Miracles of Jesus: Healing the sick during the evening
(Matt 8:16, Mark 1:32, Luke 4:40)
After describing how Jesus healed Peter the Apostle's mother-in-law in Capernaum, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke say that Jesus healed many people during the evening, of all kinds of illnesses. As explained in the Gospel of Luke:
At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.
- Luke 4:40-41, NIV translation.
So why would Jesus want to prevent the evil spirits from proclaiming him as being the Messiah? A Bible scholar named Victor Prange wrote the following:
Jesus did not want the witness of these evil spirits. They witnessed from evil intent and with the purpose of undermining the true purpose of Christ's mission. Too easily people would come to think of the Messiah only as a miracle worker and not as the Servant of God come to redeem sinners from eternal death and hell.
Source: Prange, Victor H.: Luke. Milwaukee, Wis. : Northwestern Pub. House, 1988 (The People's Bible), S. 52
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