God's Answer To Superstition

In antiquity, the Jews held physicians in low esteem as a rule, despite the Hippocratic oath because they resorted to the superstitious nature of man.  Superstition is a form of unbelief and is an attempt to attribute the work of God to something mechanical like fate or happenstance.  God is the God of Providence, fully in control of the situation at hand bringing all to His glory (cf. Rom. 11:36; Eph. 1:11).

Usually, when people were desperate they went to the physicians for some cure, if they could afford it, and it was expensive because sometimes they used herbs and spices that were rare to come by. Lepers were considered ceremonially unclean according to Rabbinic Law, but Jesus was willing to become Mr. Unclean personified for our sake to identify with our disease of sin and heal us, as well as forgive us--giving us power over it, so we aren't its slave anymore.

Jesus didn't want to be primarily known as just a divine healer or worker of miracles, but as the Savior, the Christ! Myrrh, for instance, was like the snake oil of antiquity, or the cure-all and panacea, pedaled for almost any ailment and this is one superstition that the charlatans were known for--but Jesus was for real and worthy of our faith, for He bore our illness and with His stripes, we are healed (cf. Is. 53).   

There are Christians today who don't pray, except as last resort, and even pagans will pray in superstition or for "good luck."  But luck, chance, and fortune have no place in the Christian faith.  God is in control of all, even the throw of the die (cf. Prov. 16:33).  What's so hypocritical, is that even when unbelievers pray and their prayers are answered, they find some reason to chalk it up to luck or chance and not give God the glory for answering the prayer.  We blame God for all tragedies and give ourselves all the credit for our fortune (cf. Prov. 19:3).

The woman with the hemorrhage was also "unclean" and when she "touched" Jesus, He became ceremonially unclean, but Jesus wasn't concerned with Himself, but with her frame of mind, faith and salvation and in Mark 5:21ff had become broke because of the expense of paying the physicians to heal her, but no avail.  As a last resort, she must have heard of Jesus' healing powers and sought Him out and "touched" Him in faith thinking that would heal her.  Jesus made it clear to her after the fact that it wasn't superstition that healed her, but her faith in Him.  He is the healer.

If superstition was the answer, anyone who touched Jesus would be healed, even without faith.  It is said that athletes are the most superstitious of people and even their fans can be, thinking that wearing team logos brings their favorite team good fortune or "luck." They don't want to "jinx" their team--Go, Twins! Knock on wood (saying this tongue-in-cheek)!  To have the Christian worldview, we ought to say that we are blessed and not lucky!

But Ecclesiastes says that luck and chance happen to all, it's part of our reality, how we interpret things, not how God sees them.  We ought to get over the notion that God deliberately takes sides in a game though or that winning is everything, and it's not a matter of skill and sportsmanship--blessings are showered on all, for God is good to everyone! (cf. Psalm 145:9).

This aforementioned woman's healing shows us that we all need to confess our faith to make it confirmed and not to be ashamed of our Lord and that He is part of us and lives in us. We must not keep our faith or healing privatized!   She reached out in faith the best she knew and this is all God asks:  take that leap of faith toward Jesus as personal Lord and Savior, don't just be glad He heals others--make the healing yours!  We are all unclean before salvation and need to come to Jesus for our healing and reinstatement.

The woman found out that she didn't "interrupt" Jesus but He mattered to her (we all do!)--He is never too busy for us (a good lesson on priorities for us all!).  There are no distractions to Jesus' agenda and in God's economy, we all matter the same, since God doesn't show favoritism or partiality--He's no respecter of persons (cf. Rom. 2:11; Acts 10:34).  Jesus always has time for us and is never in a hurry (neither late nor early but always on His timetable) so much that He would feel an interruption like the disciples thought. They were the ones who needed their priorities altered, realigned, and readjusted to God's timetable and agenda: Guess who needs an attitude check!

We all need to come to Jesus in faith to be made clean and healed of our sin, realizing we matter to God as individuals and expect a miracle in faith, in effect making contact with Jesus and touching Him or connecting to Him.  Jesus is never too busy!  He is ready to give us His undivided attention!  People are too ready to superstitiously attribute their salvation to"walking the aisle" or "raising their hand" or "coming to the altar," but we must realize that it's faith in Christ saves, not faith in faith, faith doesn't save, Christ saves!

In conclusion, when you have a strong faith you're less likely to "knock on wood" or worry about "black cats," or anything superstitious like the "full moon" or "Friday the thirteenth!"   Salvation is a form of freedom from the tyranny of ourselves to have our full faith in God.      Soli Deo Gloria!