As an elderly disabled person, I am an avid and very appreciative reader of The Meridian Star. The paper each day and television helps me stay connected to the world.
The Bible teaches us, St. Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the Kingdom of God.” What doctors maybe could not do for me, I learned about a doctor or a man that never failed! He never fails!
Jesus could have been a doctor. One of His followers, Luke, was (Colossians 4:14). But Jesus never carried a medical bag or opened an office on Main Street, Nazareth.
Still, Jesus was a healer. Various forms of the word heal are used fifty-five times in His four biographies. The New Testament contains more than seventy-five references to the healing work and ministry of Christ. He was known to say, “I will come and heal him” (Matthew 8:7). In fact, He “healed them that had a need of healing” (Luke 9:11). Jesus thought of Himself as a physician, and He seems to have been seen in this light by others. He said to those in His hometown, “Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself” (Luke 4:23).
Jesus healed bodies. Lots of bodies. All parts of bodies. You could say that He had a general family practice (Matthew 8:16; 12:15), but also specialized in:
• pediatrics (healed Jairus’ little daughter, Mark 5:23),
•hematology (woman’s issue of blood, Luke 8:43),
• ophthalmology (caused the blind to see, Luke 18:35-43),
• orthopedics (made “bowed” to be straight, Luke 13:11-13),
• otolaryngology/ear-nose-throat (made the deaf to hear, Mark 7:32-35),
• neurology (cured “palsy”, a condition Jesus seems to have faced often-at least three references are found in the New Testament, Matthew 4:24; 8:6; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:18-25),
• rheumatology (caused the lame/maimed to walk and be whole, Matthew 15:30),
• internal medicine (dropsy, Luke 14:2-4), and
• infectious diseases (cured those with plagues, Mark 3:10, and leprosy, Luke 5:12-13).
Jesus never made a referral (“healing every sickness and every disease among the people,” Matthew 9:35). Jesus never found a case too hard. In fact, He seems to have specialized in impossible cases.
Thank you for passing this information along to your readers.
Bernice C. Bonner
Quitman
