Why do Jesus and the prophets perform signs and wonders, miracles?
Have modern Christians lost the power to heal the sick in similar fashion or was this more meaningful in the context of the ancient understanding of illness?
Why does so-called ‘faith-healing’ invoke connotations of charlatanism?
In the context of these healing acts what factors at play have prominence:
God’s healing power
The ability of the ‘healer’ to channel that power
The faith of the person seeking healing
Has medical science supplanted our trust in God’s healing power and the power of prayer to effect a change in our lives?
To what degree is the individual responsible for making wise decisions regarding lifestyle, diet, exercise, sleep to maintain health. Viz 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
What part does our participation in the life of the church and worship in particular play in maintaining a healthy outlook, a positive attitude, coping with life’s stresses?
2 Kings 5:1-14
If you take your malady to a surgeon you are likely to be given a surgical intervention, an internist will have medical recommendations, a psychologist may deal with psychosomatic disorders, a chiropractor will adjust your spine, a herbalist doze you with naturopathic remedies, an acupuncturist insert needles. How would we describe the spiritual modality?
Are there any limits to God's healing resources, or are there limits we place upon God's ability to heal.
How important are our expectations and atitudes to the healing process?
Naman's King sends his general to the King of Isreal as an enemy general entering his kingdom would have alarmed any king. It seems Elisha was unknown to his King. It is noted that Elisha never meets Naman.
Psalm 30
A song of praise for God's Healing Power
Tears may flow in the night, but joy comes in the morning.
Mourning is a necessary process but through it all our faith leads out of death to life, from sorrow to joy, from sickness to new life, from mourning to dancing.
The exegete splits the Psalm into 5 stanzas:
1 1-3 song of thanksgiving
2 4-5 hymn of praise
3 6-7 retrospection on taking good times for granted
4 8-10 recalling the prayer for help
5 11-12 song of rejoicing
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
What is important here is not winning but how one runs the race. One trains with a purpose in mind, we exercise self-control and discipline. The race Paul is involved in is the proclamation of the Gospel.
Mark 1:40-45
Again the disease is leprosy. The man is healed but ignores the admonition that he tell no one but his priest of his good fortune. The fact that the man spreads the word makes it impossible for Christ to do his work as his fame drew dangerous crowds around him forcing Jesus to flee the district. It is noted that the leper's and Jesus roles are reversed. The leper is freed to enter society, Jesus is forced into isolation.
I've been to Saint Joseph's Oratory in Montreal and seen the cript storing the items left behind by those healed, half the size of this church. Similar storage areas grace St Marie among the Hurons in Midland and St Anne de Beaupré in Quebec. I wonder if such organizations require liability insurance in Canada. I can imagine the circus that would result if someone actually began performing successful prayer-healing here.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Monday, February 14, 2011
Keeping the Commandments
Mat 5:21 "You have heard that people were told in the past, 'Do not commit murder; anyone who does will be brought to trial.'
Mat 5:22 But now I tell you: if you are angry with your brother you will be brought to trial, if you call your brother 'You good-for-nothing!' you will be brought before the Council, and if you call your brother a worthless fool you will be in danger of going to the fire of hell.
Mat 5:23 So if you are about to offer your gift to God at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you,
Mat 5:24 leave your gift there in front of the altar, go at once and make peace with your brother, and then come back and offer your gift to God.
Mat 5:25 "If someone brings a lawsuit against you and takes you to court, settle the dispute while there is time, before you get to court. Once you are there, you will be turned over to the judge, who will hand you over to the police, and you will be put in jail.
Mat 5:26 There you will stay, I tell you, until you pay the last penny of your fine.
Mat 5:27 "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'
Mat 5:28 But now I tell you: anyone who looks at a woman and wants to possess her is guilty of committing adultery with her in his heart.
Mat 5:29 So if your right eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away! It is much better for you to lose a part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell.
Mat 5:30 If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is much better for you to lose one of your limbs than to have your whole body go off to hell.
Mat 5:31 "It was also said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce.'
Mat 5:32 But now I tell you: if a man divorces his wife for any cause other than her unfaithfulness, then he is guilty of making her commit adultery if she marries again; and the man who marries her commits adultery also.
