Joanna - Her Life And Times

Joanna - Her Life And Times

HEALING

For most minor illnesses, ancient people depended on family members or neighbors who had some skill in the healing arts. A more severe illness would be treated by a priest who also acted as a physician. Since most disease was thought to be caused by spirits or demons, priest-physicians were appropriate healers, though there was also an established medical profession, such as “Luke, the doctor” (Colossians 4:14). Medical practice focused heavily on spiritual remedies. Most Near Eastern people thought disease-causing spirits entered through the openings in the head. Some Egyptian physicians went so far as to drill holes in the patient’s head in order to give the demons a means of escape.

The information in Scripture on disease has more to do with its prevention than its cure. When a patient recovered from a disease, regardless of the treatment that brought about healing, God was given credit. For instance, God is credited with the disappearance of Hezekiah’s boil after it was treated with a poultice of figs (2 Kings 20:1 – 7).

One of Jesus’ early healings was of a man suffering from the skin disease known as leprosy (Mark 1:40 – 42). People dreaded leprosy not only because of its destruction of skin and extremities but because it was thought to be contagious. Anyone with the disease was an outcast, unclean, separated from friends, family, and all that was familiar, with little or no hope for a cure. But then Jesus stepped into the picture. With only two words, “Be clean!” Jesus did what all the others had failed to do, and the man went away healed.

Joanna is listed with several other women whom Jesus had “cured of evil spirits and diseases.” Scripture doesn’t say what her particular ailment was, but it must have been something significant, something from which she had been unable to find relief through conventional methods. She and the other healed women now followed Jesus and supported him and his disciples.

No disease or deformity was beyond Jesus’ healing power. He removed paralysis (Mark 2:3 – 12). He stopped bleeding (Mark 5:25 – 29). Those who were mute and blind could speak and see (Matthew 9:27 – 33; 20:29 – 34; Mark 8:22 – 26). Fevers left bodies at his touch (Mark 1:30 – 31). He restored shriveled limbs (Mark 3:1 – 5; Luke 13:11 – 13). Those possessed by evil spirits of one sort or another found relief and deliverance at Jesus’ hands (Matthew 12:22; Mark 1:23 – 26; 9:17 – 29).

That same Jesus still heals today. Sometimes through the remarkable ability and knowledge of modern medicine and doctors. Sometimes without any human intervention. Sometimes by bringing the sick one home to heaven. Always divine, if not miraculous. And always with his loving, all-pervasive touch.