Which Way Lord - Chapter 16 - Dr Chandrakumar
Grace to Forgive - Power to Heal
And it came about one day when Jesus had come back to His own city Capernaum that He was teaching; and many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, even near the door. There were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. And behold, four men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in, and to set him down. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and when they had made an opening, they let him down with his stretcher, right in the middle, in front of Jesus.
And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Take courage, my son, your sins are forgiven.” And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”
And immediately Jesus, perceiving in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? “ Which is easier, to say ‘your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, and take up your pallet and walk’? “But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, I say to you, rise, take up your stretcher and go home,” He said to the paralytic.
And at once he rose up before them, and took up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God. But when the multitudes saw this, they were all seized with astonishment and began glorifying God; saying, “We have never seen anything like this.” (Mat. 9:1-8, Mk. 2:1-12, Lk. 5:17-26).
The discerning power of Jesus is explicitly exhibited by His stinging rebuke: “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?” (Mat. 9:4). The omniscience of the Godhead is clearly seen in His ability to perceive all things. Every thing is open to his eyes, and nothing, not even the unspoken musings of the heart, can be hidden from the Lord. This capability of the Lord brings conviction or comfort, depending on what goes on in our hearts. He measures every single thought that we entertain in our minds.
When Jesus questioned the Pharisees, He asked them: For which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Rise, and walk?” (Mat. 9:5). The question here is not, which is easier to do, but which is easier to say?
Obviously, it is easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” simply because there is no way to test immediately whether or not they have been forgiven. The religious systems in this world thrive on the simple fact that it is easier to say one’s sins are forgiven. Their followers cannot be sure, until it is too late, whether the religion delivered that promised forgiveness.
It is much more difficult to say, “Rise and walk.” Those words said to a paralyzed man, were immediately subject to a visible test. Either the man would get up and walk immediately or he would not. And whether he did would prove the veracity of the one who said those words. The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.
In so doing, the Lord established the fact that in the same way He visibly demonstrated His power to heal the sick man, He also had the power to forgive sins. This proves that he was and is God Himself.
The Pharisees spent their lives binding themselves and others with their fetters of legalism, so much so that a spiritual paralysis had set in. Jesus broke the pharisaical bonds and brought healing and freedom to the paralyzed man. Like the Pharisees, when your spiritual lists get longer and your negative mentality gets deeper, God gets smaller in your view. Please do not resist God’s action outside your realm of understanding. By doing so, you are actually closing your minds and shutting your hearts to God. When you are not able to trace God in your situation, just trust Him and you will see the glory of God.
In describing the sickness of the man brought to Jesus, Doctor Luke uses a term in strict agreement with that of medical writers and says that he was paralyzed. The technical Greek word is used of pronounced paralysis from disease of some part of the nervous system.
This miracle took place in Capernaum, the city adopted by Jesus after He left Nazareth. Mathew speaks of Capernaum as “His own city.” Chrysostom has the phrase, “Bethlehem bore Him, Nazareth nurtured Him, and Capernaum had Him continuously as an inhabitant.”
From the very moment Jesus spoke His first word, He had forgiven this paralytic man his sins. When the spoken word of absolution was given there was no external sign of it being given, but the greatest and most costly of all God’s mighty and loving acts towards man had taken place- a soul was cleansed and renewed. Everything else that happened to this man that day was secondary, and simply illustrated and complimented what this first great miracle of forgiveness had accomplished.
Jesus demonstrates the fact that forgiveness of sins is an absolute necessity and that healing and other blessings would follow according to the need and purpose of God in every individual’s life. In this passage the paralytic himself had not talked about bodily healing; but as a truly repentant sinner had sought for nothing else but grace and forgiveness; and our Lord, who well knew his heart’s desire, grants at once that on which his longing was directed.
The crowd marveled at the outward miracle, which attracted bolts of interest from all over Palestine. What Jesus wanted them to marvel at was not only the fact that a paralyzed man had been made to walk, but the fact that, his sins were really forgiven, that the Son of man indeed had authority on earth to forgive sins. As surely as His word was, it is even now powerful to release any one from physical weakness and to release you from guilt, from the realm of devil possession and foul disease.
The people recognized that Jesus’ word was powerful enough to work miracles. He was able to trace out those with guilty past, fearful conscience, stained soul and with many other hidden sins. This made everyone to think and wonder about man’s final destiny, the wrath of God, the danger of judgment, hell and so forth.
1. Jesus is Fully God and Fully Man
If you ask people what they consider the most important thing about Jesus Christ, many will answer in terms of something He did or does including His death and resurrection, but actually the most important thing about Him is who He is. If He is not who He claimed to be, then what He has done or does will have no relevance.