Mat 5:33 "You have also heard that people were told in the past, 'Do not break your promise, but do what you have vowed to the Lord to do.'
Mat 5:34 But now I tell you: do not use any vow when you make a promise. Do not swear by heaven, for it is God's throne;
Mat 5:35 nor by earth, for it is the resting place for his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
Mat 5:36 Do not even swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black.
Mat 5:37 Just say 'Yes' or 'No'---anything else you say comes from the Evil One.
Mat 5:38 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.'
Mat 5:39 But now I tell you: do not take revenge on someone who wrongs you. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, let him slap your left cheek too.
Mat 5:40 And if someone takes you to court to sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat as well.
Mat 5:41 And if one of the occupation troops forces you to carry his pack one mile, carry it two miles.
Mat 5:42 When someone asks you for something, give it to him; when someone wants to borrow something, lend it to him.
Mat 5:43 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your friends, hate your enemies.'
Mat 5:44 But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
Mat 5:45 so that you may become the children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil.
Mat 5:46 Why should God reward you if you love only the people who love you? Even the tax collectors do that!
Mat 5:47 And if you speak only to your friends, have you done anything out of the ordinary? Even the pagans do that!
Mat 5:48 You must be perfect---just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
"We confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done and by what we have left undone."
The 'Good News' of the Gospel is generally seen as freeing us from the legalism of the Old Testament to respond in love to Christ's message of salvation. If you can indeed
Luk 10:27 " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind'; and 'Love your neighbour as you love yourself.' "
then you may fulfill the Law and the Prophets.
The passage above which quotes yesterday's Gospel and following verses demonstrates just how difficult a task that may be. In this passage Christ makes clear that in freeing us from the letter of the law he holds us to an even higher standard. We are held responsible not only for our sins of commission but for our sins of omission, the good we might have accomplished but failed to do because it was deemed inconvenient or unpopular. We are also held responsible not only for our outward acts and statements but also for our inward thoughts and desires. You are, for example, held culpable for your grudges as much as is the person who may have wronged you.
I found it interesting that in yesterday's Adult Bible Study there were persons who found the concept of being held responsible for their thoughts difficult to grasp. There are many senses in which keeping the Ten Commandments may be an easy task compared with this standard.
Mat 5:22 But now I tell you: if you are angry with your brother you will be brought to trial, if you call your brother 'You good-for-nothing!' you will be brought before the Council, and if you call your brother a worthless fool you will be in danger of going to the fire of hell.
Mat 5:23 So if you are about to offer your gift to God at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you,
Mat 5:24 leave your gift there in front of the altar, go at once and make peace with your brother, and then come back and offer your gift to God.
Mat 5:25 "If someone brings a lawsuit against you and takes you to court, settle the dispute while there is time, before you get to court. Once you are there, you will be turned over to the judge, who will hand you over to the police, and you will be put in jail.
Mat 5:26 There you will stay, I tell you, until you pay the last penny of your fine.
Mat 5:27 "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'
Mat 5:28 But now I tell you: anyone who looks at a woman and wants to possess her is guilty of committing adultery with her in his heart.
Mat 5:29 So if your right eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away! It is much better for you to lose a part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell.
Mat 5:30 If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is much better for you to lose one of your limbs than to have your whole body go off to hell.
Mat 5:31 "It was also said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce.'
Mat 5:32 But now I tell you: if a man divorces his wife for any cause other than her unfaithfulness, then he is guilty of making her commit adultery if she marries again; and the man who marries her commits adultery also.
Mat 5:33 "You have also heard that people were told in the past, 'Do not break your promise, but do what you have vowed to the Lord to do.'
Mat 5:34 But now I tell you: do not use any vow when you make a promise. Do not swear by heaven, for it is God's throne;
Mat 5:35 nor by earth, for it is the resting place for his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
Mat 5:36 Do not even swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black.
Mat 5:37 Just say 'Yes' or 'No'---anything else you say comes from the Evil One.
Mat 5:38 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.'
Mat 5:39 But now I tell you: do not take revenge on someone who wrongs you. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, let him slap your left cheek too.
Mat 5:40 And if someone takes you to court to sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat as well.
