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Healing
On two occasions while he is traveling toward Jerusalem for the last time,
Jesus heals individuals without their seeking it. The healings, of a crippled
woman and of a man with dropsy, are understood by Jesus as setting these people
free from bondage. Illness is not a neutral state, analagous to good or dry
soil. It is an unnatural state, one in opposition to the will of God,
analagous to a child falling into a well.
Jesus goes so far as to describe the crippled woman as bound by Satan, the
arch enemy of God. Efforts to make our bodies whole have a spiritual dimension,
and we are right to involve prayer, meditation, confession and the receipt of
forgiveness, and submission to God's will and way in our fights against illness.
The miraculous healings by Jesus in these cases were purposely performed in
front of Pharisees who believed it was wrong to work on the sabbath and who
considered healing to be work. Jesus' purpose in freeing the woman and the
man included an object lesson to his offended observers. They had enough
compassion to lead their donkey to water on the sabbath and to pull their
ox out of a well; should they not have enough compassion to respond
as kindly to the precious children of God?
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