Luke 5:17-26: “On one of those days, as he was teaching,
Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every
village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was
with him to heal. And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was
paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but
finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof
and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.
And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” And
the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who
speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” When Jesus perceived
their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? Which is
easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But
that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive
sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your
bed and go home.” And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he
had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. And amazement seized them all,
and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen
extraordinary things today.”
Normally, when we do not feel well, we go to our
medicine cabinet and swallow a few aspirin or pain relievers. We might apply
some medicated cream or a band aid – like this one that we will give to you
after the service to remind you that Jesus came to heal us. When the medicine
at home does not work, we need a doctor. We see a doctor if we have broken a
bone or have broken out with a rash, when get the flu or suffered a heart
attack.
In the case of the man brought to Jesus by his
friends, he is sick. He cannot walk. The Gospel tells us that he is a
paralytic. Like any of us, the man wanted to be well, to be whole. He wanted a
life he could enjoy with family and friends. He wanted to provide for himself
and his loved ones. The man and his friends had tremendous faith in Jesus. To
climb a roof, remove part of it, and lower him before Jesus, they had to have tremendous
faith.
The story tells us that Jesus came to heal us, and
to forgive our sins. The paralyzed man received a double blessing. Jesus healed
his body and forgave his sins.
When we try to explain that the man’s paralysis is
directly linked to his sin, the story gets complex. Yes, Psalm 1 is a good
reminder that those who serve God will prosper. Agreed, after Jesus healed the
paralytic in John, he instructed him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that
nothing worse may happen to you.”[1]
True, Luke recorded the sudden death punishment of Ananias and Sapphira after
they tested the Holy Spirit.[2] However,
Jesus also promised blessing on the poor and woe on the rich,[3]
and flatly denied any correlation between tragedy and spiritual condition when
asked about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with his sacrifices.[4] If
there is a direct connection between sin and suffering, explain why sinless
Jesus suffered on the Cross.
This passage reminds us that healing and the
forgiveness of sins are both from God. Jesus came to forgive sins and He came
to heal. In addition to claiming that Jesus possessed the power of God to heal
and forgive, Luke reminded us that Jesus gave His disciples the power to heal
and forgive. In Luke, chapter 9, we read, “He called the twelve together and gave them
power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out
to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.”[5] Before
He ascended, Jesus said to his disciples, “Repentance and forgiveness of sins should
be proclaimed in his name to all nations.”[6]
Repeatedly, Jesus proclaimed healing and salvation
to those who believed.[7]
Addressing the Council after healing a crippled beggar in Jerusalem through the
power of Jesus’ name, Peter proclaimed, “There is salvation in no one else, for
there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”[8]
The Church has always believed that Jesus possessed
power to heal the whole person – body, mind and soul. His deeds were not simply
random acts of kindness to aid the suffering and pitiful. They were concrete
ways of proclaiming and demonstrating God’s triumph over the powers of evil.[9]
Jesus came to forgive sins and to heal, to conquer Satan, sin and death, and to
reveal the Father’s love to us.
Jesus came to reveal the Father’s love to us and to
conquer the three tyrants that separated us from our Father. His compassion
towards the paralyzed man resulted in the forgiveness of his sins and healing.
Martin Luther ended his sermon on this passage by
assuring that we find forgiveness of sins “in
the Word. This Word, however, you find in Baptism, in the Lord’s Supper, in
absolution, and in the sermon.”[10] Elsewhere,
Luther said that by heeding the Word and its promise, and by believing Christ
speaks to me, I experience forgiveness.[11]
Yet, Christ who heals and forgives me is not limited
to my own personal, private relationship with Him. Forgiven sinners have a duty
to love one’s neighbor. When asked why a Christian should be and do good,
Luther cited the friends of the paralyzed man and responded, “God does not want to have a Christian live
for his own sake. … For everything that is done after one has come to faith is
done for the sake of others.”[12] In other words, people who believe act
with compassion and love – as did Jesus.
The ministry of healing and the forgiveness of sins
now belongs to the Church. As Pastors, we affect healing and forgiveness whenever
we visit the sick and offer them the Word and Holy Communion.
Widening the circle, we see that as God’s people we
affect healing and forgiveness depending upon our state in life. As teachers
and counselors, as social workers and mental health specialists, as coaches and
parents, we are involved in Christ’s ministry of healing and forgiveness.
Webster’s definition of a physician is one who
heals, relieves or comforts. To close, let me share with you the words of two
people actively involved in the healing arts - my sister-in-law, Mary Cwynar,
and my friend, Bill Katz.
Mary is the Hospital Supervisor at El Camino
Hospital near San Jose, California. When I asked her to reflect on this
passage, she wrote, “Tonight I had a
family entirely consumed with worry about their mother and driving the nurses
and doctors crazy. They wanted their mother cured but they did not want to let
us provide standard care because it would be uncomfortable for her. They were
unable to have faith that she would heal.
When this
happens - and it happens too often - I tell the family that their loved one
needs to feel their love and not their worry. Their love is faith that the
right thing will happen and their worry is the sin, the fear that their loved
one won't walk again.
Jesus responded
to the faith of the men who dropped the paralytic down the hole in the roof by
telling the man his sins were forgiven - whatever had gotten him into trouble
in the first place was forgiven. And then he told the paralytic to get up and
walk - that without the burden of his sins, he was free to walk.”
My friend, Bill, Professor of Medicine and Clinical
Director of Echocardiography at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center,
wrote, “My work as a physician is to
treat a physical ailment to improve a sense of well-being and when possible
prolong someone’s life on this earth.
Jesus is the
ultimate physician who heals souls for the attainment of eternal life.
It is easier to
be impressed by healing physical ailments because they are tangible compared to
forgiving someone’s sins, but which is really more important?
Ironically,
Jesus healed us by allowing his body to be given up on the cross. This makes no
sense to the nonbelievers of this world. Jesus’ passion and dying on the cross
leads to the forgiveness of our sins and our salvation for eternity. What we
have to do is come to Him with our broken bodies and (souls) and he will heal us
like he did the paralyzed man.”
Not everyone has the skill and expertise to operate
a hospital or understand echocardiographs, but each of us possesses enough
compassion to heal sin sick souls. We are – as one of my favorite hymns reminds
us – God’s balm in Gilead. We echo Christ’s words of forgiveness and healing.
We reveal to a broken world today, the Father who created us, the Son who saved
us, and the Spirit who sustains us. … And when we do, may the peace of Christ,
which surpasses all human understanding, keep our minds and hearts in Christ
Jesus. Amen.
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