While at the Awakening in Ireland, the
following Scripture was used and it was one of the first things the Lord used
when He 
released me to start this blog series. It’s from Luke 5:17-26 (also
seen in Matthew 9:2-8 and Mark 2:1-12).
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 present to heal them.
It’s important to first note the beginning
of this passage. Scripture specifically says that the power of the Lord was
present to heal the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. I used to think that
this passage was only about the paralyzed man and his miraculous healing. The
more I read and listen to this story I realize the paralyzed man was just an
instrument that Christ used to bring healing to the people who really needed it. It’s obvious that this
passage is about healing. What wasn’t obvious to me until recently was whom the
healing was for. Enter the paralyzed man…
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
removed the roof above him, and when they made an opening] let him down with
his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.
We see the mob of the religious cream of the
crop. Their goal was to stump Jesus and they had him surrounded. They had the
place packed. But these run of the mill men came along to bring their paralyzed
buddy before Christ- in faith. But because of the gang, they had to get creative and a little dirt on their hands. They hauled their buddy
upstairs and then proceeded to take apart the roof. They figured they had to
dismantle the existing structure in order to get their friend in front of
Christ. Did they question their sanity? Scripture doesn’t say. Did they argue
about whether it was uncouth to take apart a structure in order to lower their
friend? Again, Scripture doesn’t mention it. But what we do know is that when
all was said and done, they had the shameless audacity to come before
the Lord, no matter the cost.
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 ‘ Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has
authority on earth to forgive sinsâ€��”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.�
Notice. The paralyzed man is lowered before
Christ (honestly, picture this. You’re chillin’ and hearing God incarnate speak
when all of a sudden the roof starts to cave in. Light shines in for a bit but
then is covered by this thing coming through the opening. Is it a bathtub from
the second floor? Is it some punk kids screwing around? No. It’s a paralyzed
man). And then Christ says, “What’s this?!?! Get out of here�? NO.
He, lovingly, said your sins are forgiven. If that isn’t
a paradigm shift in your life, I don’t know what is. This disabled man was just
lowered through the ceiling and Christ, intentionally and 
more importantly,
saves the man’s soul. Then the cream of the crop get their underwear in a
bunch, and Christ makes what is the most profound point in this entire passage: it’s far more imperative that transgressions before God be taken care of than physical
impairments*. The passage shows that God’s goal was accomplished. Both the
paralyzed man was healed (in every sense of the word) as well as the Pharisees
and teachers of the law. I found a great point in a commentary that says, “Give
us to desire the pardon of sin more than any earthly blessing, or life itself.
Enable us to believe your power to forgive sins; then will our souls cheerfully
arise and go where you please.�
Again, the question is, what does this have
to do with politics and this blog series? That’s a fabulous question and I’m
going to go have some Jesus time to see how he wants me to organize what’s next…
*This
reminds me of something I’ve also learned on the race. I was once so very caught
up in the fact that I hadn’t raised anyone from the dead, brought physical
healing, etc. I know that our squad did experience bringing someone back from
the dead, but I didn’t…and it used to get to me. Until God revealed to me that
He’s more interested in a person’s heart. And I realized that because we are
all sinful humans before we open our lives up to the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit to come in, we’re all dead. THEREFORE, all those people that decided to
lay their lives down to become Disciples of Christ were actually raised from
the dead. And I’ve witnessed a lot of those this year. So, God used me to raise heaps of people from the dead.
