Noteworthy in Luke's account of...
Illustration
Noteworthy in Luke's account of this healing is the fact that Jesus doesn't have personal contact with either of the principals. Initially this might strike us as strange, but further thought bids us reconsider.
Bernard Martin, in an autobiographical sketch titled If God Does Not Die, relates how the prospect of spending time with a psychiatrist encouraged and sustained him even though that encounter never took place. He wrote to the doctor:
Without your being aware of it, you have been of invaluable help to me during the weeks just passed. In the course of these weeks I underwent a crisis that called into question my whole life, professional as well as personal. I think that the crisis has run its course. Throughout this difficult period, the simple fact of knowing that you were ready to meet with me and, especially, ready to listen to me, has enabled me to meet the crisis more calmly than I could have done completely alone. I have spoken of it to no living soul, but I often thought of you. You have thus given me a feeling of security, without which I don't know what I could have done. For this I would like to express my deepest gratitude. p. 78
Bernard Martin, in an autobiographical sketch titled If God Does Not Die, relates how the prospect of spending time with a psychiatrist encouraged and sustained him even though that encounter never took place. He wrote to the doctor:
Without your being aware of it, you have been of invaluable help to me during the weeks just passed. In the course of these weeks I underwent a crisis that called into question my whole life, professional as well as personal. I think that the crisis has run its course. Throughout this difficult period, the simple fact of knowing that you were ready to meet with me and, especially, ready to listen to me, has enabled me to meet the crisis more calmly than I could have done completely alone. I have spoken of it to no living soul, but I often thought of you. You have thus given me a feeling of security, without which I don't know what I could have done. For this I would like to express my deepest gratitude. p. 78
