If you think that healing was, to Jesus, merely a symbol of something far greater - like everlasting salvation, think again.

If that's all it was, then He must have believed it was a vital key to open us to the kingdom He brought. Because He insisted that His followers continue to do just what He did and to do even greater miraculous works. He wanted to break into men's darkened minds and dull hearts to make them believe in a kingdom to which they'd become insensible. Salvation without intimacy is hollow and meaningless.

If that's all healing was, a mere token, we are yet commanded to perpetuate it. But it is so much more. Healing is the living, present, palpable display of the God of mercy, compassion and zealous patience. It’s the entreaty of the Father’s yearning heart for the endless embrace of His own children.