In this incident Jesus is trying to show the religious leaders and the common people that He is at once fully God and fully man. There is no way he could become a Savior unless He is God and man. A Savior must die in order to pay for sin. Therefore, the Saviour must be a man. But if he were only a man, then that death could not pay for sin. So, an effective Savior must also be God.
In this story there is an atmosphere of dogged antagonism. Jesus had just returned from a tour of Galilee, and interest in his message and ministry was spreading. Also the opposition from the Pharisees that had started earlier in Jerusalem was increasing because of their jealousy over his success (Jn 4:1). Some Pharisees had come from Judea to Galilee to further their campaign against the Lord. But using this incident Jesus publicly claimed to be both God and man.
There are several aspects to be distinguished in the above incident. First of all, there were the four friends who were determined to bring their helpless friend outside to an able master inside. Because of the over whelming crowd around and in the house, they were not able to get to Jesus.
2. Faith Laughs at Impossibilities
They had great faith that he would be healed if they could place him at the feet of Jesus. Hence, necessity being the mother of invention led them to resort to a novel way of getting the bedridden man to Jesus. Faith and the determination of those four men had laughed at impossibilities, and so they even took a great risk of going to the roof and creating an opening in some body else’s house to let him down by ropes with his stretcher, right in the middle, in front of Jesus.
It was their faith, rather than any faith the sufferer may have had, that Jesus honoured and brought healing to the paralytic man. You may not be able to directly pray for some one’s healing or lead some one to salvation experience, but you can do much through your words, actions, and love to give some one a chance to respond. Try to take your friends to a church or to any prayer meeting where he or she may be one day touched by the Lord.
The whole audience must have looked up in amazement at the bold action of the four men. Faith was often the condition for which Jesus waited for before He could do any mighty work. Seeing the inventiveness and perseverance of their faith Jesus even stopped preaching and started attending to them. The scribes and Pharisees must have been very suspicious at what might happen. Jesus quickly responded and rewarded the faith that was penetrating through all obstacles to reach Him.
(i) Faith Works
“God does not expect us to submit our faith to him without reason, but the very limits of reason make faith a necessity,” said, St. Augustine. Men of great faith are often those who are very hard working. The imperfect tense in Luke 5:18 shows that the four friends were making a great effort to get their friend to the Lord. Men of greatest faith are often men of hardest work. Faith is the sight of the inward eye. Life has no questions that faith cannot answer. Works must accompany faith. Once a desert traveler said, “I will loose my camel and commit it to God.” ‘Friend’ said the fellow traveler, “Tie thy camel and commit it to God.”
3. Invincible Determination of Love and Hope
Certainly work accompanied the faith of the men who had brought their friend and had gone through great trouble to place him directly before Jesus. If they didn't believe their friend would be healed, they would have never carried out this desperate act. They would have turned around and carried him home with the promise, "We'll try some other time."
Those faces looking down from the rooftop had great faith in the Master's power. And then there is the paralyzed man himself. Unless he had completely put his trust on the Lord, he would have protested this craziness of his friends and insisted they take him home to avoid embarrassment
R.H. Schuller says, “Faith is affirming success before it comes; and claiming victory before it is achieved.”
Faith is trusting God for something to happen which we have not seen or experienced before. It is different from belief. We believe some thing that is already known to us. I don’t need faith to believe that I am wearing a wristwatch. Belief is past tense and faith is future tense. St. Augustine said, “Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.”
In Berkeley’s translation, we read in Hebrews 11:1, that, “Faith is the conviction of unseen realities.” By faith Noah being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark. By faith Abraham obeyed God and went out not knowing where he was going. By faith Sarah herself received ability to conceive beyond human possibility (Heb. 11:7-11).
The object of faith is God himself. We have to trust Him where we cannot trace Him. Nothing is too difficult for Him (Jer. 32:17, 27). Nothing is impossible with God (Lk. 1:37). Jesus said, “The things impossible with men are possible with God.” (Lk. 18:27).
Faith is confidence in action. This is an action word. It not only passively waits on God, but also actively seeks to know and do His will. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”
Doubt sees the wall; Faith sees the way. Joshua and his people went round the wall of Jericho 13 times. There was not even a hair-line crack on the wall till the 12th round. But they saw the mighty wall falling, at their last round.
Naaman could not be healed till he placed his faith on the God of Israel and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan. Faith is persistent. Habakkuk says that even if everything around him, looked like disaster, he would still put his faith in God (Hab. 3:17-19).
Naaman, had to wait to see God at work in his life till he dipped himself in the river the 7th time. It’s God who fights for you. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him, but God has revealed it to us by his spirit,” says the Bible.
Jesus allowed Lazarus to die. But he brought h
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