THE MOST POWERFUL DOCTOR 1

 JESUS THE MOST POWERFUL DOCTOR

 Jesus was much more than a medical doctor curing diseases. Yes, he cured leprosy, but he did much more than that; he healed persons who had leprosy. He healed the whole person because he knew that when someone was ill, every part of him was ill - feelings, emotions, heart and spirit, as well as coronary arteries, liver, kidneys or joints. To see how Jesus healed the whole person, we can look at a case study found in Mark 5: 25-34: the healing of the woman with the haemorrhage

. By using reason, imagination, and the leading of the Holy Spirit, we can add details to the story which, although not included in the written text, were most likely present. This woman suffered from irregular uterine bleeding for twelve years. The diagnosis? Certainly not cancer; probably a hormonal imbalance. Presumably she had pain with her bleeding that interfered with her daily routine. She was anaemic, weak, and unable to perform her duties in the home and family. I assume she was childless because, with this hormonal imbalance, she could not conceive. Infertility was a very serious problem for Jewish women, as it is for women in all cultures. Here then is the physical context: a woman with a serious and longstanding gynaecological problem. The social context was worse. According to Levitical law (Lv 15), a woman was unclean during her normal menstrual periods and for seven days thereafter. She was also unclean during any irregular times of bleeding. During these periods, she made unclean her clothes, her house, any furniture or objects she touched, and anyone with whom she came in physical contact. So for twelve long years she herself had been unclean and she rendered her whole world unclean. If she had been married, her husband had most certainly divorced her, her family had probably abandoned her, and she had no friends. Finally, Mark says she was penniless, having spent all her money on futile attempts to be cured. Imagine then, her psychological condition: rejection, sorrow, anguish, bitterness, and perhaps anger at society and at God. Perhaps her biggest burden, however, was the spiritual problem. Because she was unclean, she could not go to the temple to worship God, to pray, to offer a gift, to confess her sins, or to plead for help. Socially she was abandoned; psychologically she was in anguish, and spiritually she was in despair. So Mark is not presenting to us simply a ‘gynaecological case.’ He speaks truly when he says, ‘There was a woman who suffered terribly’ in the totality of her life. One day this woman heard about Jesus, and hope dawned in her heart. However, she herself could not go to Jesus to ask for help for she would render this important man unclean. Another man could go for her - her husband, a brother, a friend, but she had no-one. She was completely abandoned and had no-one to intercede for her. In her misery she conceived a desperate and dangerous plan; she would come up behind Jesus secretly, in the middle of a crowd of people, and touch his clothes. Doing this without being detected was absolutely essential, because if anyone caught her, she would be publicly accused and probably stoned to death. When she touched Jesus’ cloak, she immediately felt something in her body and knew she must escape immediately. But alas, it was impossible. This man Jesus exposed her. She had insulted him. She had made him unclean. Furthermore, she had stolen Jesus’ power. Now he was calling her and she would probably be stoned. So, as Mark described, she came terror-stricken, fell at Jesus’ feet and told him the whole story. Why did Jesus expose this woman? He knew she had been physically healed. We doctors are usually delighted when we have healed someone physically. Could Jesus not be content with that? No, because the woman herself had not been healed; her life had not yet been restored. Jesus wanted to heal her as a whole person, so he called her back to him. As she lay prostrate on the ground before Jesus, waiting to hear words of condemnation, she heard instead two absolutely incredible words, and these two words healed her. She heard Jesus say to her, ‘My daughter’. For 35 years I have practised medicine and surgery in Africa. I have cared for countless women with bleeding problems and infertility. I have done hundreds, perhaps thousands of curettages. But how often have I spoken a word that has healed the whole person, which has restored spirit, mind, feelings, and emotions to health? I must admit, very few times. But that has been because of ignorance, and I am now coming to understand how the heart, mind, spirit, and often the body can be healed by Christ.
 HOW CAN A BROKEN HEART AND WOUNDED SPIRIT BE HEALED

 watch out for the concluding part of the most powerful doctor tomorrow
                                                       (am nothing but pencil in the hand of the creator)
                                                                                                       OLADIPO FAITH