The Healings in Mark

I heard this weekend the comment that the book of Mark places a lot of emphasis on the healing that Christ performed.  These miraculous healings that are described are all in the first 10 chapters, the part of the Savior’s ministry before the final week at Jerusalem.  Of these 10 chapters, all describe some kind of healing or casting out of an evil spirit that the Savior performed for the people.  Christ’s most important mission was what He accomplished in that last week with His suffering, death, and resurrection as Mark described in the final chapters of his book.  But I think that all of the physical healing that the Savior did during His life points us to that ultimate healing that He provided through His atonement. 

               Here is a summary of the healings that Mark recorded in the first 10 chapters:

·        Chapter 1: “A man with an unclean spirit” was healed in Capernaum by the Savior (v23-26).  At the same place Peter’s mother-in-law “lay sick with a fever” and the Savior “lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her” (v30-31).  He also had a leper come to Him “beseeching him” to heal him, and the Savior was “moved with compassion” and cleansed him (v40-41).  In addition to those specific miracles, “He healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils” (v34).

·        Chapter 2: The chapter opens with the account of Jesus healing the “one sick of the palsy” who was brought down through the roof.  The miracle was so impressive to the people that “they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion” (v1-12).

·        Chapter 3: In this chapter the Savior healed the man “which had a withered hand” on the Sabbath day (v1-5).  Mark also recorded that because Jesus “had healed many” the people “pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues” (v10).  He also gave power to the Twelve “to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils” (v15). 

·        Chapter 4: Mark didn’t record any healing of the body, but he did write of Christ healing the sea that miraculously prevented any harm to the disciples.  In a very similar manner to how He had calmed the souls of those fraught with devils, “He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (v39).

·        Chapter 5: Christ healed the man who was roaming the mountains and tombs who was possessed with an unclean spirit (v1-16).  He also raised the daughter of Jarius from the dead and healed the woman with the “issue of blood” who touched His garment (v22-42).

·        Chapter 6: Mark recorded that when in His own country He could “there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them” (v5).  At the end of the chapter we read of how when he got out of the ship after crossing the sea of Galilee, the people “began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was.”  Wherever He went, “They laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole” (v55-56).

·        Chapter 7: He healed the Gentile woman’s daughter who “had an unclean spirit” (v24-30).  He also opened the ears of “one that was deaf” so that “his ears were open, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain” (v35).

·        Chapter 8: The Savior in Bethsaida was brought “a blind man” by some people who “besought him to touch him.”  The Savior put His hands upon the man’s eyes and healed him.  (v22-26).

·        Chapter 9: One man brought Jesus his son “which hath a dumb spirit” and who the disciples were unable to cast out.  The Savior “rebuked the foul spirit” and miraculously healed the boy (v17-27).

·        Chapter 10: The man Bartimaeus who was blind cried out, “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me” and the Savior told him, “Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole” and “immediately he received his sight” (v46-52). 

That is certainly a lot of miraculous healings the Mark recorded, and I think they all point to the ultimate healing that Christ can perform on us through the atonement that Mark described in the subsequent chapters.  Christ performed physical healings both because He loved the people and had compassion on them, but also I believe because He wanted to show us the spiritual healing that He can provide to all that will come unto Him.