Those two motivations aren't mutually exclusive. It's perfectly possible that Jesus both wanted to help the sick AND recognized that doing so would tend to convert people.

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That's a valid point, but the Bible isn't giving me an impression of a kind man.

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There's various 'healing' passages which end with the patients being told not to tell anyone though, which suggests a lack of desire (at that stage) to convert everyone.

Plus, I think 'kindness' in a modern Western sense and compassionate treatment in the C1st Palestine sense probably aren't directly comparable?

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They did start with telling people to keep it secret, but they quickly changed to telling people to tell everyone else.

The idea that the concept of kindness would be extremely different between then and now is excellent.

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