Friday, April 28, 2023

The Healing Properties of Jesus' bath water in “The Hospitality and Perfume of the Bandit"

In “The Hospitality and Perfume of the Bandit,” dated c. 12th-14th century, we read of how the bath water used by Jesus had medicinal qualities:

 

The healing of the bandit’s child

 

(17.3d) From this wife he had a little son, but he was quite leprous, indeed, scabby. But since the hour for bathing his son had not approached, the bandit said to his wife, “Allow this infant to be bathed first because he is beautiful, and you can bathe our infant afterward, because he is scabby and quite leprous.” But after the blessed Mary had bathed her son Jesus, as the bandit’s son was bathed, in the same water, immediately he was totally cleansed from all filth and from every infirmity. And the bandit said to his wife, “Truly, this is the Son of God.” And he fell prostrate on the ground and worshiped him. (Mark Glen Bilby (trans.), “The Hospitality and Perfume of the Bandit,” in New Testament Apocrypha, ed. Tony Burke, 3 vols. [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2023], 3:10)