TWO INSIGHTFUL HEALINGS. Luke 5:12-26 Full Deity or Limited Humanity? Luke was a thoughtful Greek physician who looked for “infallible proofs” of what he believed and wanted others to believe. In the interests of authentication, he got his information regarding Jesus, the Son of God is the Son of Man, from eyewitnesses. He was then on solid ground as He presented the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of sinners who has the authority to forgive sins because He is God, even though He was a real sinless man.
As Luke carefully unfolds his narrative of key events in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus, he presents his account in this section of the book, comparing the popular support of the Lord Jesus by common people with the official opposition of the scribes and Pharisees. This continues through the book until the matter concludes in Jerusalem.
Sickness and disease must have been common problems among the population in those days when, for the most part, maladies would run their course until death took place. Leprosy is called Hansen’s disease today and can be treated quite effectively. In those days, it would have normally been a death sentence. Perhaps the word “leprosy” was used more generally for any communicable disease, or at least those contagious sicknesses visible outwardly. In the Old Testament, we read of lepers being “cleansed,” not cured. That must have been an act of God, as happened with Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron. There was provision made for a cleansed leper to return to normal life in society when he or she was pronounced clean by the priest. There was a ritual to follow that made the whole cleansing process a public matter so people would know the cleansed person was fully accepted back into society.
The Leper. Normally, lepers were isolated, distanced, and carefully avoided because they had to cover their mouths and declare themselves unclean. What a hopeless condition a leper was in! It is for that reason leprosy is often spoken of as a type of sin by those who preach and teach the word of God. An honest person knows and will admit that he or she is a sinner before God. People in the time of the Lord’s ministry would often assume that sickness and disease were the results of some particular sin. It is not hard for people to admit that all have sinned, but it is quite difficult for them to say honestly, “I have sinned and am not worthy of God’s salvation.”
The leper who came to Jesus and fell on his face before Him was in the advanced stages of leprosy. Luke is the only writer of this account who said he was “full” of leprosy. This outcast of society, who knew his condition was beyond normal cure or cleansing, had both faith and doubts. “You can make me clean” was a statement of real faith. “If You are willing” was a statement of doubt. Most believers have no questions or doubts about the power and authority of our Lord Jesus Christ over every obstacle, opposition, event, and issue in our lives. But, at the same time, we wonder if our Lord is willing to do what we want. That is the problem. What we want is often not God's will for us. If we got what we wanted, there might be a short-term gain and a long-term loss.
The effect of the Lord's touch and word was the leper's instantaneous healing despite his doubt as to whether Jesus would heal him. A little faith goes a long way with God. There doesn’t seem to be a difference in the timing of the words of Jesus, “I will be thou clean,” and the touch of the Lord on the leper who would not have felt another human touch for a long time. It simply tells us that the instant healing by the Lord Jesus is more than a mere cleansing or cleaning up the effects of leprosy. True, the leper had to go to Jerusalem to the priest for examination and legal clearing, but it was obvious to all who were there and saw the healing that what Jesus did was instant and complete.
When a sinner comes to Christ in repentance and expresses their faith in Christ, He saves that person immediately. The testimony of what happened may take some time to be obvious to people, but when a person is born again, they are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Skeptical people, like a skeptical priest the leper, had to go and see, may not think the change was real at first. As time passes and the change of attitude toward God and His people can be seen, the effect of what happened the moment God saved us will be there to see.
Even though people were clamoring to see Jesus, hear Him preach and teach, and be healed by Him, He would withdraw to a place of privacy where He could be alone with the Father. Privacy in prayer with our Gracious Father and reflection on God’s word calms the soul and spirit of believers who are daily challenged under the pressures of life. Communion with God keeps things, people, and our wants in proper perspective. Our spiritual strength comes from God, and we can be strengthened when we take time to be alone with Him.
The Paralytic. Our Lord Jesus Christ's healing work was proof of His teaching's authority. The scribes were teachers of the law who were in every village and city of Galilee as well as Jerusalem. Likely, there were scribes in every Jewish community in Israel. As such, scribes were considered spiritual advisors and religious leaders. Scribes and Pharisees: Pharisees were strict religious laymen who spent a lot of effort making the law of Moses adaptable and applicable to the kind of life they wanted Judaism to be. As a result of four hundred years of adding to the law with the volumes of the Talmud and other add-ons, they claimed to be the experts in things Jewish or at least as far as religion was concerned.