Mat 5:41 And if one of the occupation troops forces you to carry his pack one mile, carry it two miles.
Mat 5:42 When someone asks you for something, give it to him; when someone wants to borrow something, lend it to him.
Mat 5:43 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your friends, hate your enemies.'
Mat 5:44 But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
Mat 5:45 so that you may become the children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil.
Mat 5:46 Why should God reward you if you love only the people who love you? Even the tax collectors do that!
Mat 5:47 And if you speak only to your friends, have you done anything out of the ordinary? Even the pagans do that!
Mat 5:48 You must be perfect---just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
"We confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done and by what we have left undone."
The 'Good News' of the Gospel is generally seen as freeing us from the legalism of the Old Testament to respond in love to Christ's message of salvation. If you can indeed
Luk 10:27 " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind'; and 'Love your neighbour as you love yourself.' "
then you may fulfill the Law and the Prophets.
The passage above which quotes yesterday's Gospel and following verses demonstrates just how difficult a task that may be. In this passage Christ makes clear that in freeing us from the letter of the law he holds us to an even higher standard. We are held responsible not only for our sins of commission but for our sins of omission, the good we might have accomplished but failed to do because it was deemed inconvenient or unpopular. We are also held responsible not only for our outward acts and statements but also for our inward thoughts and desires. You are, for example, held culpable for your grudges as much as is the person who may have wronged you.
I found it interesting that in yesterday's Adult Bible Study there were persons who found the concept of being held responsible for their thoughts difficult to grasp. There are many senses in which keeping the Ten Commandments may be an easy task compared with this standard.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
The Temptation of Christ
Luk 4:1 Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wild.
Luk 4:2 For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by the Devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when the time was up he was hungry.
Luk 4:3 The Devil, playing on his hunger, gave the first test: "Since you're God's Son, command this stone to turn into a loaf of bread."
Luk 4:4 Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: "It takes more than bread to really live."
Luk 4:5 For the second test he led him up and spread out all the kingdoms of the earth on display at once.
Luk 4:6 Then the Devil said, "They're yours in all their splendor to serve your pleasure. I'm in charge of them all and can turn them over to whomever I wish.
Luk 4:7 Worship me and they're yours, the whole works."
Luk 4:8 Jesus refused, again backing his refusal with Deuteronomy: "Worship the Lord your God and only the Lord your God. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness."
Luk 4:9 For the third test the Devil took him to Jerusalem and put him on top of the Temple. He said, "If you are God's Son, jump.
Luk 4:10 It's written, isn't it, that 'he has placed you in the care of angels to protect you;
Luk 4:11 they will catch you; you won't so much as stub your toe on a stone'?"
Luk 4:12 "Yes," said Jesus, "and it's also written, 'Don't you dare tempt the Lord your God.'"
Luk 4:13 That completed the testing. The Devil retreated temporarily, lying in wait for another opportunity.
Sunday's Gospel is known as the Temptation of Christ
In Luke this follows immediately upon the Baptism of Christ and God's declaration that He is His Beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased. What follows in Luke is a rendering of Christ's earthly lineage through Joseph to King David, Abraham, and God. It is the earthly creature who is tempted in the desert and the nature of these temptations, Christ's vulnerabilities, the strengths he draws on in dealing with them, the responses he makes, and his triumphs over them are instructive for us even today.
First off, let it be said that although elsewhere we read that Mary's was a virgin birth, incarnate of the Holy Spirit; Luke the physician is definitive in acknowledging Joseph as the father.
So what is the nature of these temptations. Whether or not we perceive evil as an animate personal force temptations to sin are all around us and given our fallen nature, our weakness, we are bound to fall prey to them in our daily life. However the greatest temptations play to our strengths, not our weaknesses and we need to be vigilant that in our pride we not fall victim to them.
We have already learned that Jesus is capable of performing signs and wonders, we call them the miracles; his preaching attracted great crowds and could have gotten him a great following, but his kingdom was not of this world; and knowing that he was God's chosen one, he might have showed off to prove his invulnerability and he could also have avoided the cross. So he is tempted to turn stones into bread, become a great earthly ruler, prove to the world that God was at his beck and call; all things apparently within his power. In resisting these appeals to his own vanity Jesus declares that the comforts of this world are not his principal goal in life, fame and fortune are secondary to heavenly riches, and the adulation of the crowds takes a back seat to faithfulness to God and his purposes.
