Devotional Day 50

Scripture

Luke 5:17-26

17 One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26 Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Devotional

This week we are going to be looking at how the Lord heals us, it’s going to be a really powerful and encouraging time of engaging with God’s heart to heal broken, hurting and sick people. This story of Jesus' healing of the paralytic is one of my favourites, for a number of reasons. First of all, we see Jesus teaching in a very mixed crowd, some were there to receive, some were there for the spectacle, and some were there to criticise. It really amazes me how Jesus handles his critics with so much wisdom and grace. He has the ability to genuinely show up for the hurting and broken people that need his help, even when he is being openly judged, attacked and criticised by his enemies.

That’s how much Jesus loves people. He’s got eyes for the hungry, a heart for the broken, love for the sick - his eyes pierce through all opposition and he is always focussed on those who need him. How often do we take this for granted, the selfless love of Jesus. When we need help, Jesus cuts through the noise, shoulders the opposition, and ministers to us.

The other reason I love this story is how interruptible Jesus is! He’s in the middle of a sermon and someone breaks through the roof, barging in on what’s going on and asks Jesus for help. Imagine if this happened at church today! In the middle of the pastor’s sermon, a desperate group of people broke down the door interrupting the service so they could receive healing. Jesus doesn’t tell them to wait - or that they’d have to pay for the damages… he encouraged their faith. This is how much Jesus loves people.

The last thing that I want to point your attention to is that Jesus forgave this man’s sins first. Jesus wasn’t there to pander to those who showed up for a spectacle, and he wasn’t there for the approval of the religious leaders. He was there to love people. This man needed his sins forgiven more than a healed body. However, Jesus also healed him to prove his authority to forgive sins.

So what does all of this mean for you? You can trust Jesus. I know that it can be really hard to trust anyone with your pain, with your need. People are duplicitous, often have mixed motives and are all imperfect. But Jesus is not, he’s pure in his love for you. He’s not offering you help because of any other reason than that he loves you. He was willing to be misunderstood, attacked, tortured and killed because of his love for you.

You can trust Jesus with your healing too. Come to him as the friends did in this story, make a way to Jesus today - get in his presence and ask in faith for him to heal your wounds. You might be suffering with anxiety, depression, need healing in your brain from addiction to pornography, drugs or alcohol, you might be suffering from a chronic illness, or have so much pain in your heart from the loss of people that you loved that you can barely think about anything else. Whatever your need today - bring it to Jesus, the trustworthy one. His motives are pure.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, I bring my pain to you today. I want to be healed Lord, and I approach you in faith. Thank you that you see me Jesus, thank you that you care. Here’s my pain Lord, here are my wounds, I want to be healed just like that man. In Jesus’ name, Amen.