Released

I love the story of the paralysed man lowered through a hole in the roof (Luke 5:17-26). It’s easy to picture what happened. The men are carrying him on his stretcher, hoping to bring him to Jesus, but finding it impossible to get into the crowded house. You see them clambering up on to the roof and making a hole in it, big enough to lower him through. You can imagine the startled looks of the people underneath as bits of ceiling begin to fall on their heads. And, finally, down he comes (probably clinging on for dear life) and lands at Jesus’ feet.

Jesus saw everything. But, as He always does, He saw beyond the physically visible. He saw their faith.

It's not recorded in any of the Gospels, but I’m sure that there was some conversation between him and Jesus. Probably, no-one overheard it. But what they did hear was Jesus saying to him, ‘Your sins are forgiven’. The teachers of the Law, who were there, heard it and were horrified. ‘Blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!’ Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking and said, in effect, ‘Just see what I do next, then you’ll know that I have the authority to forgive sins.’

I used to think that Jesus healed the man just to prove His authority to forgive sins. But I’ve changed my mind. I don’t think He ever used people in that way. He saw need, He saw faith, and He met the need. The fact that it proved something to His critics was secondary to that.

All Jesus’ attention was on the man in front of Him. He, who had ‘seen their faith’, also saw what had to be done before the physical healing: forgiveness.

We’re all on what we often call a ‘healing journey’. We carry emotional and spiritual (and physical) wounds and sicknesses. Some are from long ago, others from just yesterday. They all need healing. Someone has said something that upsets us; we feel angry – ‘it was unforgivable!’ The pain of it means that we refuse to forgive, and the unforgiveness locks the pain in place. I know of people who were immediately healed physically when their sin (often unforgiveness) was brought to the cross. And I’ve seen many others healed emotionally in the same way.

The healing of the paralysed man didn’t simply prove that Jesus had authority to forgive sins. It proved to everyone that the man had been forgiven and was set free, not just from physical sickness, but from ‘sickness’ of heart.

There’s a pattern in this story: faith, forgiveness, healing. When we trust Jesus, and come to Him, whatever the obstacles, with our need; when we confess our sin and receive His forgiveness, then we are in the place to receive His healing. For this man, the healing was instantaneous. Often, it’s a process as God gently ‘peels back the layers’ and gets to the heart of the problem.