Objection: Jesus Himself Pointed Out that There Were Many Lepers in Israel in Elijah’s Day, Yet Only Naaman the Syrian Was Cleansed (Luke 4:27)

The objector has pulled Luke 4:27 completely out of context in an effort to prove that it isn’t God’s will to heal everyone.  The objector tries to make Jesus’ comment indicate that God didn’t want to heal the many lepers in Israel at the time – only Naaman the Syrian.

But that is NOT why only Naaman was healed.  The Jews in Israel at the time weren’t heeding God’s prophet, and at least Naaman showed up where the prophet was.  Here’s the real context of the verse:

Luke 4:24-27:
And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

So the problem in Israel was not God’s will to heal.  It was Israel’s lack of recognition of God’s prophet – the same problem Jesus went on to encounter at Nazareth, where He COULD NOT do mighty works because of their unbelief (Mark 6:1-6).