I used to wonder if healing was a side issue in the life of Jesus.  I wondered if other things were on His mind, and on His agenda.  Sick and hurting people were certainly healed, but maybe it was merely to show He was God.  As I examined the gospels more closely, I found that healing was in the center of His passion. 

If this is true, then why should we think things have changed now?  He tells us Malachi 3:6 He is God, He changes not. 

In Matthew 12:15 we read that many followed Jesus, and "He healed all their sick."  Not some of their sick, but all their sick.  No one was left out. 

In Matthew 14:35,36 the word says, "People brought all their sick to Him and begged Him to let the sick just touch the edge of His cloak, and all who touched Him were healed." Again, everyone who believed enough to touch His garment went away healed.  Jesus seemed to go through towns dramaticly changing lives. 

I have been encouraged to look at 24 hours in Jesus' life.  We start the journey on Matthew 5 and end the 24 hours in Matthew 10:42.

Jesus teaches His disciples on the mountain, we call it the sermon on the mount.  He comes down off the mountain and heals a man of leprosy (8:1-3).  He enters Cranium and He heals a centurion's servant (8:5-13).  He goes to Peter's house, and heals his mother-in-law, who has a fever(8:14-15).  As the evening comes, he begins deliverance ministry as people heard He was in town.  People brought the sick to Him, and healed all of them(8:16).  Matthew then says this was a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophesy, "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases." (8:17)

But it isn't over yet.

That night, they crossed over the lake, and the furious storm almost swamps the boat.  He rebukes the wind.  They land on the other side, and Jesus immediately casts devils out of two men (8:28-34).  The boat launches, and Jesus arrives in His own town.  He heals a paralytic (9:2-8).  While ministering to His disciples, he raises ruler's daughter (9:18-19).  He then turns and heals a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years(9:20-21).  He then heals two blind men while leaving the town(9:27-31).  Further down the road he heals a man who could not speak due to a demonic hold (9:32-33).  Matthew concludes this section by saying Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness(9:35).  He then turns to His disciples and gives them authority to the same thing He was doing. He gives them "authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness(10:1)."  Now they were doing what He did.

It sounds as if healing of lives was the deal.