Many years ago, a friend of mine remarked that several years earlier he and his wife had quit attending church. I asked him why. He explained that his wife had become quite ill and, as they were occasional church attenders, they decided to pray for healing. As part of this effort, they attended worship every Sunday, became otherwise involved in their church, doubled their pledge, and in general made church and prayer a central part of their lives. However, as time went on, the wife became sicker. There was no healing. At last, they both concluded that Christianity had been misrepresented to them so they ceased their church relationship and had never gone back. Their patience had run out.

Look at the Bible text for a moment.

Quite frankly, it presents some problems of interpretation. We c…