Who Will Receive Healing?
Luke 5:17 (KJV) And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
Jesus was teaching, and the religious bigwigs of the day were all sitting around. Lord, You wanted to heal THEM. Now some translations don’t include the word “them,” but the idea is the same. Your power was available to heal whoever was present, including them. These notables needed healing just as much as any in Judea. Religious leaders battle sicknesses and heartaches just like everyone else, yet they sometimes hide their struggles, trying to keep up the appearance of spiritual success. Well, here they were, and you wanted to heal THEM!
These were the guys that never had to worry about being admitted to a religious gathering. They never had to pay a registration fee at a conference. They were expected, perhaps required, to attend, and they got the best seats in the house. Lord, You were prepared to heal them, but they had no heart to recognize it, let alone receive it. They didn’t recognize their own desperate state - that they were blind, void of faith, and of the wrong spirit.
Instead, an ordinary man received healing. This was one whose friends recognized his desperate state and had faith to see You heal him. He didn’t have a VIP pass to the meetings. All the more-importants got in before him. All the more-ables got in before him. This was the one who received healing.
Luke 5:18-25 (NIV)Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. 20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” 21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God.
And then the Pharisees, who could have followed this commoner’s example and said, “I need healing, too!” instead began to reason about doctrine; the knowledge they had had puffed them up in pride. Truly, tax collectors and harlots inter the kingdom of God before men such as these.
