An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 190: Healing the sick: Faith Healing and Cult Leaders (Matthew 6-10)

Matthew 6-10
Healing the sick: Faith Healing and Cult Leaders

Welcome to another instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Bible version).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the King James Bible, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.

For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/2F8f9JT
For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP

And now:

Matthew 6

“Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.”

This chapter continues the Sermon on the Mount, and is entirely in reported speech attributed to Jesus. As such, it continues it lay out what must surely be the foundations of Christian philosophy.

This chapter is much concerned with avoiding outward and flamboyant shows of piety, in favour of charity and prayer done privately, for its own sake rather than to show others how great you are. Included here are the giving of alms, of fasting, and of prayer itself. It’s in this chapter that we are given the Lord’s Prayer, which it has to be said is a masterpiece of simplicity. Within a few lines it praises the greatness of God (and reminds the speaker of such), gives thanks for simple things like food, and also reminds the speaker to forgive their “debtors” – although the version I learned at school has “those who trespass against us”. This theme of forgiveness is further expounded upon (with the use of the term “trespass”), and that evil in the heart will out.

The sermon then turns to a theme expounding what seems to be an extreme form of self-denial, following the logic that God finds food and shelter for birds and flowers, and so will do so for mankind; like the Preacher before, Jesus seems to be saying that the pursuit of worldlythings  is “vanity”, in the sense of “in vain” rather than self-love. There’s even something not dissimilar to the detachment of Buddhist thought, and a kind of pure existential thought – “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself”. There’s no sense worrying about what you can’t control.

Matthew 7

“Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.”

Again the majority of this chapter is a continuation of reported speech from Jesus, and I’m amazed how much of it has become well known sayings. This section of the Sermon on the Mount is closer to short aphorisms, so it’s not surprising. And, actually, that’s a clever rhetorical trick. By making the expressions short and memorable, Jesus is ensuring that people will remember them, and perhaps pass them on.

“Judge not, that ye be not judged”, leading us to the verse given above about looking to your own faults before picking on others. “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life” gives us the “strait and narrow path”, not, as is often thought, the “straight and narrow”. It’s not surprising everyone gets that wrong. Strait and narrow is tautological. A straight path sounds more direct and simple, sounds like it out to be the “right” path. We also get the origins, perhaps, of the wolf in sheep’s clothing – “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves”.

Jesus finishes by comparing those who listen to His words to a man who builds his house on a strong foundation, rather than one of sand that will be washed away. And I love the closing verses – “And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” It gives me an image of the crowd just stood open-mouthed, utterly gobsmacked. And I guess that partly answers my earlier pondering, about how unusual this level of scriptural learning and thought would have been for a common craftsman to hold; here it suggests that it is a remarkable thing to be coming from someone not of the priestly or educated classes.

Matthew 8

“When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick”

The chapter starts with Jesus healing the sick – He heals a leper with a touch, telling him to go straight to the temple to make a thanks offering. A Roman centurion asks Him to heal his servant, and Jesus also heals Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever, followed by an un-named multitude of others. Jesus and the disciples cross the sea; the implication seems to be to get away from the growing crowds. One of the disciples asks leave to bury his dead father first, Jesus’ response to “Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead” seems a little cold-hearted. At sea (one assumes the Sea of Galilee), a storm arises, but Jesus causes the winds to subside and barely gets out of bed to do it. On the other side they are met by two men possessed by devils, which Jesus causes to flee into a nearby herd of pigs. The people of the nearby city, however, seem afraid and ask Jesus to “depart out of their coasts”.

Honestly, I could see this kind of mixed response to supernatural happenings – everyone loves it when they are being healed, but calming storms and driving out devils would be a more scary thing – we get the first sense here of the crowd as a fickle thing, the same kind of people that will later clamour for Jesus’ crucifixion. Since embarking on this read-through I’ve encountered the suggestion that Jesus and followers keep moving around because as faith healers they aren’t *really* curing the sick and have to move on before people realise that they didn’t actually get better. I rather like that as a cynical concept.

Matthew 9

“For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?”

This chapter covers more episodes of Jesus healing the sick. In the quote above, He visits a man struck with palsy and forgives him his sins. Certain scribes who are watching consider this to be blasphemous (presumably because in their eyes only God can forgive sins); Jesus gives the reply above and then commands the man to arise and walk, which he does; the message to the scribes seems clear, if I can do the more difficult act (making this man walk), I can certainly do the easier (offering him forgiveness).

Other episodes include the raising from the dead of a rich man’s daughter (and perhaps, where Jesus says “the maid is not dead, but sleepeth”, maybe this is in fact true and Jesus is more a skilled physician than a miracle worker). Blind men are made to see, and a dumb man is made to speak, by way of casting out of devils. This, however, gives the Pharisees more fuel to condemn Jesus, and to be fair this kind of magic working does seem to be against Mosiac law and the words of many of the OT prophets. The Pharisees contend that Jesus is able to command devils because he is a devil, or a servant of The Devil, Himself.

In one verse, a “man named Matthew” joins Jesus’ followers – is this an authorial insert? I was under the impression that none of the gospel writers were contemporaries, but the verse goes nowhere after this – Matthew appears, follows, vanishes for the rest of the chapter.

It’s interesting to note the people that Jesus is willing to help or associate with. A big point is made here of him hanging out with “publicans and sinners” because sinners are more in need of salvation than the righteous. He’s also willing to help a “certain ruler” (the man with the dead daughter) and a Roman centurion last chapter; there’s no inverted class snobbery, the rich and powerful are as much in need of help as the poor, it would seem. And midway through the chapter Jesus is touched by a woman “diseased with an issue of blood”. It’s not obvious what her problem is, but this to me suggests something menstrual, and under Mosaic law, menstruating women are unclean and should stay away from holy things. By touching Jesus, this woman potentially is polluting Him, but rather than rebuke her or turn her away, He heals her instead. This kind of broad inclusivity must have seemed, and still does seem, a potent lesson in compassion.

Matthew 10

“And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.”

Jesus gathers his disciples, grants them some of His powers and sends them out into Israel to spread the word. The disciples get name-checked here – Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John (sons of Zebedee), Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew (a publican – perhaps the one from the previous chapter), James son of Alphaeus, Lebaeus Thaddeus (who sounds very Romanized), Simon the Canaanite and Judas Iscariot.

Jesus’ advice to the disciples is to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead and cast out devils. They should not worry about provisions as God will provide for them, nor should they worry about what to say, God will inspire them. Some of the advice seems a bit disturbing though – “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword”. Jesus promises strife, and that “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me”. This … seems, well, one of my impressions from reading the NT before was that Jesus was a good man who bought into his hype a bit too much, and it feels like here we see a change from a man who is willing to mix with all and sundry in order to help them, to someone demanding absolute loyalty above family, which feels a bit cultish. Even if you accept the Christian creed and believe that Jesus is God the Son, this still feels a bit uncomfortable, ranking alongside the tougher actions of the Old Testament God.