The answer it would seem to resisting temptation is not in being strong so that we yield not but in placing our priorities with God so that we not be tempted to yield in the first place. For where our hearts are there will our treasure be also. Even pride in resisting temptation can be a sin.
Luk 4:2 For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by the Devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when the time was up he was hungry.
Luk 4:3 The Devil, playing on his hunger, gave the first test: "Since you're God's Son, command this stone to turn into a loaf of bread."
Luk 4:4 Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: "It takes more than bread to really live."
Luk 4:5 For the second test he led him up and spread out all the kingdoms of the earth on display at once.
Luk 4:6 Then the Devil said, "They're yours in all their splendor to serve your pleasure. I'm in charge of them all and can turn them over to whomever I wish.
Luk 4:7 Worship me and they're yours, the whole works."
Luk 4:8 Jesus refused, again backing his refusal with Deuteronomy: "Worship the Lord your God and only the Lord your God. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness."
Luk 4:9 For the third test the Devil took him to Jerusalem and put him on top of the Temple. He said, "If you are God's Son, jump.
Luk 4:10 It's written, isn't it, that 'he has placed you in the care of angels to protect you;
Luk 4:11 they will catch you; you won't so much as stub your toe on a stone'?"
Luk 4:12 "Yes," said Jesus, "and it's also written, 'Don't you dare tempt the Lord your God.'"
Luk 4:13 That completed the testing. The Devil retreated temporarily, lying in wait for another opportunity.
Sunday's Gospel is known as the Temptation of Christ
In Luke this follows immediately upon the Baptism of Christ and God's declaration that He is His Beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased. What follows in Luke is a rendering of Christ's earthly lineage through Joseph to King David, Abraham, and God. It is the earthly creature who is tempted in the desert and the nature of these temptations, Christ's vulnerabilities, the strengths he draws on in dealing with them, the responses he makes, and his triumphs over them are instructive for us even today.
First off, let it be said that although elsewhere we read that Mary's was a virgin birth, incarnate of the Holy Spirit; Luke the physician is definitive in acknowledging Joseph as the father.
So what is the nature of these temptations. Whether or not we perceive evil as an animate personal force temptations to sin are all around us and given our fallen nature, our weakness, we are bound to fall prey to them in our daily life. However the greatest temptations play to our strengths, not our weaknesses and we need to be vigilant that in our pride we not fall victim to them.
We have already learned that Jesus is capable of performing signs and wonders, we call them the miracles; his preaching attracted great crowds and could have gotten him a great following, but his kingdom was not of this world; and knowing that he was God's chosen one, he might have showed off to prove his invulnerability and he could also have avoided the cross. So he is tempted to turn stones into bread, become a great earthly ruler, prove to the world that God was at his beck and call; all things apparently within his power. In resisting these appeals to his own vanity Jesus declares that the comforts of this world are not his principal goal in life, fame and fortune are secondary to heavenly riches, and the adulation of the crowds takes a back seat to faithfulness to God and his purposes.
The answer it would seem to resisting temptation is not in being strong so that we yield not but in placing our priorities with God so that we not be tempted to yield in the first place. For where our hearts are there will our treasure be also. Even pride in resisting temptation can be a sin.
Friday, February 5, 2010
John 2:1-11
Joh 2:1 Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there.
Joh 2:2 Jesus and his disciples were guests also.
Joh 2:3 When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus' mother told him, "They're just about out of wine."
Joh 2:4 Jesus said, "Is that any of our business, Mother--yours or mine? This isn't my time. Don't push me."
Joh 2:5 She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, "Whatever he tells you, do it."
Joh 2:6 Six stoneware water pots were there, used by the Jews for ritual washings. Each held twenty to thirty gallons.
Joh 2:7 Jesus ordered the servants, "Fill the pots with water." And they filled them to the brim.
Joh 2:8 "Now fill your pitchers and take them to the host," Jesus said, and they did.
Joh 2:9 When the host tasted the water that had become wine (he didn't know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew), he called out to the bridegroom,
Joh 2:10 "Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you've saved the best till now!"
