If a doctor can treat an illness, then why do we need Jesus? Perhaps it is a question worth asking. Is it just a matter of making a statement, of rejecting the world’s system for the Christian one? Or is there really a situation where a miracle can happen?
Sometimes, it is both. It is too long a commentary for a single blog post, so today I will just talk about healing/miracle narratives briefly. If we examine these narratives in the New Testament, we find a pattern of people seeking out Jesus and asking him to do something–usually to heal them. Jesus is always compassionate on the sick; but it is intriguing to see that he is not so willing to perform for the sake of the thing. In John 2:4, he chastises his own mother for perhaps abusing his grace in asking him to turn water into wine so that family friends can go on celebrating. God’s gifts are not for personal gain.
In some passages, there are notations saying “the power was with him to heal,” implying that this power was sometimes not with him. (Lk. 5:17)
Jesus had compassion personally on sick people who suffered greatly. He healed a man with mental illness (Mk 5:2-4), a woman who had suffered an illness for 12 years and whose doctors had been unable to cure her (Mk. 5:26-34), and a child who was believed to be dead (Mk 5:35-43). His relationships with the community are important to understand in studying these healings–the healing affects not only the sick person but also the community at large, including Jesus.
Much of the interaction between Jesus and people with disability/illness was also very wrapped up with the community. People with leprosy were required to undergo their cleansing rites, even after Jesus healed them. People with disabilities or other stigmatizing illnesses were required to interact with the community rather than hiding away as Jesus’ followers after being healed (Mk. 5:18-19). It is crucial to understand the renting of community that disability and long-term illness can cause. When Jesus heals a person, it is never for the sake of one person. It is also for the sake of the community. One of the great sins of our age is the sacrificing of community in favor of the individual and the favoring of individual wellness over community wellness. This is a matter that I will address again in future blog posts.
The healing of the person with mental illness is reported as deliverance from demons, and the Church is much often more distracted by the supernatural demon than they are aware by the impact of what has actually transpired in the life of the person and in the community. Much “ministry” has been built up around the concept of deliverance from evil spirits: everything from the spirit of depression to the spirit of laziness to the spirit of rebellion. If it cann be called an evil spirit, it is, and we can just pray it away, shouting and frightening a person until they cry and tremble in our presence as evidence that the spirit is there and fears–and see, the person still needs prayer because it will not leave. If the person takes psychiatric medication, this is further evidence of entanglement with worldliness and possession by evil spirits, because these medications “alter the mind” and cause symptoms such as changes in the appearance of the eyes, sedation, altered speech, etc. The solution, according to some members of the Church, is to stop the medication and pray away the problem. When symptoms such as severe depression, mania, or hallucinations return, that is further evidence that the person is demon-possessed, and the cycle continues. Oh, how many people are deeply wounded by these practices! There is no excuse for the destruction of community that we cause in the name of Jesus!
I don’t pretend to understand how Jesus healed. I read the healing narratives, and I accept them as accounts of people’s observations of his actions. He healed people whom he came in contact with of various kinds of illnesses. That included blindness, episodes described as epilepsy, paralysis, deafness, muteness, excessive bleeding, and mental health disorder. He healed the sick whom medicine failed (Mk. 5:26) and whom the community feared (Mk. 5:1-4). That is the reason his works were considered miraculous and counted as good news. It is abusive to our fellow human beings to misuse the name and power of God and to fail to use the abilities God gave to us.
Jesus is not a vending machine that we can use to get what we want. Many people serve God and remain in their present condition. They are not faithless but continue to trust God daily. To continue to abuse them and blame them for their lack of healing is to heap unimaginable pain on them far worse than the disease itself can do. To fail to hear their testimony of God’s work in the midst of their pain is to dishonor God in a whole new way. It is difficult for me to agree in worship or prayer with people who do these things.
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