Objection: Jesus Withdrew Himself from Multitudes Who Wanted His Healing (Luke 5:15-16)

Luke 5:15-16:
But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities.
And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.

The objector is trying to make a case that Jesus was not willing to heal everyone.  However, this passage certainly doesn’t show that.

First, Luke does NOT state that Jesus denied healing to the multitudes who came to hear and be healed.  If anything, it appears that He did preach to these multitudes and heal them, after which He withdrew Himself into the wilderness.  If Jesus had not been physically present, there would not have been great multitudes gathered to listen to Him and to receive healing!  Crowds didn’t just gather hoping that Jesus would show up where they were!

Second, His withdrawal into the wilderness was to have some all-important prayer time.  It had nothing to do with a lack of willingness to heal the sick.  Actually, if He wanted to continue to heal the sick, He needed time to hear from God.  Ministers who just “minister” all the time and get “too busy to pray” will eventually burn out.  Jesus knew better than to let that happen.