Saving Moments...Healing Moments

Welcome to Way of Soteria! 

Thank you for taking the time today to visit our blog and I pray that it will be a well of fresh water for you and whoever you would like to share this with. 

You might be wondering "What's up with this name?". Well, "soteria" is a Greek word that we can find throughout the New Testament which is usually translated as "salvation". However, the root of this word ("sozo") is also a word that can also mean "to heal" as well.  So, this word is an interesting case where we can understand that something in the Bible can be translated as "salvation" but also it can imply "healing". 

This knowledge about the word translated for salvation in many of the New Testament texts expands the understanding of Scripture by ascribing two simultaneous meanings to the same event. If for instance we can proclaim that the life and ministry of Jesus can bring "salvation" for us, we can certainly affirm that the ministry of Jesus can "heal us". And the sense of healing is not limited exclusively to physical circumstances, but also to those aspects of our lives where there has been both a physical injury and a deep psychic and emotional wounding. A life in Jesus can help us to attain salvation, in the religious and spiritual sense, and by extension heal us from deep psychic and emotional wounds all the way to physical ailments. 

Of course, we can think of contextual matters to decide which translation or meaning of the word applies the best. Indeed, that is exactly what most scholars who translate the text from Greek of Hebrew do. But I would like us to consider how joining both terms as one action does not contradict one or the other, but instead it amplifies the purpose of the text. 

" Now there was a woman who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all she had on physicians, no one could cure her. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, and immediately her flow of blood stopped. Then Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds are hemming you in and pressing against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I noticed that power had gone out from me.” When the woman realized that she could not remain hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him and how she had been immediately healed. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” (Luke 8: 43-48).

This text involves an explicit healing of an ill afflicted woman who was suffering from hemorrhages and is healed as she extends herself to touch Jesus' robe, believing that doing so will heal her. Once Jesus acknowledges that power had gone from Jesus to a person, he turns to find who has been. Once the woman confesses what she has done, Jesus says "your faith has made you well". We can definitely say that she has been healed. But likewise, this event is a saving moment in the life of this woman, that is, a moment that is saturated of grace and life-giving power of God. Understanding the healing as also a moment of salvation gives another layer of meaning to this story. Likewise, we can see our own personal stories of healing and find in them saving moments that gives us a deeper meaning to our experience of God. 

Let us consider another text in which the implied meaning is the spiritual salvation:

"God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them!" (John 3: 17). 

This text is preceded by the famous and known text of John 3:16 about the love that God had for the world that moved him to send his Son, Jesus, to bring life to those who believe. However, the current text, John 3:17, leads us to consider and appreciate how expansive and wide is the mission of Jesus in the world: it is an action of salvation! And yet, that act of salvation that might be thought as "spiritual" can be grounded by thinking in ways in which that salvation of the world can be manifested through healing moments that are a sign of the profound salvation effected. A " salvation of the world" can be thought of as a transformation in the way in which we establish our societies, our political priorities, an emphasis in providing care and services for disadvantaged people, etc. All these, and many more examples, have a direct effect in the health and the possibility of life of people, communities, and even to the planet itself! This type of salvation is not only spiritual, but it is also a healing moment that will bring a holistic sense of the mission of Jesus in the world.

By integrating both meanings to the concept of salvation we can integrate the spiritual effects with the physical and visible signs of that event. It gives a sense of wholeness to the action of God through Jesus. Likewise, when we affirm that we are saved, we are also affirming that we are healed or in the process of being healed. And viceversa, every testimony of healing is also a saving moment that connects us with the eternal power of God. Salvation, then, is no longer an event that will be manifested in an afterlife, but instead are experienced in our physical reality and then to the transcendence of an eternal, loving God.