Joh 2:11 This act in Cana of Galilee was the first sign Jesus gave, the first glimpse of his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
Billed as Christ's first miracle, the turning of water into wine. Throughout his short ministry healings and other events accounted as miracles because they defied obvious explanation crop up and are reported upon by his Disciples even though he often adjures the recipients of his beneficence to thank God in the Temple, or show themselves to the Priest but otherwise not publicize the event. Great significance seems to be attached to Christ's ability to perform signs and wonders but Our Lord did not feel the need to prove himself by so-doing, rather he responded in love to a perceived need. Even in his final hours Pontius Pilate asks to see him perform miracles and indeed it is told that he reattached the ear of a centurion struck off by one of his disciples during the arrest.
Christ and his disciples are invited to a wedding feast at Cana and his Mother is there as well. One assumes the Bridegroom was a close relative but there is no record of his name. Given his age Christ must have come in for some not so gentle ribbing as the wine flowed. As a Jewish Rabbi he would have been expected to take a wife though we have no record of his ever having been married.
When the wine runs out it is his Mother Mary who intercedes with Christ on the Host's behalf. Significant to me is the fact that she has every confidence in His ablility to rectify the situation and although He as much as tells her to mind her own business she forces the issue by going to her host's servants and telling them to do his bidding. Also significant is the fact that Mary has sufficient standing in this household and Christ's reputation is such that these servants do their bidding rather than tell them to quit bothering them. (I hesitate to use the phrase, 'go to hell'.)
The ability of the Messiah to perform signs and wonders is a hallmark of the prophetic tradition. Whether or not Christ felt it necessary to fulfil this tradition his Disciples apparently attached great significance to these events and recorded them for posterity.
Joh 2:2 Jesus and his disciples were guests also.
Joh 2:3 When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus' mother told him, "They're just about out of wine."
Joh 2:4 Jesus said, "Is that any of our business, Mother--yours or mine? This isn't my time. Don't push me."
Joh 2:5 She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, "Whatever he tells you, do it."
Joh 2:6 Six stoneware water pots were there, used by the Jews for ritual washings. Each held twenty to thirty gallons.
Joh 2:7 Jesus ordered the servants, "Fill the pots with water." And they filled them to the brim.
Joh 2:8 "Now fill your pitchers and take them to the host," Jesus said, and they did.
Joh 2:9 When the host tasted the water that had become wine (he didn't know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew), he called out to the bridegroom,
Joh 2:10 "Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you've saved the best till now!"
Joh 2:11 This act in Cana of Galilee was the first sign Jesus gave, the first glimpse of his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
Billed as Christ's first miracle, the turning of water into wine. Throughout his short ministry healings and other events accounted as miracles because they defied obvious explanation crop up and are reported upon by his Disciples even though he often adjures the recipients of his beneficence to thank God in the Temple, or show themselves to the Priest but otherwise not publicize the event. Great significance seems to be attached to Christ's ability to perform signs and wonders but Our Lord did not feel the need to prove himself by so-doing, rather he responded in love to a perceived need. Even in his final hours Pontius Pilate asks to see him perform miracles and indeed it is told that he reattached the ear of a centurion struck off by one of his disciples during the arrest.
Christ and his disciples are invited to a wedding feast at Cana and his Mother is there as well. One assumes the Bridegroom was a close relative but there is no record of his name. Given his age Christ must have come in for some not so gentle ribbing as the wine flowed. As a Jewish Rabbi he would have been expected to take a wife though we have no record of his ever having been married.
When the wine runs out it is his Mother Mary who intercedes with Christ on the Host's behalf. Significant to me is the fact that she has every confidence in His ablility to rectify the situation and although He as much as tells her to mind her own business she forces the issue by going to her host's servants and telling them to do his bidding. Also significant is the fact that Mary has sufficient standing in this household and Christ's reputation is such that these servants do their bidding rather than tell them to quit bothering them. (I hesitate to use the phrase, 'go to hell'.)
The ability of the Messiah to perform signs and wonders is a hallmark of the prophetic tradition. Whether or not Christ felt it necessary to fulfil this tradition his Disciples apparently attached great significance to these events and recorded them for posterity.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)