Jesus' Ministry - Characteristics, from The Lion of Judah (3) The Life of Jesus

Jesus’ Ministry –

Characteristics

The Lion of Judah Series

The Lion of Judah Series – Blogs

1 The Titles of Jesus – Blog
The Titles of Jesus – PDF

2 The Reign of Jesus – Blog
The Reign of Jesus – PDF

3 The Life of Jesus – Blog
The Life of Jesus – PDF

4 The Death of Jesus – Blog
The Death of Jesus – PDF

5 The Resurrection of Jesus – Blog
The Resurrection of Jesus – PDF

6 The Spirit of Jesus – Blog
The Spirit of Jesus – PDF

7 The Lion of Judah – in one volume – Blog
The Lion of Judah – PDF

Contents of Book 3: The Life of Jesus

Introduction
The Life of Jesus
The Birth and Boyhood of Jesus
The Beginning of Jesus’ Ministry
Jesus’ Ministry – Overview
Jesus’ Ministry – Characteristics
~ Prayer (see below)
~ Crowds & Healing (see below)
~ Teaching
~ Parables
~ Opposition
Chronology with Jerusalem festivals
Holy Week
The Resurrection & Ascension
Appendix: Book Resources

This book, The Lion of Judah (3) The life of Jesus provides an overview of Jesus’ life and summarizes some key verses or passages describing Jesus’ short ministry. These passages highlight important characteristics of his life and ministry.

They are: Prayer, Crowds and Healing, Teaching, Parables, Disciples, Opposition

This Blog reproduces the first ones: Prayer, Crowds and Healing

Prayer

Jesus prayed, constantly.

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, ²²and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ (Luke 3: 21-22)

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. (Mark 1: 35)

But now more than ever the word about Jesus spread abroad; many crowds would gather to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. ¹⁶But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray. (Luke 5:15-16)

Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. ¹³And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles. (Luke 6:12-13)

Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. (John 6:11)

Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. ²³And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. (Matthew 14:22-23)

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. ²⁹And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. (Luke 9:28-29)

And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. ⁸“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. ⁹In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
¹⁰Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹Give us this day our daily bread.
¹²And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
¹³And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
(Matthew 6:7-13 NKJV, from a later manuscript)

So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upwards and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.’ (John 11:41-42)

Jesus prayed at the last supper, and three times in Gethsemane, and on the cross.

After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, ²since you have given him authority over all people^] to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. ⁵So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. (John 17:1-5; full prayer, John 17: 1-26)

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ ³⁷He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. ³⁸Then he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.’ ³⁹And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.’ ⁴⁰Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, ‘So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? ⁴¹Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial;^[^a^] the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ ⁴²Again he went away for the second time and prayed, ‘My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.’ ⁴³Again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words. ⁴⁵Then he came to the disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. (Matthew 26:36-45)

Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. (Luke 23:34)

At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Mark 15:34; Psalm 22:1)

Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. (Luke 23:46 NIV)

The resurrected Jesus blessed his people.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. (Luke 24:30-31)

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. ⁵¹While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. (Luke 24:50-51)

Crowds and Healing

Jesus constantly healed people and great crowds flocked to him.

And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. (Matthew 4:25)

[Paralytic healed] And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay.

When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings. (Mark 2:4; Matthew 9:8; see Luke 5:19)

Jesus went out again beside the lake; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. (Mark 2:13)

At daybreak he departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowds were looking for him; and when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from leaving them. (Luke 4:42)

But now more than ever the word about Jesus spread abroad; many crowds would gather to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. (Luke 5:15)

A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. (John 6:2)

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, ²he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ³He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. (Luke 5:1-3; see Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20)

[The Beatitudes] When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. (Matthew 5:1)

Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, (Matthew 7:28)

When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him (Matthew 8:1)

Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. (Matthew 8:18)

Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax-collectors and others sitting at the table with them. (Luke 5:29)

[Jesus teaches and heals] He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. ¹⁸They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. ¹⁹And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. (Luke 6:17-19)

