Naslov
Jesus's Miraculous Healings in Mt 8:1-17. Significance and Role

Autori
Fužinato, Silvana

Izvornik
Psychiatria Danubina (0353-5053) 33 (2021), 4; 940-946

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, ostalo, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
Matthew - miraculous healing – Messiah – solidarity - salvation

Sažetak
Jesus’s messianic identity is the central topic of the Gospel of Matthew, where the author presents the Messiah of Words and the Messiah of Actions in an original way. Namely, after chapters 5-7, in which Matthew writes about the Messiah of Words who restores the original meaning of the Law in the Sermon on the Mount, in chapters 8-9, the Evangelist presents not only Jesus’s messianic identity, but also the model of his deep and fundamental messianism, which is evident in the power of miraculous healing, as well as the powerlessness of the servant, the authority of the call to follow in his footsteps, and the charity toward the poor. Therefore, we are addressing Jesus’s miraculous healings, which demonstrate not only Jesus’s messianic identity, but also the specific character of his »to be the Messiah«, i.e. the special significance and role of his actions that lead to salvation. In Mt 8:1-17, the Evangelist presents three miraculous healings by Jesus: The healing of the leper, the healing of the Roman centurion’s son, and the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, which represent three vulnerable and marginalised groups: lepers, heathens, and women. Matthew ends the account of those three miraculous healings with a summary about Jesus’s exorcisms and healings of many sick people, according to the words of the prophet Isaiah: »He himself took our weaknesses and carried our diseases«. In that specific quote, Matthew offers the key for the interpretation of Jesus’s miraculous healings to the readers. Unlike the suffering servant from the book of the prophet Isaiah, Jesus does not accept the weaknesses of man onto himself ; he instead removes them through his power as the saviour. By using the quote from the book of the prophet Isaiah 53:4 freely, Matthew does not attribute it to the suffering of Jesus, but instead to his miraculous healings. By replacing the noun hamartias »sins«, with the noun hasteneias ‒ »weaknesses«, and the verb ferô »to bear«, with the verb lambanô »to take away«, Matthew recognises the Messiah in Jesus, who removes the weaknesses and diseases of men in his power as the saviour ; a Messiah who is in solidarity with the weaknesses of men ; a Messiah who heals and saves with his solidarity, by giving the weakest and the marginalised back the dignity of the sons of God. Therefore, Matthew recognises the messianic actions in Jesus’s miraculous healings, which is realised in the suffering.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Teologija

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