Imagine with me that it’s about 2000 years ago and we are at someone’s home. Of course it looks different, but nonetheless, just a regular house. We have all gathered here because we heard that a guy named Jesus was going to be here teaching. At this point, people in the city have already been talking about Jesus. He has been making waves with His teachings and there were even tales of Him healing people. This sort of thing doesn’t happen everyday and so we’ve gathered and are eager to hear Him teach. At this point, we’ve all packed into the house, one on top of the other but people just keep coming and there is no room for anyone else, even in the doorways. It is literally FULL to absolute capacity with people surrounding Jesus.
Some religious leaders are here. Others of us have probably come to hear Jesus out of curiosity, some probably have hope of finding some truth in a confusing world, some or us are probably seeking hope, and some are desperate for healing. We’ve packed this house to be near and to hear from Jesus for a lot of different reasons.
And then we are told in our account that 4 men arrive outside the house. They are cooperating to carry a paralyzed man on a mat. Keep in mind, there are no cars, no wheelchairs at this time. We don’t know how far they have traveled like this. The Bible tells us that they brought this paralyzed man on the mat so that they could lay him before Jesus.
So, What do they do now? They are probably tired, upset and desperate. They have come this far! So when they realized that they can’t get anywhere near Jesus, they come up with a plan.…
We aren’t told if it ends up being one man’s idea or a collaborative effort, but they have an idea.
In those days, houses had these flat rooftop areas that were often made accessible by a simple ladder. So, the guys decided the first step was to take their paralyzed friend up the ladder, onto the roof. Imagine! One guy is likely carrying the paralyzed man on his back, maybe with another guy right behind them just in case their friend falls. I am sure it looked nutty.
Have you seen that series of images called, “why women live longer than men?” It’s a bunch of pictures of men doing various tasks in ways that they clearly are pushing the envelope and disregarding safety to accomplish a task. One of the more memorable images from this series is of three guys up on the second, third, fourth, 104th story (we don’t really know from the picture) but they have one guy on the balcony, one in the window and the other hanging out the window being held upside down by his belt so that he can work on the air conditioning unit on the outside of the house. I am sure they saved money by doing it themselves and I am all about that, but seriously…ridiculous!
So back to our story, these guys are convinced that if they can get their paralyzed friend up to the roof that they can get him in front of Jesus and that’s the goal. I think this would have been one of those moments that I described above, where I would have looked at it from a distance and freaked out about what was happening. Four guys maneuvering a full grown man up a ladder onto a rooftop. They survive and make it up to the roof, But what now?
Well, next, of course, they have to rip the tiles off the rooftop, dig through the ceiling and lower their friend down to Jesus! If you don’t know the story, you might think I am kidding, but it’s exactly what they do!!!
So, imagine we are all standing in the house listening to Jesus teach and it’s packed. we start to hear some rustling on the roof…ok, that’s normal. Then it gets a little louder and now its getting a bit weird as the tiles begin to be removed. That’s strange…it’s an odd time to be doing repair work. And then we begin to see debris falling, probably even on Jesus as they begin to dig through the roof and then into and through the ceiling. It’s possible that it took awhile. I doubt they came prepared for this, they didn’t travel here carrying their friend and their shovels. They were likely just digging and pounding through with their hands. Its possible the homeowners were trapped in the house with the large crowd. We don’t know why no one tried to stop them, but we do know that they got through the ceiling. The Bible says that they let him (that is, their friend) down, with his mat, through the roof and into the presence of Jesus.
And guys, this is where it gets good. Jesus knows exactly what’s happening. He knows everything, He knew it before they were going to do it and He knows exactly why they are doing, what I mean is, He knows their hearts. He knows their motives and the truth about why they are there and what they are really looking for and needing from HIm. Is He distubed by this perceived disruption to His teaching? Is He appalled that these guys have just ripped part of the roof off? No, He’s moved by it. How do we know that He is moved by their extreme effort to get their friend near Him? We know because of what the Word of God tells us next.
Luke 5: verse 20 “When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralyzed man, MAN YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN.”
Wow, they did it….. But What do you think the guys that had brought the paralyzed man thought at this moment, what do you think the paralyzed man thought as he sat there on the ground veggie Jesus? Some might think that it was obvious why these guys had come so far with their paralyzed friend. The guy couldn’t walk, he needed to walk, he needed Jesus to fix his paralysis. Maybe that’s true, maybe that is why they brought him, but maybe, because they were the people closest to him, they knew about the paralyzed man’s hopelessness and the brokenness in his heart and mind. ANd they believed that Jesus is who He claims to be, and that He could fix whatever was broken and needed to be fixed in their friend. Yes, his paralysis was the obvious issue to the onlookers. Oh but it was so much deeper than that and it always is. Jesus the Son of God and God the son, knew exactly what this man needed and had compassion on his brokenness. Jesus knew something more and something less obvious to us. He knew that this man, needed to be made new and fresh and clean in all areas of his life. He needed a fresh start. He needed newness in his Spirit. He had been broken and trampled by life. He had struggled in this world, like many of us. He needed forgiveness and he needed Jesus.
So in Jesus’ infinite wisdom, He understood the deepest need and the truest desire of this man’s heart, even if the man didn’t. Often we do this, we misunderstand our actually needs and therefore misplace our hope and our faith in things, people, men, women, money, and health. We often believe “if I just had____”, “if I could just find the right person”, “if I just had a little money”, but the NEXT thing in these categories always leads to the NEXT eventual disappointment. These men’s faith in JESUS was rightly placed and Jesus honored that faith by forgiving the man and allowing him a fresh start with freedom, true freedom from all the baggage he had; Freedom to WALK into a future actually FREE…because what good is walking with two legs and being a prisoner, a prisoner to guilt, shame, mental baggage, and loss. This life is hard, his life was hard and part of that was the fact that he couldn’t walk, but it was much bigger than that and all of us standing here know that life is hard even having two working legs.
But praise God the story doesn’t even stop there, there’s more for these faith filled men..… The religious teachers in the room heard Jesus forgive the man’s sins and began thinking
“Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” But Jesus knew their thoughts, and answered by saying to them, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven, or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
Basically, Jesus was asking them is it easier to forgive sins (which only God can do) or to heal the man’s paralysis. Because only God can forgive sins, the harder thing is, and was, to forgive sins. So Jesus continues by saying:
“But I want you to know that I, the Son of Man have power on earth to forgive sins”—So He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you,, take up your mat, and go to your house.” Immediately he stood up in front of them, took up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today!”
Jesus, who is God, has the power to forgive sins, and to heal all brokenness. He proved it to that man and He proves it over and over to those that trust in Him. He wants us to have faith and come to him with all of our baggage. There is no reason to walk into a future burdened and hopeless. Be free! If you need prayer for anything or to be freed tonight, come talk to one of us and we can pray for you. True Freedom, is actually free to you, its a gift because Jesus already paid the price for it on the cross when he died to take the punishment that ours sins deserve, then he was buried and rose from the grave. Don’t leave from His presence burdened. Leave free and whole and put back together.