Purpose of Miraculous healings: Healing of Legion Flashcards
Intro:
A true miracle is an event in the world brought about by the immediate agency of God, which cannot be explained by humans. It is a breaking of the Laws of Nature. In the case of the Healing of the Legion, Jesus performs a miraculous healing.
Para 1: General overview of story
In the healing of the Legion, Jesus went to a largely Gentile region, called Gerasenes. It is here where he meets a man possessed by many powerful spirits who seemed to know exactly who Jesus was. The spirits asked for mercy, obviously aware of the extent of Jesus divine power: ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God.’ Jesus cast the demons out of the man and into a flock of pigs, who then charged down the cliff and into the lake and drowned.
The man was healed, and the people who watched were amazed and frightened and asked Jesus to leave. Jesus told the man to stay at tell people ‘all that God has done for you.’ So the man went off and spread throughout the town what Jesus had done for him.
Para 2:
- Person of J + His Christology.
- Lover of outcasts, his mercy + compassion.
One purpose of the miracles is that they teach us about the Person of Jesus and his Christology. Through the healings, Jesus is showing his power and authority, but more importantly, that this power and authority comes from God, and therefore has divine authority. In the Healing of the Legion, we learn about Jesus’ power, as even the evil spirits recognized this – ‘what do you want with us, son of the most high.’ The pure casting the demon out of the mans body into a flock of pigs who then charged down the cliff and into a lake and drowned, shows his divine significance as it brings an undeniable sense of the presence and power of God and furthermore proves his authority from God. As a result, perhaps this is what the miracles are intended to do.
Another purpose of the miraculous healing was to demonstrate Jesus’ love of outcasts, his mercy + compassion.Jesus’ ministry and miracles were not confined to a specific group, but they were open to all, even outcasts. He does this in the healing of Legion, as he is healing a ‘’unclean’ spirit. Through this healing miracle, Jesus is therefore challenging the laws, as Jews said that mixing with anyone that was mentally unstable was ‘unclean’. Through challenging this typical Jewish belief and the fact that those on the fringe of society were looked down upon, Jesus lead many crowds to be amazed, as he is not afraid to be associated with outcasts, leading them to understand about his divine authority from God.
Para 3: KoG
Another main purpose of the miraculous healings was to express the message of the announcement of the Kingdom Of God. For Jesus, his miracles were tokens of that era in which the power of God was at work through himself and his mission, meeting and defeating all evil. One was this is shown is through ‘signs’ of the kingdom. In the case of the healing of Legion, through his power to heal the man and cast the demons into the pigs, he is showing of sovereignty of God, which is visible on Earth.
Para 4:
- Faith
- Hope to members of the Kingdom who face persecution.
One key characteristic of the miracles is the stress laid by Jesus on the need for faith as a precondition of miracles and his power is seriously hindered when faith is lacking. His miracles were not performed as a proof of divinity. They required repentance to recognize the Kingdom of God and faith for healing, not the event itself. In the healing of the Legion, even this man, who is greatly possessed sees him Jesus from distance and runs to him – ‘Catching the sight of Jesus at a distance, he ran up and fell at his feet’. This shows that he is compelled to him and knows that belongs to God, and not only does the man feel that, so do the demons. This sheer act demonstrates great faith to Jesus.
Hunter states that faith is not a passive belief in many of the healings, but an “energetic and importunate grasping after Gods help present in Jesus.”
Another aspect of the miracles is to give hope to members of the kingdom who face persecution. The man was originally chained up and seen as an outcast on the fringe of society, most likely about to face persecution. Therefore this miracle story will mean that people will not lose faith in difficult times, but have confidence that their Lord has not deserted them during times of attack by forces from evil. Ultimately, the Kingdom of God will come.
Conc:
Overall, through the miracles, God is presented as a loving parent, who cares for all people without exception. The person of Jesus is shown though the miracles such as his power and authority over evil. Just as Jesus taught in words and attitudes that God loves all kinds of people, so his miracles regularly involved outcasts in society – showing that his declaration of God’s care and concern was not just talk, but demanded action. Faith regularly features an important part of Jesus’ healings and without faith it was not possible to realize that the miracles were a sign of God at work. So in the healing of legion, the faith of the man shows that he has faith in God’s power was demonstrated in such a way that those who witnessed them would realize that the kingdom had arrived with the coming of Jesus.
