The Healing of the Woman With a Distressing Condition. Please read Mark 5:25-34. Parallel Passages. This healing story is told in three gospels: Matt. 9:20-22; Mark 5:25-34; Luke 8:43-48. Mark’s version has the most information and background, so it’s most helpful to start with Mark 5. Suffering Woman. There was a woman who had been …
The Healing of the Ear in Gethsemane. Please Read Luke 22:47-53. Parallel Passages. Each of the four Gospels has a version of the arrest of Jesus… Matthew 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-53; and John 18:1-11. Only Luke recorded Jesus healing the high priest’s servant’s ear. This was the last recorded physical healing that Jesus accomplished …
The Healing of the Paralytic in Capernaum. Please Read Mark 2:1-12. Capernaum. This flourishing city on the Sea of Galilee was Jesus’ adopted hometown. Because of its thriving businesses, especially in fishing and many different trades, it was densely populated and wealthy. Several major highways intersected in Capernaum, which brought people from as far away …
The Healing of the Deaf and Mute Man. Please read Mark 7:31-37. A Healing Tour. After touring the region around Tyre and Sidon, Jesus returned to his adopted ministry headquarters around the Sea of Galilee. In the parallel passage in Matthew 15:29-31, Jesus sits on a hill and gathers many people in dire physical need… …
The Healing of the Man with a Withered Hand. Please read Mark 3:1-5. 1. A Heavenly Rule. In Mark 2:27, just before this incident, Jesus said this to the Pharisees: “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. So the Son of Man …
The Healing of the Lame Man at Bethesda. Please read John 5:1-15 Jewish to the Core. All Jewish men, usually accompanied by their families, were required to go to Jerusalem each year to celebrate 3 holy days: Passover, Pentecost, and Shelters. Jesus was merely being faithful to His Jewish faith by being in Jerusalem at …
The Healing of Bartimaeus. Please read Mark 10:46-52. Bartimaeus. He is a blind beggar pleading for food or money outside of Jericho. We don’t his real first name, because Bartimaeus simply means “son of Timaeus.” We do know his name ironically means “highly prized” or “esteemed.” He is outside the city gates, by the side …
The Healing of the Ten Lepers. Please read Luke 17:11-19. On the Way to Jerusalem. Jesus knew very well what awaited Him in Jerusalem: torture, death, and eventual resurrection. He predicted this several times (Matthew 20, Mark 10, and a little later here in Luke 18). Yet He traveled toward Jerusalem, making steady progress southward …
The Healing of the Crippled Woman Please read Luke 13:10-17 The Synagogue. Jesus was an orthodox Jew in good standing, spreading the Word in the presence of other orthodox Jews, in the local meeting place for such things, the synagogue. He was teaching Scripture, reading from Torah, leading discussion, answering questions. Jesus did this virtually …
The Healing of the Widow’s Son in Nain Please read Luke 7:11-17 Prior Healing. This healing in Nain, which is one of the three resurrection scenes of Jesus, apart from His own resurrection, is just on the heels of a dramatic long-distance healing of a Gentile’s slave. Because the Gentile was a Roman officer, this …
A Rabbi Looks at Faith and Justice. Abraham Joshua Heschel died in 1972, an internationally revered rabbi, scholar, author, theologian, and social activist. His last post was as a professor of Ethics at Jewish Theological Seminary. He was the author of many classics of modern theology, including The Sabbath, Man Is Not Alone, and God …
Children of the Light. “LET THERE BE LIGHT!” (Gen. 1:3) First things first, God thought, so He spoke light into mortal existence. Light, the first creature. As you know, that wasn’t the last we’d see of light. But what if the creation of light is actually a continuous process, the first substance which is also …