Objection: Jesus Turned Down Requests to Stay and Heal More

An objector wrote that Jesus refused to heal more people in a certain city on one occasion.  There is no such statement in the Bible.  When I asked the gentleman for proof, he cited Luke 4:42-43: “And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them.  And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also:  for therefore am I sent.”

There is no mention of anyone needing healing who was turned down.  Besides, if other people wanted to be healed, they could just follow Him to wherever else He was going, as happened on several occasions.  Jesus was simply saying that He needed to preach in other cities.  Wouldn’t you want such an anointed preacher to stay in town?  Of course!

The person said that because healing was a trademark of Jesus’ ministry (at least he admitted that much), it must be implicit that they wanted Him to heal more people in that city.  That makes no sense in light of the many passages where people brought the sick out into the desert where Jesus was.  If there had been more sick people in the city, the people could have simply brought the sick with them into the desert where He was in these verses and they would have been healed!

For all we know, all the sick were already healed in that city and they just wanted Him to stay in case they got sick again.

The one place in the Bible where Jesus did (initially) turn someone down who wanted a healing (for her daughter) is discussed in Objection: Jesus Told a Greek Woman NO When She Came for Deliverance for Her Daughter.  Note that in that case, the person still got her miracle, so it makes a very weak objection.  In fact, it is no objection at all when you understand the context.