 |
| Demons Isenheim Altarpiece Grunewald (1512) |
One inference that seems obvious to many people is that the
miracles attributed to Jesus didn’t actually happen, and that this is either a
record of human credulity, or fanciful embroidery after the fact. But this is
too hasty. There is no doubt that modern understanding and treatment of
physical illness is vastly advanced on what it was even one hundred years ago.
At the same time, there is much that remains mysterious to medical science.
Furthermore the effectiveness of modern drug therapies is not as well
established as it is often made out to be. And, when it comes to mental
illness, our understanding has advanced surprisingly little, with effective
treatments few and far between.
So a measure of humility is in order before we too quickly
discount the understanding and experience of people in times past (as well as in other non-Western parts of the contemporary world), and relegate them all to superstitious ignorance. Humility, in fact, is
the message that the wonderfully poetic passage from Isaiah invites. ‘Have you
not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of
the ends of the earth. . . . his understanding is unsearchable.’
 |
| Jesus Preaching Rembrandt (1652) |
If, as Christians believe, this God whose understanding is unsearchable was uniquely
incarnate in Jesus, there is no very great puzzle in claims that he had a
dramatic effect on both the physical and mental well being of the people he
encountered. It is only to be expected. We should not overlook this further important fact, however. On the occasion that Mark recounts, as
on many other occasions, Jesus quietly moves on elsewhere, lest the people come to see him
primarily as a miracle worker who can fix things. His first call is not to heal, but to “proclaim
the message” of salvation “for that is
what I came out to do.”
No comments:
Post a Comment