In the previous post I discussed exorcisms as a form of healing and how we can account for Jesus having some apparent success in those forms of disease. What about other types of healings, like those paralyzed or crippled? Another type of neurologic disorder we see in the Gospels is paralysis, or some sort of crippling disease. One of the earliest miracles in Mark is such a healing. In Mark 2 we read of Jesus teaching in a house when four men bring a paralyzed man, but the house is so crowded that they have to dig a hole in the roof and lower the man on a pallet in front of Jesus. Jesus first tells the man that his sins are forgiven. This upsets the religious scribes present, who see this as blasphemy.[1] So Jesus proves he has such authority by healing the man of his paralysis. Wow! The man is so impressed with Jesus he just takes up his pallet and leaves without so much as a “Thank you.” Hmmm…
To the faithful no explanation is necessary: the divine Jesus had the power to heal. For those more skeptical I can envision three other situations that might explain such a miracle. First, not all paralysis is physiologic; it can be purely psychiatric and classified as a “functional neurological disorder,” which is a combination of psychological, physiological and/or neurological symptoms without any apparent organic cause. It can include seizures, paralysis, movement disorders, sensory loss including blindness, etc. In my medical career I have seen two such cases. In one case a boy experienced severe emotional trauma in his family and so one day he simply stopped walking. When I met him he had spent the previous decade crawling on the ground or using a wheelchair, even though there was no physiologic disorder. His muscles and bones were so weak that a long course of physical therapy was going to be needed to enable him to walk again. In the other case a woman who had emigrated from another country claimed that a former boss had assaulted her and caused her leg paralysis. A complete hospital evaluation failed to show any physical cause for her paralysis. It is possible this was another case where emotional trauma had caused paralysis, but additionally she had filed a lawsuit against her former employer, so the possibility of “secondary gain,” in this case financial gain, was also a possibility.
In Jesus’ day there was not much medical care to speak of, and no real psychiatric care. In fact, your mental problems were likely to bring an accusation of demon possession! So it is hard to estimate how prevalent such cases were in his day, but they certainly existed, as they do today. If the man in Mark’s story was such a case, then imagine him being let down through the roof into a crowded room and set before the great holy man Jesus! Jesus declares his sins forgiven, and then tells him to get up and walk, and lo and behold, he does! Another great miracle! Impressive in its own way, but not necessarily the case of spontaneous physical healing suggested by the story. It is possible that Jesus caused at least a temporary suppression of the man’s psychiatric symptoms.
And let’s consider the possibility of secondary gain: some benefit gained from the disorder. There were and are now professional beggars. Frankly, having some sort of physical disorder makes for more effective begging. Sadly, sometimes children are intentionally maimed in order to gain more sympathy and more money in impoverished areas. If our paralyzed man was actually just a professional beggar, imagine his surprise when four townspeople pick him up and deliver him in such dramatic fashion to Jesus! What could the man do but take up his pallet and leave? In fact, what if Jesus had recognized the man as a professional beggar (“Wait, weren’t you blind in the last town?”) but sympathetically said to him, “I forgive you. Get up, pick up your pallet, and go home.” One can see how this would become a story in which Jesus forgives his sins and then “heals” his paralysis. Also, have you ever noticed how when the man is healed he immediately leaves the house, without even lingering to thank Jesus or listen to Jesus’ teaching? That seems like an odd response for someone who had just been miraculously healed of a serious disorder.
The third possibility is one most people, even most skeptics, shy away from. Is it possible that Jesus and his disciple staged this, and possibly other miracles? We certainly have plenty of evidence of that sort of thing down through the ages and even today.[2] Jesus seems like a sincere moral teacher. Surely he wouldn’t do such a thing! Would he? I do not think Jesus would do such a thing as a deception or to gain a following or money, but I must admit that history suggests that is more likely than actual miracles. However, another possibility is that Jesus and his disciples staged such scenes as teaching lessons. Morality plays, in a sense. Perhaps Jesus was trying to demonstrate in dramatic fashion what the coming kingdom of God was going to be like. The persistence and fortitude necessary to enter the kingdom. Sins forgiven. Ailments healed. Haughty religious folk like the scribes put in their place. Perhaps he never intended for his audience to accept the miracles as real, but simply wanted them to learn the lessons, and over time the miracle stories became more popular than the underlying teaching. His plays were reinterpreted as real events. Seems far-fetched? More far-fetched than the instant healing of paralysis? I think not.
If you think such stories would not be developed, embellished or invented by sincere Christians I would encourage you to read some of the early apocryphal writings about the apostles, such as The Acts of Peter or The Acts of Paul and Thecla. They are full of astounding miracles, like a smoked fish coming back to life, or Thecla being saved from carnivorous seals by a lightning strike. They are entertaining reading but I doubt that many Christians accept their miraculous stories as authentic. These stories teach us two things (at the least): miracles were seen as a way to get people’s attention leading them to conversion, and early Christians were not above inventing stories in their fervor to evangelize.
So, there may have been cases which were either episodic or functional neurological disorders in which Jesus achieved at least temporary success: the seizures abated, the lunatic calmed down, the paralyzed man walked away. And Jesus may not have always succeeded; why would the gospels record his failures? And like today’s faith healers Jesus could have attributed those unsuccessful tries to lack of faith or other spiritual problem. There may have been “confirmation bias” going on, in which successes are taken as clear proof, and failures are written off for confounding circumstances, like lack of faith. Much the same as we see with prayer, where people remember when their prayer requests appear to come true, and when not a good reason is found for it (“God has a better plan!”). I contend that Jesus needed only the occasional “success” to achieve a reputation as a great healer. From that point on the legend mill could take over. And the legend mill did not need a recorded miracle to get it started. Perhaps Jesus talked about how the mute will be able to sing God’s praises in the coming kingdom, but over time that was interpreted as Jesus healing those who were mute. Jesus said the blind would one day see God, so a few stories of Jesus healing the blind followed. And so on. I think the non-canonical stories generated by the early Christians show this is a real possibility, even in the Gospels.
Next post: did Jesus explain why sometimes healing did not work, or why people relapsed after supposedly being healed?
Thinking exercises:
- It is possible (probable?) that some of the illnesses Jesus encountered were of a psychiatric origin. Do you see anything in Jesus’ manner or methods that would be useful in such situations?
- If the gospels did not contain any miracle stories of Jesus would it change your opinion of him or his teachings? If faith in Jesus is dependent on the miracle stories, do you see any problems with that?
- Jesus is said to have performed his miracles entirely within Israel, yet Christianity spread primarily in the Gentile world instead. Why do you think that is?
- Why do you believe in the miracle stories found in your religion while rejecting those of other religions?
[1] By scribes he likely means religious leaders trained in the Law of Moses.
[2] The case of Peter Popoff is an interesting read. Investigators intercepted radio transmissions he was receiving from his wife via an earpiece, feeding him information supplied on cards filled out by audience members. Sadly, such revelations did not stop him or other faith healers from fleecing their flocks.