Friendly faith

Some men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for a way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. When they couldn't find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. Impressed by their bold belief, he said, "Friend, I forgive your sins." Luke 5: 18-20

How impressed are you that friends would do anything to get a stricken friend close to Jesus? Think that question over. Roll it around on your tongue before answering. Let it fester, sit, marinate, stew. The answer to that question is one of the more profound and meaningful ones you can give to any question.

How much will you do for someone you love, know, have yet to meet, so that they can meet and greet the Savior of the world? Will you carry them to Jesus? Will you pray with them along the way? Will you shed tears for them if they can't get it, or won't get it, that Good News that is the Gospel of Jesus the Christ?

It is my contention that we've lost some of that desire. We've lost our evangelical edge. We've lost the ability to love someone into the Kingdom of God, fearing the person will fight back, will stall, will make fun of us, will call us less than intelligent.

And in the process of defending our own beliefs, we lose those who have none of their own.

Yet these friends carried the person on the cot onto the roof, dug out a hole and let him down gently.

Let me make three quick points:

1) Both in this telling and the mirror-image in Mark, Jesus sees the faith of the friends and heals. Notice he sees the faith of the friends, not necessarily the faith of the paralyzed man.
2) Jesus sees the faith of the friends and instead of saying, "You are healed" says "Man, your sins are forgiven," which seems a strange retort.
3) In Luke's telling Jesus then ties healing with the forgiveness of sin (for the first time in that Gospel).

It seems to me that there is no greater healing than that which offers to us forgiveness for what we have done. Luke is not telling us that Jesus says sin and the fact the man is paralyzed are tied together. Jesus on other occasions points out that there is no relevant chord running from sin to physical problems.

I like to ask my Bible studies participants to find the answer to this question: Why is the miracle done?

In this instance, it is another of Jesus' teaching moments. Who is Jesus teaching? The teachers of the law, and I suspect, the friends. He heals and forgives because Jesus wants them to understand why miracles come. They come for the glory of God. No other reason is given. Jesus forgives this man's sin (of what we're not told), and tells him to get up, take his mat and go. Notice the friends aren't mentioned again. The man gets up, goes about glorifying God, but where do the friends go? Don't know.

That is our story, folks. Jesus forgives, tells us to get up and go. The miracle is .... we do. We accept the forgiveness freely offered (some of us sometimes). There is no greater miracle in all of scripture.

But... Jesus is saying to all of us, his future readers I suspect, what are you willing to do for the miracle that will forgive those you love? What will you do?

What?
Will?
You?
Do?