Healing Stories 15 & 16

Daughter of the Canaanite Woman #15 

At first read, this story seems to be about persistence, about a Gentile woman who came and knelt before Jesus saying “Lord, help me!”  Her daughter was possessed by and evil spirit.   Initially, Jesus refused to help saying he was “sent only to the lost sheep of Israel,” but I suspect he could have been saying this for the sake of the disciples, who often wanted to restrict the kingdom of the Gospel to only Jews.  Maybe Jesus knew she had the fortitude to argue with him and make his point for the disciples, that God’s healing was for everyone.  

Interesting that the daughter (who is possessed) plays no part in the healing, it is all about the faith and courage of the mother, who comes on behalf of her daughter, and asks.  A good reminder for those of us who’s children are far from the LORD, that we can still –in faith—ask for God’s healing in their lives. 

Finally, the healing, as in other stories is done from a distance.  “She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.”  A reminder that God’s healing power knows no distance. 

Deaf man with speech impediment #16

We’ve seen this before, where Jesus heals the blind man and then says “See that you tell no one.”  In this story he touches the man’s ears and tongue, which opens the man’s ears and loosens his tongue, and then he says to “not to tell anyone,” which would not have been a problem five minutes ago.   

Again we read about the faith of friends fueling the healing power of Jesus, who ask on behalf of their friend.   When Jesus healed this man he healed his hearing, and loosened his tongue, but I suspect that had to do more with healing the speech centers of his mind.  This story contains a big and little miracle.  The little miracle is the healing of the ears, the much larger one how Jesus healed his mind and he could “speak plainly”. 

Two Blind Men - Matthew 9:27-31

Two Blind Men - Matthew 9:27-31

“According to your faith will it be done to you” – is this the same as “forgive us our trespasses and we forgive those who trespass against us”? That in some respect we must participate with Jesus in our healing; we bear some responsibility.  When Jesus asks “Do you believe I am able to do this?” Those with just a little faith, will receive just a little healing; When we pray to be forgiven as we have forgiven others, and if our forgiveness of others is small, so will God’s forgiveness of us?

When Jesus says “See that no one knows about this,” he has just said it to two formerly blind men, who until just a few moments ago would not been able to see anything, let alone that no one else knows about this.

Interesting that the story starts outside, and they follow him in.  There must be more to this story, some details as to why this part was omitted.  Yet in reading this, I understand that sometimes we don’t have to leave the room right away, but linger, and see what God does in that room or our lives when there is nothing pressing that is next. 

Woman with Hemorrhage & Jairus Dauther

There is a group of 7 of us that have begun a journey together to examine the healing miracles of Jesus that appear in scripture.  This class has a significant writing component, in that each of us will have a blog where we answer the questions "What lesson(s) have you learned about healing from this account? 

Here I examine Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:24b-34 and Luke 8:42-48, the account of the woman with hemorrhage

Last week in class we talked about the difference between healing and cure, how they were not the same, though in our society the two are used interchangeably. 

Being healed - is a process leading toward wholeness

Being cured – is the elimination of all evidence of disease or injury to the body.  

One can be cured without being healed, just as one can be healed without being cured. I suspect that much of the medical profession’s focus these days is on cure, but a cure without addressing the underlying spiritual unrest (or dis-ease) is just a band-aid . 

Maybe that is what was going on with the woman in this story, that she had “suffered under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.”  The doctors were attempting a physical cure when what was needed was a spiritual healing. 

“If I just touch his cloths, I will be healed” the story goes, she did and she was, and Jesus felt that the “power had gone out from him”.  This story is a reminder that we can be agents of God’s healing without even being aware that we are playing a small part in the great thing that God is doing.  This story is also a reminder to be aware of our own spiritual tank, and when we feel the power leave us to step away, and not be tempted to rely on our own power. 

For this woman being healed lead toward also being cured; and she was made whole.