Luke Bible Study, Day 12
Today’s passage: Luke 5:12–39
Focus verse:“Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?” (Luke 5:23)
Jesus specializes in doing the unexpected. This story is no exception.
It seems Jesus will teach people anyplace he can, anywhere people gather. This time he’s teaching in a home.
There are lots of religious people there. Though we don’t know their motives—whether to hear Jesus or to criticize him—the point is that they’re there.
Knowing of Jesus’s reputation to heal people, some guys carry their paralyzed friend to him. They try to take him into the house, but they can’t because there are too many people.
Desperate, they climb up onto the roof, open some tiles, and lower their paralyzed friend into the room, right in front of Jesus.
The visual image seems incredible.
First, could they do this without damaging the roof? At the very least they disrupt Jesus’s teaching as they work to lower their friend.
I often wonder why they didn’t try a little harder to push their way through the crowd or simply wait for Jesus to leave the house after he finished teaching. Apparently, they see a rooftop entry as their best option.
The man’s problem is obvious. He can’t walk. Everyone can see that. But Jesus doesn’t heal this man—at least not at first. Instead, he does the unexpected. He says, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Jesus realizes this man’s greatest need isn’t physical but spiritual. So it is with God. Sometimes we don’t get what we expect, but we always get what we need.
The religious teachers are aghast at Jesus. They charge him with blasphemy. Only God can forgive sins, they think.
Jesus knows their thoughts and asks them a challenging question. “What’s easier, to forgive someone’s sins or to heal them?”
Knowing that it’s easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven” than to make a lame man walk, Jesus heals the man too. This addresses the man’s second greatest need. In doing this, Jesus proves he also has the power to forgive sins.
Jesus shows that he came not only to save us (forgive our sins), but he also came to heal us.
Jesus often does or says the unexpected. Perhaps that’s one reason why the crowds flocked to him two thousand years ago and why we’re drawn to him today.
Unexpected Jesus may surprise us, and at times perplex us, but he’s still our Savior and our Healer. All we need to do is accept him for his saving power and his healing power.
Questions:
How do we need to do better at forgiving others?
What do we expect Jesus to do for us: save us, heal us, or both?
[Discover more about this account in Matthew 9:2–8 and Mark 2:2–12.]
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Read more about the book of Luke in Dear Theophilus: A 40-Day Devotional Exploring the Life of Jesus through the Gospel of Luke, now available in ebook, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront a status quo faith and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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