Whenever people take it upon themselves to make their opinions of equal importance to the written word of God, they demean God Himself, which is what the scribes and Pharisees were doing regarding Jesus. Manmade traditions tend to usurp the words of scripture when decisions are made. People feel threatened when an applicable verse of scripture is applied to a traditional activity to which they have become used. This is the same attitude the scribes and Pharisees had toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
It seems like some of those men had deliberately come together when Luke was writing to check out Jesus’ teaching and compare it with what had become Jewish orthodoxy. They already had an antagonistic attitude toward Him because of His popularity among the people. Now, He had disciples following Him, and His teaching was constantly being reinforced by the miracles of healing He had performed and the power over demons He had demonstrated. They got as close as possible to Jesus when He was teaching in a house so they could hear and observe everything He did close up. They were looking for a legitimate way to condemn Him but found none.
Opposition against a true work of God is to be expected. Popularity is one thing, but the real results of preaching and teaching in which lives are changed cannot be denied. Despite obvious evidence of spiritual rebirth in an individual, many people are so uncomfortable around Bible-believing Christians that they openly oppose them. Accusations of being bigoted and intolerant are continually being levied against those who are called “fundamental Christians.” We believe God’s standards of righteousness and truth do not change despite man’s opinion and the changing doctrine of religious groups.
Whoever told Luke of this event was observant of all that had happened that particular day. Four men who shared their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ were determined to get their friend, who was paralyzed, to Jesus. They knew He could heal the paralytic but also knew he had to come to Jesus. The cause of his paralysis is not stated, but when Jesus spoke of his sin, the implication was, in this case, that some sin was the cause. Sickness is not always because of sin. In the natural course of life in this sinful world, death stalks every person because it is appointed unto man once to die. Often, the lifestyle a person chooses does cause sickness and death, as in substance abuse, gluttony, and sinful habits. There are consequences we have to accept for the choices we make.
Faith moved the four men to carry the fifth up on the roof of the crowded house so they could get him right to where Jesus was. Faith moved them to remove the tiles, and faith made them let the crippled man down right in front of Jesus. The next move was up to Him. They knew Jesus could heal that man. They had done what they could to bring him right to where Jesus would see him. What happened then was up to Him.
When we preach the Gospel, we know that God will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. That is what God wants. So, we can explain God’s word to a seeking sinner and tell the needy soul the message of the Gospel. If that person is willing to put their faith in the Lord Jesus, He will forgive their sins. Jesus saw beyond the actions of those men to the reality of their faith in Him. He forgave the man for the sins he had committed that caused the problem in the first place.
It is far more important for God to be able to forgive our sins justly than to heal our bodies. People who tell you your sins are forgiven may say they can do that, but saying it doesn’t make it true. Only our Lord can forgive sins and keep us from going back to sinning again. Faith is an action word that comes first when a relationship with Christ is established. God rewards faith when people diligently seek Him. Faith leads to forgiveness. When sins are forgiven, God brings us into a place of acceptance. We are “accepted in the Beloved.” When in our desperate need of forgiveness, we come in faith to Him, He speaks the word of forgiveness, and forgiveness happens. That is the real forgiveness sinners need. He forgives sinners because He “came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
The visible demonstration of the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive sins was the healing of the paralyzed man right in front of them all. What He said and did could not be denied. The people watching were amazed when they saw the man who had been helpless a moment before standing up right in front of them all and then bent over to pick up his bed and carry it himself. No wonder he praised God as he went to his home in full strength! The evidence was there for all to see; “The Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins!”
Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man twenty-five times in the Gospel of Luke. It is a term that is only for Him to use. We are sons and daughters of men, but He alone is “The Son of Man” who can forgive sins. Shared faith of friends directed toward Jesus and a blessed response from Him is a great cause for praising God together. The authority of Jesus goes way beyond ecclesiastical authority, and the evidence is in the spiritual healing of lost souls testified to by a new life in Christ.