Going Viral

“News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them.” Matthew 4:24 NIV

            I’m sure many of you have heard of the term “going viral.” You may have used it yourself in describing something you have seen going viral. The source for the term used today comes as a product of social media outlets, mostly through videos, comments, and news events shared on these various sites. As more and more people share these posts, it rapidly multiplies the coverage on social media platforms making it almost impossible to miss. You may or may not agree on the content, but you cannot deny its effectiveness in reaching people.

            Although the term “going viral” is related to today’s technological advancements, the concept of “going viral” is as old as history itself. It may have taken a little longer but the effects were still the same. The more spectacular and unbelieving the news events seem to be the more it would be spread abroad. One who has personally seen or experienced such an event would be most excited to share the news. Early in Jesus’s ministry on earth news about Him went viral as He taught, proclaimed the Gospel, and healed people of every kind of disease and sickness.

            The people who witnessed and experienced the healings shared the news of Jesus with the methods of their day. No doubt the news spread quickly and soon people from all Syria were coming to Him for healing and casting out demons. As the word continue to spread “Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.” (Mt. 4:25) The good news of Jesus Christ was “going viral.”

            Today we have the same good news the people had in Jesus’s day. The fact is we have a more complete understanding of who Jesus is. We certainly have more advanced capabilities to share what we know and have experienced about Jesus. Are we using all our available resources to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and seeing it ‘going viral’?

Read the story: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%204%3A23-5%3A2&version=NIV