Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Christ Gives Holistic Healing

Bible Reading: Mark: 5: 25-34

Key Verse: 34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

DEVOTION

The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels, but records the highest (18) number of Jesus’s miracles. The fifth chapter presents three healing miracles: (i) demon-possessed man; (ii) woman with a flow of blood for twelve years; (iii) Raising of Jairus’s daughter from the dead.
The devotional passage (Mark 5:25-34) and the parallel texts (Matthew 9:20-22; Luke 8:43-48) describe the second miracle of Jesus healing the woman, who had spent all her resources on treatment without any relief, and becoming worse. When she learned about Jesus, the woman believed that even a touch of His clothes would make her well. She received immediate healing upon touching His garment. However, she fell down before Jesus, fearing and trembling, when He asked, “Who touched My clothes?”. Jesus commended the woman for her faith and testimony, instructing her to “go in peace”.
Mark’s Gospel provides a masterful survey of the multitudes that thronged Jesus (1:32-34, 45; 2:1-4; 3:7-12, 32; 4:1; 5:21; 6:30-44, 53-56; 8:1-9; 10:46; 11:1-11), yearned to touch Him (3:10) and His garment for healing (5:27, 6:56). Early in His ministry, Jesus was unable to enter the city of Capernaum following the healing of a leper; he had to be in deserted places, where people kept coming (1:45). The woman with the flow of blood also received healing in a crowd (5:29). In a later account of the Feeding the Five Thousand miracle, Mark documents people running to a deserted place where Jesus had gone in a boat for resting with disciples (6:31-34). Jesus was moved with compassion for the multitude since they were like sheep without a shepherd. Later, Mark records people running through the Gennesaret region, carrying the sick on beds, laying them in marketplaces, and begging Jesus to let them touch the hem of His garment; all who touched Him were healed (6:54-56).
Bible scholars note that the Greek word used in Mark 5:34 for "has made you well" is sesoken, a form of the verb sozo, which means to save, rescue, or preserve. More broadly, sozo can refer to spiritual salvation (soteria), i.e., saved from sin and its consequences. Therefore, what Jesus granted to the woman was holistic healing, both physical and spiritual. Jesus also told the woman to “go in peace”, echoing an Old Testament blessing (Exodus 4:18; 1 Samuel 20:42) that denotes spiritual healing. The Greek word for peace is eirene, which means harmony and tranquility, that comes from being right with God.
Jesus’s affirmation to the woman, “Your faith has made you well”, also established a link between faith and healing that was repeated during the healing of a leper (Luke 17:19) and a blind beggar (Mark 10:52). However, when Jesus was rejected in His hometown of Nazareth (Mark 6:1-6), He could not do any mighty work because of their unbelief.
The healing of the woman with the flow of blood is a powerful example of God’s miraculous provision in situations without human solutions; when God brings us to the end of ourselves. When we realize that Jesus is all we have, we should also recognize that Jesus is all we need.

   PRAYER

 Be compassionate and merciful to us O LORD. Help our unbelief. Help us to trust You fully.
 

Thought for the day


Appropriating the holistic (physical and spiritual) healing given by Christ could be a guiding principle for Christian living.

Dr. Cherian Samuel
Immanuel Mar Thoma Church, Virginia

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