We have seen strange things today!

 

 And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately the leprosy left him.  And He charged him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded."  However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.  So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.

Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.  And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.  And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.  When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive" -- He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.  And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today!" 

 

- Luke 5:12-26 

 

Yesterday we read that, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, Jesus stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets.  Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land.  And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.  When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."  But Simon answered and said to Him, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net."  And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.  So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them.  And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.  When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!"  For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.  And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid.  From now on you will catch men."  So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

 

And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately the leprosy left him.  My study bible comments here that leprosy was one of the most dreaded diseases of Christ's time.  It brought great physical suffering, as well as complete banishment and isolation from society, and exclusion from community.  Leprosy is also a symbol of our sin.

And He charged him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded."   Christ commands the healed leper in accordance with the requirements of the Law (see Leviticus 14).  My study bible cites St. Cyril of Alexandria as saying that Christ does so in order to convince the priests by a tangible miracle that He is superior to Moses.  The priests hold Moses to be greater than Christ, my study bible says, yet Christ heals a leper immediately and with His own divine authority.  However, when Miriam was struck with leprosy, Moses had to seek mercy from above, and still she was only healed after seven days (Numbers 12:10-15).  

However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.  So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.   We should take heed of the Gospel reports that punctuate the stories of Christ and His ministry, indicating that Christ often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.  If even Christ needed to do this, imagine our own need to take time to withdraw from busyness for prayer in our lives!

Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.  And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  This is the first mention in Luke's Gospel of Pharisees and teachers of the law; also let us note that they are not only from every town in Galilee, but also Judea, and Jerusalem.   They have heard of Jesus and are taking note of Him and His activities for themselves.  It is interesting that the power of the Lord is noted by Luke as a presence; so far in Luke's Gospel, we have witnessed people marveling at Jesus' power and authority.

 

 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.  And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.  When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive" -- He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.  And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today!"  My study bible comments here that the healing of the paralytic shows us that faith is an indispensable condition for salvation.  It also comments that faith is collective as well as personal, for the faith of the paralytic's friends helped in his healing.  Moreover, it adds that there are three signs of the divinity of Christ which are shown here.  First, Christ knows the secrets of hearts (see 1 Samuel 16:7, 2 Chronicles 6:30).  Second, Christ forgives sins, which is a power that belongs only to God.  Finally, He heals by the power of His word.

The story of the healing of the paralytic is quite marvelous in its wide cast of characters, and their full involvement in the healing.  It's not just a straightforward miracle of healing, but goes in roundabout ways to involve virtually everyone present.  Perhaps this is another, less obvious reason why we're told that the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  We are meant to understand how the power of Lord does not simply involve antagonist and protagonist, an active Healer and an ailment, but the power of the Lord works through everybody in this scenario -- even those who oppose Jesus in their hearts.  Let us observe that there is more than one obstacle (the group of Pharisees and scribes) to this healing.  First of all, because the man is a paralytic, he cannot walk into the house on his own and ask for help from Christ.  He must depend upon his friends who bring him on a bed.  But the next obstacle is the crowd of people present; they cannot figure out a conventional way to come inside the house and bring their friend in on his bed.  They must think collectively, and remove the tiles from the roof to lower the man down into the midst of the people who are there.  So, so far we have many characters involved in the story:  the man, his friends, and the crowd of people present to see Jesus.  All are playing a role, and the power of the Lord will work through all of these varied factors and characters in the story.  It is the faith of the man's friends that first creates the action of healing by Christ, for the text tells us that when He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."   They have made every effort to get their friend before Christ.  And then the scribes and Pharisees begin to grumble that this is blasphemy, for no one can forgive sins but God alone.  Jesus, being Himself divine, perceives what is in their hearts and He responds to it.  He says, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive" -- He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  And a tremendous healing miracle occurs as a display of the power of the Lord in response to the disagreement and label of blasphemy from these men of the religious establishment.  In effect, the power of the Lord which is present has worked through all elements of this scene, including the denial and lack of faith of the Pharisees and scribes.  This is an important thing to observe about the power of God:  it works through all things.  Even what is nominally "against God" (and in this case, against faith in Christ) can be used by God for good, for God's purposes.  This is perhaps most emphatically true in the symbol of the Cross, but it is a very important thing for us to remember as faithful.  Whatever we see happening in the world, whether it is nominally against our faith or for it in our sight, we should remember that God's power can work through it all, and that God's power works with our faith.  This is our part:  that we work the works of God by exercising our faith and doing what we can to build it (John 6:28-29).  St. Paul writes, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).  In today's reading is the first glimmering of opposition from the religious establishment to Christ, and yet we see the outcome:  the power of the Lord works through and with their opposition and scorn.  That God's power works through so many people and elements of this story is an important lesson for us, for in our own hearts and minds we should minimize the ways in which God may work through any situation or collection of people in our own lives, or in the world.  Most importantly, perhaps, this paralyzed man could not do for himself what the group of faithful friends could initiate and help achieve.  Therefore we must remember our collective faith, our participation in our faith through prayer and liturgy, even by simply reading the Gospel to shore up our faith.  Let us take confidence when we see dismaying news or setbacks, and return again, as does Christ in today's reading, to our prayer -- and do all that we can to shore up faith.  This is the place where the power of God can work through us, and even through all things we might see and hear.  The people say, "We have seen strange things today!"   Our God is the Lord of the unexpected and the unlikely, for with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).