City Life Starter

Written by Paul Lane

The Word

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man [adam or mankind] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Genesis 1:26 ESV

¹⁷ On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal [was present to heal them]. ¹⁸ And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, ¹⁹ but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. ²⁰ And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” ²¹ And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” ²² When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? ²⁴ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” ²⁵ And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. ²⁶ And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

Luke 5:17-26 ESV

³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴ In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵ For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants [Greek doulos or slaves] for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

II Corinthians 5:3-6 ESV

Reflection

“Jesus drew crowds because he said, ‘come and see’ and when the crowds came there was something to see.”  P. S. Lane

As I’ve thought about this passage and looked at teachings, I discovered something interesting.  This story does not happen the way I remember it, and the main thrust of the story is a little different.

If you do a search on Luke 5:17 you’ll find headlines something like “Jesus Forgives and heals a paralyzed Man.”  And that is a fairly good representation of the passage.  But if you search for sermons on this passage, you’ll probably find that most teachings focus on the faith of the friends carrying the paralytic up to the roof.  Or there is a focus on the faith you need to receive a healing from Jesus.  The interesting thing about that is that this paralytic makes no decisions in this story.  He does not ask for healing.  He does not seek an audience with Jesus.  He does not even ask for forgiveness.  He simply sits on his matt while others act.

When this man is lowered to Jesus, there is something of a Dr. Suess feel to the scene in that the roof has been destroyed, there is chaos all around, but everyone remains focused on Jesus and the center of action.  Sua sponte (of his own accord) Jesus says, “your sins are forgiven.”  This may seem a bit off the mark, given that the context clues would point to the man needing a doctor, but Jesus acts as a counselor or a pastor.  Certainly, Jesus would be well within His rights to complain about the hole in the roof, but He doesn’t.

In Genesis 1:26, we see that God gave man dominion or ownership over the Earth.  In the Fall we see man turning that authority over to Satan.  And in this interaction with Jesus and the paralytic, we see Jesus taking that authority back.  If you think of it as a rental property, God rents the Earth to man.  Man invites Satan in to sublease the property.  Satan being a bad tenant begins to destroy the place.  So, Jesus, being a man, has the authority as any other man to evict the bad tenant.  But He also has the authority of God to being the ultimate owner of everything.

So, when Jesus tells this man that his sins are forgiven, He is working to restore him to his rightful ownership position.  But that’s not all.  He goes farther and undoes the damage this man has suffered, and in so doing He demonstrates that this is not just an eviction, it is the owner returning to live in the place.  Jesus is saying that God’s intended purposes of creation are being restored.  In this scene, while a man is healed, mankind is being healed, and this was not the initiative of any man’s will, but the gift of God.

Application

If you take the wrong message from this passage, it would be, do nothing as this man did nothing and you will get something.  However, if you take the right message, it would be, you can do nothing, so do nothing and let God do something.  The problem is that Jesus did not come to just fix our doing, He came to fix our being.  Once the being is fixed, the correct doing will follow.  So, invite Jesus into your life everyday and allow him to return the ownership that God intends for you.  And do not be surprised when he makes of your life something far grander than you imagined for yourself.

The other wrong thing to learn would be that it is OK to go to your pastor’s house and cut holes in his roof.  While that would certainly get him to pay attention to your problems, it might not end so well.  After all, this is Texas!

Prayer

The Order of Confession from the Lutheran Service Book:

[The penitent begins by saying:]

“Please hear my confession and pronounce forgiveness in order to fulfill God’s will. I, a poor sinner, plead guilty before God of all sins. I have lived as if God did not matter and as if I mattered most. My Lord’s name I have not honored as I should; my worship and prayers have faltered. I have not let His love have its way with me, and so my love for others has failed. There are those whom I have hurt, and those whom I have failed to help. My thoughts and desires have been spoiled with sin. What troubles me particularly is that…”

[Here, the penitent is to confess whatever they have done against the commandments of God, according to their own place in life. The penitent continues.]

“I am sorry for all of this and ask for grace. I want to do better.”

[The pastor continues:]

“God be merciful to you and strengthen your faith. Do you believe that my forgiveness is God’s forgiveness?”

[The penitent will say:]

“Yes.”

[The pastor places his hand on the head of the penitent and says the following:]

“In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

[The pastor dismisses the penitent.]

“Go in peace.”

[The penitent responds:]

“Amen.”