And it came about one day that He was teaching; and 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 for Him to perform healing. And behold, some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in, and to set him down in front of Him. And not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, right in the center, in front of Jesus. And seeing their faith, He said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven you." And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts? "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins have been forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'? "But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,"-- He said to the paralytic-- "I say to you, rise, and take up your stretcher and go home." And at once he rose up before them, and took up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God. And they were all seized with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen remarkable things today."
(Luke 5:17-26)
Here's a few things I noticed from this story..
Jesus had such a great sense of humor. He could have simply healed the paralytic. But Jesus used this opportunity, when there were scribes and teachers of the Law from as far away as Jerusalem. As we often say today, He wanted to make a statement, but in a clever, hard-to-forget way. In fact, you could say, it was a setup. He knew what the Pharisees would think when He said "Man you're sins are forgiven". There was no question they would think those words were blasphemous. So instead of just healing the man, he said something radical. As expected, the lawyers and scribes thought to themselves, who does this guy think he is? Only God can forgive sins! Yes.. and only God can heal a paralytic! And so goes the story, Jesus made His statement. The man got up and walked home, proving that Jesus could heal, and could also forgive sins..
One part of this story that's often overlooked.. The paralytic had four friends who were totally committed to him. They all wanted him to see Jesus, because they knew in doing that, their friend would definitely be healed. All three gospel accounts of this story say the same thing "when Jesus saw their faith". It didn't say Jesus saw "his faith", it says "their faith". They would simply not be denied. By breaking up the ceiling like they did, they risked being chastised and ridiculed. I'm sure the owner of the house wasn't too happy about the home repairs he would have to do. Having a leaky roof is no fun, that's for sure! At any rate, these guys were all on the same page. They had their plan and they were going to follow through. Think about that.. One of them probably had the idea to climb up on the roof. The others could have said, no way, we'll get in big trouble. Jesus may get upset if we tear into his friend's roof.. No- they all decided it was the only way to make sure their friend met with Jesus. They didn't back down. If only we were as serious about making sure people meet Jesus.
One final observation.. In Matthew's account of the story, Jesus told the man "Be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven!" Now that's something to be cheerful about!
