the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Lunatic
Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary
or It may not be improper, in a work of this kind, to take notice of the lunacies of Scripture, because, in all probability, they differed from the common supposed lunacy, or moon-sick-disease, common in life. The lunatics we read of in the gospel, certainly were those which were possessed by the evil spirit. And in the days of our Lord, those maladies were more than ordinarily common; for as the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil, so the possession by the evil spirit was then permitted, for the purpose of the display of Christ's power. No doubt, the mystery in relation to spiritual mercies in Christ had much signification, teaching us that Jesus alone had power for the accomplishment of so much good. And one feature in respect to the disease of lunacy was very prominent and striking, namely, that the poor creature, under possession of Satan had no desire in himself for a cure. Such became a lively emblem of every sinner; for the language of every man by nature is the same as we find the lunatic used: "What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? I beseech thee torment me not." (Mark 5:7) What a sweet and endearing view it gives of Christ! Jesus is the first in every act of mercy: we cannot make our application to Jesus, however early, before that Jesus hath first applied to us by his blessed Spirit, Did the Lord withhold his blessings till we asked them, or until we had prepared ourselves for them, they would never be received at all. The lunacy in this sense, like all other diseases of our fallen state, is sough after by Jesus to heal. "Himself bare our sins, and carried our sorrows."
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Hawker, Robert D.D. Entry for 'Lunatic'. Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance and Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/pmd/l/lunatic.html. London. 1828.
