Based on Luke 5:17-26 (New King James Version)
“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 sins”—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!’”
It is hard for many people to understand who Jesus is. Unfortunately for them, they see the Lord as a man only, and not for who He was and is: He was and is God. The problem that many simply have is pride and arrogance, and because of that pride and arrogance, instead of acknowledging His incredible sacrifice, that He lowered Himself to that condition so that He could go through what was necessary for us, for our sin, people actually penalize Him and count that against Him. There is no greater injustice in the universe, and as such, that’s why it is fairly punishable as the Scriptures say: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 3:36. This is the grave problem that many of the religious had, and it’s the same problem that many have today, that they see the Lord as an equal or even as someone lower than themselves, and that they are not going to lower themselves to accept someone like that as their God. This was the same problem that Satan had. The enemy did not want (nor does he now) accept that God is God and that it is necessary to submit to Him. In the end, if there is something that has no limit neither in Satan nor in people that refuse to believe and submit themselves to God is stupidity (there is no other word to better describe it). Acknowledging Christ as who He is, as God, is simply acknowledging a fact, and nothing more than that. There are certain things in life that we just need to simply accept and acknowledge, and this is the most important one.
Now then, maybe some people might defend themselves, the people that maybe don’t believe not out of stupidity, but rather, because of ignorance. And God does not have a problem with ignorance. Ignorance is totally justifiable, because if you don’t know something, then you don’t believe not because you don’t want to believe, but rather, because you lack the information. That’s the big difference. Now, for the person that lacks the information, but desires to understand, it is necessary to see the things He did. The Lord, although He took on a humble form, even as a man, He did things that no one else before Him were able to do, nor can anyone do ever. It is necessary to see the facts and accept them as facts. That’s why these things were left written. We see in today’s main passage that He demonstrated that He could both forgive sin and heal. He was and is able to do both things without any problem because He is God. And He did these things countless times, even on the sabbath (for what the religious criticized Him also). So then, He demonstrated countless times that He was God.
What we can also observe here is that sickness has something to do with sin, and we need to try to explain this well because it can be easily misunderstood, especially since there are certain bad doctrines out there. What we need to understand is that sin is in the world and that sin is what causes all of the bad things to be present, both the sin that is outside of us as well as the sin that lives within us. What we see in this passage is that there was sin in the person that was healed. The Word shows us the relationship between sin and sickness through the following passage: “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” James 5:13-16. So then, sin is always linked with sickness, in one way or another. They go hand in hand. So, what was this man’s sin? We don’t know, but he was sick because of it. That we can see clearly. The other thing we need to understand is that the Lord, as the God He is, knows everything that is inside of us, even what others don’t see, and what is deep inside, intimately within us. For it is written: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 17:9-10. We cannot deceive the Lord, no matter how much we try. He knows everything.
Now, is sickness a punishment. Not necessarily. The Apostle Paul is one of our main examples in the Bible, especially so we are able to understand what can happen to even the most faithful people to the Lord. Paul had to deal with a thorn, with a sickness. He explained this: “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:7-9. The thorn that Paul was allowed to have was there so his pride could be dealt with, because that is the only thing that can make a person feel like exalting themselves. And of course, pride does not allow for a person to submit to God, nor to God’s purposes, and that they feel they are better than the rest. What is the purpose for sickness? God allows for certain things to happen in our lives because He is more interested in our formation and preparation for eternity than our temporary comfort in this world. Eternity is much more important than the temporal world. So, if God allows for certain things to happen in your life, whether it be sickness or some other circumstance, it’s simply because He desires to accomplish greater things in your life. The most important thing out of all of this is for you to be always able to see more clearly who is Jesus and what He desires to do in your life. What glorifies God the most is the process of human transformation, because that is the main reason for why He died for us all; not just to save us, but also, to prepare us for what is coming. So then, do you understand exactly who Jesus is and what He really did for you? Lord bless! John