When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, ‘I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.’ (Luke 7:9; see Matthew 8:5-13)

[Jesus Raises the Widow’s Son at Nain] Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. (Luke 7:11)

[The Parable of the Sower] When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: (Luke 8:4)

[A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed ] When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. ²²Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet ²³and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’ ²⁴So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. … [A woman who touched his robe was healed.]³⁰Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ ³¹And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?”’ (Mark 5:21-31; see Matthew 9:18-26; Luke 8:40-56)

And when the demon had been cast out, the one who had been mute spoke; and the crowds were amazed and said, ‘Never has anything like this been seen in Israel.’ (Matthew 9:33)

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)

While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers were standing outside, wanting to speak to him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.’ (Matthew 12:46; Mark 3:32; see Luke 8:19)

He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him; ¹⁰for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. (Mark 3:9-10)

Then he went home; ²⁰and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. (Mark 3:19-20)

[The Parable of the Sower] Again he began to teach beside the lake. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the lake on the land. (Mark 4:1; see Matthew 13:2)

[Feeding 5,000] Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. ¹⁵When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ ¹⁶Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ ¹⁷They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ ¹⁸And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ ¹⁹Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. … Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone (Matthew 14:13-19, 22-23; see Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-14)

[Feeding 4,000] Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, ³¹so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.³²Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.’³³The disciples said to him, ‘Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?’ ³⁴Jesus asked them, ‘How many loaves have you?’ They said, ‘Seven, and a few small fish.’ ³⁵Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, ³⁶he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ³⁷And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. ³⁸Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children. ³⁹After sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan. (Matthew 15:30-39; see Mark 8:1-10)

[Deaf man cured] He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. (Mark 7:33; see Matthew 15:29-31)

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. (Mark 8:34; see Matthew 16:24; Luke 9:23)

[The Healing of a Boy with a Spirit] When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵When the whole crowd saw him, they were immediately overcome with awe, and they ran forward to greet him. … ²⁵When Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ‘You spirit that keep this boy from speaking and hearing, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!’ (Mark 9:14-15, 25; see Matthew 17:14-20)

Meanwhile, when the crowd gathered in thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. …’ (Luke 12:1)

As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. ³⁰There were two blind men sitting by the roadside. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, ‘Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!’ ³¹The crowd sternly ordered them to be quiet; but they shouted even more loudly, ‘Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David!’ … Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they regained their sight and followed him. (Matthew 20:29-30; see Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-43)

[The plot to kill Lazarus] When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. (John 12:9)

So the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify. ¹⁸It was also because they heard that he had performed this sign that the crowd went to meet him. (John 12:17-18)

[Triumphal entry to Jerusalem] A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,

‘Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!’

¹⁰When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, ‘Who is this?’ ¹¹The crowds were saying, ‘This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.’ (Matthew 21:8-11; see Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:28-40; John 12:12-19)

[The betrayal and arrest of Jesus] While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. (Matthew 26:47; see Mark 14:43; Luke 22:47)

Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed. (Matthew 27:20)

[Pilate hands Jesus over to be crucified] So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.’ (Matthew 27:24)

References to healing all diseases and all people:

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. (Matthew 4:23)

That evening they brought to him many who were possessed by demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and cured all who were sick. (Matthew 8:16)

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. (Matthew 9:35 NKJV)

Many crowds followed him, and he cured all of them, ¹⁶and he ordered them not to make him known. (Matthew 12:15-16)

When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. (Luke 4:40 NKJV)

One day, while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting nearby (they had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem); and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. (Luke 5:17)

And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. (Luke 6:19)

And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the market-places, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed. (Mark 6:56)

Jesus sent his disciples and others out to preach and heal.

Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. (Matthew 10:1; see Luke 9:1)

Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, ²and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. ⁶They departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere. (Luke 9:1-2, 6; see Matthew 10:1)

So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. ¹³They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. (Mark 6:12-13)

After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. ²Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest. ³Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. … ⁹And heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ (Luke 10:1-3, 9)

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