In Psalm 42:7 , the Sons of Korah lament , “ Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls ; all your waves and breakers have swept over me ” ( NIV ). For them , this distress was the accumulation of trials that had surged one after another , that had led their downcast souls to call out to God . deep calls to deep
Nearly three thousand years later , “ deep calls to deep ” once again points to the reality of our own souls , for we are also in great need of remedy . The world we live in is plagued with brokenness and sin that must be dealt with — we use laws to check crime , justice systems to correct injustice , and peace organizations to thwart violence . Yet when we still feel despair for our fractured world , it becomes clear that the methods humans have created to rectify sin are insufficient , that our sin runs so deep that it calls for an even deeper redemption .
MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE GREAT PHYSICIAN
physician capable of healing all our disease and decay , but more importantly , our source of eternal life , who grants us absolute healing from the sin that leads to death .
Claire Lin
Reflecting upon Psalm 42 brought me back to the first day of fourth grade — a morning marred by the shriek of fire truck sirens . My mom ’ s eyes were filled with panic as she shoved me out the front door , as if she didn ' t want me to notice the three paramedics standing behind her in our living room .
I couldn ’ t concentrate in school that day . Later that afternoon , when the phone rang , the voice on the other end was shaky and wrenched in anguish : “ Grandma , she … she passed away today . Her cancer … it finally —”
That was the first time I ever heard my dad cry .
To be human is to sin , and sin has consequences : it can lead to disease and decay , and it will ultimately result in death . 1 But God offers us hope . He says , “ I have found a ransom for them … They will go to others and say , ‘ I have sinned , I have perverted what is right , but I did not get what I deserved . God has delivered me from going down to the pit , and I shall live to enjoy the light of life ’” ( Job 33:24- 28 ). In an act of amazing grace , God gave us a Ransom for our sin ! Jesus Christ , who is the
1 Romans 6:23
Thus “ deep calls to deep ”: we are in profound need of the unfathomable greatness of a Savior . Only He can completely heal us of our sin and , subsequently , our pain . As the preacher Charles Spurgeon wrote , “ the most crimson sins are removed by the crimson of His blood ,” and His power to forgive has brought us from death to life . 2
But as people living in a modern culture of logic and method , how do we trust Christ ' s healing ?
Manmade models cannot adequately describe the work of an infinite God , but they do offer an interesting perspective from which we can approach this question . In 1963 , French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss proposed the “ shamanistic complex ,” three levels of belief to explain shaman healing rituals . 3 But his theory stops at “ belief ,” which is not enough to understand exactly how healing works . This is where modern medical anthropology comes
It becomes clear that the methods humans have created to rectify sin are insufficient , that our sin runs so deep that it calls for an even deeper redemption . deep
2 Charles Spurgeon calls
( 1834-1892 ). Charles Spurgeon to
’ s Morning and Evening . 1973 . deep in
3 Claude Levi-Strauss ( 1908-2009 ). The Sorcerer and His Magic . 1963 .
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