12 While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 13 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” 15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
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. 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.”
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
As Jesus continued to minister in other cities (Luke 4:43), He came across an outcast of society, a man with leprosy. The man fell on his face and begged Jesus acknowledging His ability to heal but submitting fully to His will to heal, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” This is how we all should pray. We must pray with the faith that God can do anything but fully submitted to His will with regocnition that He has the sovereign right to choose. We must also pray with the faith that He will always choose what’s best for us and for His glory. In this instance Jesus was willing. As a leper, the man was the epitome of uncleanness. Anyone who touched him would become unclean and need to go through ceremonial cleansing before they could be considered clean again. Jesus reached out and touched him and the opposite occurred, instead of Jesus becoming unclean, the leper became clean. Jesus could clean the man’s outward uncleanness.
Jesus told him not to tell anyone but to go immediately and present himself to the priest and follow the procedure outlined in the law (Lev 14:1-32). While the law spelled out what needed to be done if someone was cleansed from leprosy, it didn’t happen very often. The Old Testament only records two instances (Miriam and Naaman). When the leper presented himself to the priest, it would be a strong testimony to the religious leaders that something significant was happening in Israel.
Jesus’s fame continued to spread and large crowds gathered to listen to him and to be healed of their various afflictions. Jesus regularly withdrew to quiet places to pray. If Jesus needed quiet time in prayer to continue His work effectively, how much more do we?
Soon after that, Jesus was in a house teaching and some of the religious leaders had travelled from the surrounding towns, including some from Jerusalem, to see what all the fuss was about. Some men brought a friend of theirs who was paralysed to be healed by Jesus. Because of the crowds, they couldn’t get to Jesus so they went up onto the roof and let him down through the tiles—what great determination to help their friend. When Jesus saw their faith He told the man, “your sins are forgiven.” Note that Jesus responded to the faith of the friends as well as the paralysed man. Let this be an encouragement as we pray for our friends and family with faith. The religious leaders respond with incredulous indignation. How can a man pronounce someone’s sins are forgiven? Wasn’t this blasphemy? Only God can forgive someone’s sins. Jesus knew what they were thinking (He didn’t need to hear them). Jesus points out that their objections are fair. If a man says, “your sins are forgiven” how can it be trusted? There is no way to prove that someone’s sins are forgiven. So He points out that it’s equally easy to say “Rise and walk” but it will be plainly obvious to all if He doesn’t have the power to heal. The man got up immediately, completely healed, picked up the bed his friends had carried him on and walked home glorifying God. The man’s outward healing proved Jesus was God and had the authority to heal him inwardly. Jesus could clean the man’s inward uncleanness.
The response of all (but unfortunately not the religious leaders as we see later) is that they glorified God and were awestruck and exclaimed that hey had seen extraordinary things that day.
May you be encouraged to pray both with submission to God’s will like the leper but also with persistence like the paralysed man’s friends.
Major Stories of the Bible Reading Plan
Saul and the Medium: 1 Samuel 28