Sermon Outline:
What is healing?
Luke 5:17-26
Introduction: You might be wondering what the reading we have just heard has to do with believer’s baptism. However, as I started thinking about this morning after the postponement of Matt’s baptism from 19th December the link has become more clear to me. In some ways it is fortunate, because it also means that we can embark on the planned series on healing, by looking at the question – what is healing? So to the passage.
Firstly,
The Setting (v.17): The passage takes us to a house, which is packed with people wanting to listen to Jesus’ teaching. However, different groups have different agendas and thus come to listen for different reasons. I suppose that would be the same for us, if we are honest. There may be some who think the baptism is over, so let’s go home, others may be wanting to hear from God, others may be trying to find fault in the message and still others who are just here for curiosities sake. In all probability, the people in the house with Jesus fell into at least three of these categories. They may have wanted to hear the travelling rabbi with a growing reputation, but would not have thought of his being God. Our passage tells us that Pharisees and teachers of the law from all over Galilee, Judea and even the religious centre, Jerusalem had gathered to examine Jesus and his teaching. We are told these august men were just sitting there…the words suggesting a sense of threat or foreboding. I remember the terror I felt when preaching to a congregation of a couple of hundred for my test sermon at Tabernacle in Penarth, and yet that was a supportive home congregation seeking to discern whether God may have called me to train for the ministry.
In the midst of this description of the setting we can read the words, ‘And the power of the Lord was present for him (meaning Jesus)to heal the sick’. Imagine being in that situation…Imagine the tension that there must have been…packed house, large number of the religious leaders and, at least for Jesus, a sense of something important going to happen. Have you ever been in services, where you have a heightened expectation of the Spirit moving in power. When those of us, who have been baptised a little longer than Matt look back to our baptisms do we recall a sense of the spirit’s presence? Do those who have been involved in praying with others, remember a sense of the Spirit’s power moving through them?
The answer to these questions might lead from consideration of the setting to…
The Speculation (vs.18-19): Preparing for Matt’s baptism has been full of speculation for us as a family and I dare say for friends, who have travelled to be with us. All the preparation was done in readiness for 19th December and the baptism was only postponed at 6pm on the 18th. There had been much deliberation about whether to go ahead, or not, until then. Other speculation had also involved such things as who would go in the pool with Matt. On that occasion it was easier to resolve, but not as it turned out for today.
In today’s readings the four friends had speculated that if they got their paralytic friend to Jesus, he would be healed. We read of their determination to succeed in their mission, because when confronted by an impassable crowd, they climbed onto the roof, made a hole big enough for their friend and his stretcher and lowered him down at Jesus’ feet.
The role of the friends was to get the paralytic to Jesus and leave the rest to him. In coming to the point of committing his life to Jesus, which was marked publically today in his baptism, Matt has been helped by many people. His Sunday School teachers in Caerphilly, Lady Bay and Stockwood. His group leaders at Spring Harvest and Soul Survivor, a children’s Christian worker called Doug Horley, youth leaders including those at the Community Church and the Linx Film Nights, members of this and the other churches of which we have been part. There will of course have been many other Christians who have affected Matt’s life unknowingly, but each one has been part of God’s plan to bring Matt to a relationship with Jesus. For each one of us, who are Christians there will have been those who speculated time and prayer in pointing us to Jesus. In fact people will still be doing that and we need to continue offering support to Matt and to each other as we seek to deepen our relationship with Jesus and to offer our lives in daily service.
We also each have a responsibility to be friends to those who have not yet encountered Jesus and to do all we can to bring them to him.
I suspect there was a fair amount of speculation amongst the crowd in the house, not least amongst the religious leaders, when the bits of roof/tiles started falling from the roof. What was happening? As the man was lowered down, the speculation might have turned into ‘what would happen next? Or what would Jesus do?
I suspect no one could have anticipated…
The Spoken Word (vs.20-24): not even the four friends still on the roof, nor Jesus’ disciples. Jesus told the paralytic, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you”. I can imagine stunned silence. The man and his friends may have felt disappointed. Your sins are forgiven you. What does that mean? We wanted physical healing. What was the point of all our effort?
The religious leaders were thinking Jesus was a blasphemer, because only God could forgive sin. Other people might have been wondering who Jesus was to pronounce forgiveness of sin.
Then Jesus goes further, by assuming the title ‘Son of Man’, a title he often uses for himself. But that’s not all which is harder to tell this man his sins are forgiven or to tell him to get up and walk. I can imagine the religious leaders becoming more angry and the crowd in general more confused. Just so that you know I can forgive sin, Jesus turns to the man and tells him to get up, pick up his mat and walk… By showing his power in this way, Jesus was claiming to be God in the light of the religious leaders’ thoughts. This was a point of confrontation, which required people to make a choice. For Jesus and the religious leaders the lines of division and battle were drawn by Jesus. But by asking the man to get up and walk Jesus points to…
The Salvation (vs.25-26): or healing that can only come through a relationship with Him. When Matt committed himself to Jesus, acknowledging him as Lord and Saviour he entered into a relationship, which is for eternity. He understands that on the cross, Jesus paid the price for his sin – past, present and future – and that his healing from death is secure. From this encounter between Jesus and the paralytic we can see that forgiveness of sins, which provides healing from its punishment death is most important to Jesus. Physical healing only points to Jesus’ ability to forgive sin.
So what is healing? For me, ultimately it is the salvation offered to all in Christ. This is for eternity and reaches through life and death into the life pointed to by Jesus’ resurrection.
However, as in the case of the paralytic in through the power of the Holy Spirit, we have the power to pray for physical and emotional healing as well as spiritual. For Jesus healing was holistic and this is what we should pray for, with the proviso that we allow God to be God and do not expect him to answer all our requests in the way for which we hope. After all as God soad through the prophet Isaiah, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9).
Conclusion: Having looked at the setting, the speculation, the spoken word and the salvation the question is are we prepared to come to Jesus, or if we have already done so, to point others to Jesus in prayer and then leave the rest to Him. The power that was present for Jesus to heal the paralytic was the Holy Spirit, through whom Matt was prompted to commit his life to life-long following Jesus in anticipation of true healing on God’s terms. Amen.
Questions for further thought
What can we learn from the role of the four friends?
Who showed faith in this story?
What do you think the paralytic man felt at different stages of this story? Wat would you have felt like if you were in his position?
Who was healed? What about the crowd, who witnessed the healing (v.25)?
Discuss what you think Jesus’ teaching points were in this story/encounter?
What was the challenge to the religious leaders?
What is the challenge to people who hear this story, including you and me?
What is healing?
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