Rev Gav

Seek

Luke 5:17-20

¹⁷ One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord’s healing power was strongly with Jesus.

¹⁸ Some men came carrying a paralysed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus, ¹⁹ but they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus. ²⁰ Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”

Reflect

Jesus was in a house and it was crowded with people trying to get close to this amazing teacher and healer. He was also being watched by the Pharisees and experts in the law, for they had heard about Jesus and had come to check him out.

Now, the Pharisees were a religious group within the Jewish community who were expecting the Messiah to come and liberate them, and figured that he had not come yet because the people were not holy enough, and the way you got holy was by following the religious law (called the Torah). The Pharisees pointed the finger at the Jewish nation and said it was their fault that the Messiah had not yet showed because they had failed to observe the religious law, and they went around trying to encourage people to obey the religious law, sometimes calling for severe punishments if people did not do what they said.

Anyway, back to the story. Some guys arrived carrying their paralysed friend on a mat, but they could not get anywhere near Jesus because of the crowds, and so they climbed up on the roof, dug a hole through the ceiling, and lowered their friend down on his mat in front of Jesus. I love this. Can you imagine having friends that would go to such lengths for you? Jesus saw their faith, and then, rather than just healing the paralysed guy, said, “Your sins are forgiven.”

There was a great contrast between the Pharisees and the friends of the paralysed man. The Pharisees said that if you wanted to meet the Messiah then you had to obey a whole heap of laws and rituals, and yet, these friends met the messiah though their faith — displayed in both their determination and a daring operation.

It was faith that helped the paralysed man find the love and forgiveness of God, and the only thing his friends had to do was find Jesus — and they did. It is the same for us today. We only need to have faith in this rabbi Jesus, and if we seek him, like the paralysed man’s friends, we will find him.

Do

Today, ask God to help you find him/her/them — that you too might find God’s peace and forgiveness.

Pray

Holy God
Give me faith in your Son, Jesus Christ,
that I might search for him.
Help me find your presence in my life,
that I too might believe
and find your peace and forgiveness.
This day and for ever.
Amen.

Think

Like the paralysed man’s friends, the church is called to help people to find Jesus. We are not called to be like the Pharisees, telling people how to behave! How can we have faith and help people come into the presence of God?