Adding on to the prior entry (Our attitudes: Teaching on the Sabbath), I wanted to state that this story in Luke gives me great confidence that the gospels are real, not a made-up story. Let this be one more brick in the city of Apologetics.
My reasoning goes thus:
Jesus is the only character that I can point to in literature
who conducts miracles (in this case, specifically healings) in a multitude of ways. He not only heals a variety of conditions (i.e., for the blind, the lame, lepers, the deformed or bleeding), but he doesn't use a single formula or pattern to do so. He heals in touching, in vocal commands, in spitting on mud (or even directly on a person!), by washing, by his robe, and sometimes, as referenced in the earlier entry, without doing anything at all!
I posit that it is this variety which proves that the real power is in the man himself, not in a magic potion, spell or incantation. Jesus has the power to heal and he can do it any way that he chooses. So he gets creative, choosing not to simply use the same method every single time. I'm sure I would do the same if I were in his shoes; considering how many multitudes that kept coming to him for healing, I would find it boring to always chant "wingardium leviosa", or whatever, every single time, for every single person!
And though it's possible, I don't think that a first century writer would have made up this minor detail about Jesus. It's even not something that is generally considered in modern day stories. Most of our magical characters have a specific action for a specific miracle, and if done incorrectly either by them or someone else, then the miracle either won't happen or worse, it goes horribly wrong.
As further proof, the minor detail that Jesus healed using a variety of actions and inaction is never stated or showcased by the authors. If this were a convention made up by a clever fiction writer, I would think they would draw attention to how special and different that fact makes Jesus. But they don't mention it. Not at all. It just is.
So while it's a minor point, it stands to reason that the healing tales in the gospels not only show that Jesus is the source of the power to heal, but that he is not merely a fictional character dreamed up by an inventive author. Q.E.D.
My reasoning goes thus:
Jesus is the only character that I can point to in literature
who conducts miracles (in this case, specifically healings) in a multitude of ways. He not only heals a variety of conditions (i.e., for the blind, the lame, lepers, the deformed or bleeding), but he doesn't use a single formula or pattern to do so. He heals in touching, in vocal commands, in spitting on mud (or even directly on a person!), by washing, by his robe, and sometimes, as referenced in the earlier entry, without doing anything at all!
I posit that it is this variety which proves that the real power is in the man himself, not in a magic potion, spell or incantation. Jesus has the power to heal and he can do it any way that he chooses. So he gets creative, choosing not to simply use the same method every single time. I'm sure I would do the same if I were in his shoes; considering how many multitudes that kept coming to him for healing, I would find it boring to always chant "wingardium leviosa", or whatever, every single time, for every single person!
And though it's possible, I don't think that a first century writer would have made up this minor detail about Jesus. It's even not something that is generally considered in modern day stories. Most of our magical characters have a specific action for a specific miracle, and if done incorrectly either by them or someone else, then the miracle either won't happen or worse, it goes horribly wrong.
As further proof, the minor detail that Jesus healed using a variety of actions and inaction is never stated or showcased by the authors. If this were a convention made up by a clever fiction writer, I would think they would draw attention to how special and different that fact makes Jesus. But they don't mention it. Not at all. It just is.So while it's a minor point, it stands to reason that the healing tales in the gospels not only show that Jesus is the source of the power to heal, but that he is not merely a fictional character dreamed up by an inventive author. Q.E.D.
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