise that "the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up."

Q: What can we learn from how Jesus healed?
Jesus healed by many different methods: by touch, by spoken word, at a distance, with clay, in response to faith, and sometimes simply out of compassion. No two healings were exactly alike. But the constant across all of them was Jesus himself. The method varied; the Healer never did. This tells us healing is not about a formula. It is about a Person.

CALL TO ACTION

You may have come to this page searching for scriptures about healing. But the scriptures point to a Person. Every healing Jesus performed was an invitation to know him, not just what he could do, but who he is.

If you have never given your life to Jesus, that is the first step. Not because healing requires it, but because knowing him is the point of everything. He is the Healer, and he is also the Savior, the Friend, the Good Shepherd. He is looking for you the same way he looked at the crowd that day on the mountain, with compassion.

Learn how to begin a relationship with God through prayer.

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