your waves and breakers have swept over
in. Modern medical anthropology elaborates upon Levi- My grandma was first diagnosed with stage Strauss’ s " shamanistic complex " model by recognizing that IV pancreatic cancer at the beginning of effective healing requires an“ active agent” and a belief that the summer; when my mom found out, such an agent will properly work. This expands Levi-Strauss’ s she evangelized to her everyday. In between rounds of chemo treatments and original model of effective healing by requiring:( 1) the healer’ s belief in his or her techniques,( 2) the patient’ s belief in acupuncture sessions, my mom’ s Bible was always open as she told my the healer’ s power, and( 3) larger society’ s faith in the healer. grandma about a Savior who loved her so
If we draw a simplified parallel to the Gospel, Christ’ s life-giving death and resurrection would be the“ active agent,” and nothing more than for her to be saved.
much that He died for her, who wanted
the faith through which we gain that eternal life would be the My grandma was scared of dying. She“ belief.” Thus, medical anthropology can provide one lens as would ask,“ Where do we all go?” So to why we can find Jesus’ actual, remedial work trustworthy. my mom shared about the eternal life guaranteed by Christ’ s resurrection power, and my grandma intently listened.
( 1) The healer must believe in the efficacy of his or her techniques.
In the Old Testament, God gave His people a chance to have eternal life: first by granting access to the Tree of Life in Eden, then by providing the Covenant Law through Moses. But Adam and Eve fell in the Garden, the Israelites broke the Law again and again, and God introduced a system of sacrifices in which the shedding of an innocent animal’ s blood would make atonement for the guilty sinner— in other words, man could not overcome sin or gain salvation on his own. Yet when man could not fulfill his end of the covenant, Jesus became man and kept it perfectly, so that in Him, we could also enter into eternal life.
In the covenant, there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood. 4 In the Garden of Gethsemane, as Jesus prayed in sorrow and agony,“ Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done,” Jesus accepted the cup of suffering, fully believing in the power of His blood to wash sinners clean( Luke 22:42). The crucifixion was pain beyond comprehension, yet avoidable— Pilate was already searching for a way to release the innocent prisoner, and Jesus had twelve legions of angels waiting at His command. But Jesus knew only His death and resurrection could overcome the bondage of sin, and so He was determined to pay our ransom. For on the cross,“ Christ ' s wounds are thy healings, His agonies thy repose,… His death thy life, His sufferings thy salvation.” 5
( 2) The patient must believe in the healer’ s power.
The four Gospels tell of the multitudes that came to Jesus during His ministry, believing that He had the power to heal them. A royal official from Capernaum traveled twenty miles to Cana, confident that if Jesus just spoke the words, his ill son would recover. 6 Jairus the synagogue leader sent for Jesus believing that if He just laid His hand on His dying daughter, she would live. 7 And a woman suffering from an untreatable hemorrhage had faith that merely touching Jesus’ clothes would cure her. 8 As“ crowds of people came to [ Jesus ] to be healed,” the doctor and disciple Luke noted, so the Great Physician’ s patients— no matter if they were handicapped, spiritually-ill, or even terminally-ill— certainly believed in their Healer’ s power( Luke 5:15).
But when we continue through the rest of history, we see that Jesus’ s“ patients” not only believed in His ability to cure the sick, but even more so in His ability to completely heal their spiritual needs and bring them into eternal life. This was Paul’ s conviction as he sat in jail waiting for execution, writing,“ for to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain”( Phil. 1:21). And this confidence in the eternal life found in Christ— that the place He prepares for us in heaven is far better than anything on earth— is what made Perpetua refuse to deny her faith when faced with Roman stadium execution in 203 AD, William Tyndale unable to recant his English Bibles when brought to the noose in 1536, and Jim
4 Hebrews 9:22 5 Matthew Henry( 1662-1714). Exposition of the Old and New Testaments. Volume 5. 1708-1710.
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6 John 4:46-54 7 Matthew 9:18-19, 23-25; Mark 5:21-23, 35-43; Luke 8:40-42, 49-56 8 Matthew 9:20-22; Mark 5:24-34; Luke 8:43-48