Tag Archives: paralysed

THE BOOK OF ACTS – BACK IN THE LIMELIGHT

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BACK IN THE LIMELIGHT

“Peter went off on a mission to visit all the churches. In the course of his travels, he arrived at Lydda and met with the believers there. He came across a man — his name was Aeneas — who had been in bed eight years, paralysed. Peter said, ‘Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed!’ And he did it — jumped right out of bed. Everybody who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him walking around and woke up to the fact that God was alive and active among them.” Acts 9:32-35 (The Message).

With Saul safely out of sight for a while, Peter was back on centre stage. There was no getting away from the fact that he had spent three years in the company of Jesus. He may not have understood all the implications of what this Man had said and done, but Peter had none-the-less been absorbing it all.

Healing seems to have been his speciality. He had watched Jesus, healed under supervision with Jesus and gone on preaching and healing tours with the other disciples with Jesus’ authorisation. He was trained and equipped to do the works of the kingdom and he was not afraid to get his hands dirty.

Peter may not have been an educated man or a polished preacher but he did what he had been trained to do. Under the unction of the Holy Spirit, he put his Master’s glory on display by applying the rule of God to suffering people. He never let an opportunity go by to dispense God’s mercy to sick people and, by doing so, he could not escape the attention of the people around him.

Where Saul’s fiery preaching aroused opposition, in a less confrontational way so did Peter’s healing ministry. Jesus was alive in the transformation of people through the truth proclaimed and in the healing of the sick and disabled through the demonstration of the power of His name, and no one could dispute that.

The religious authorities had no answer for these phenomena and it put them in a very bad light. They were the ones who had discredited Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God and put Him to death for blasphemy without a careful and honest evaluation of the evidence. As hard as they tried, they could not put out the fires of faith and loyalty to the risen Jesus. They had lost face and their grip on the people. It would not be long before their fury would break out again.

In the meantime, the church was enjoying a lull in the storm. The apostles and the believers were making use of every opportunity to spread the Word. The movement was gathering momentum and churches were popping up everywhere. They were dependent on the propagation of this message by word of mouth. They had no convenient Bible to turn to for instruction.

Peter made it his business to move around from church to church to check on their progress and to teach them from his own knowledge and experience, and from his understanding of the Scriptures. Even at this early stage of the church’s history, there were those who slipped in to sow lies and discord among the believers. It has always been so and will always be so.

Like newborn infants, these little groups of believers needed to be nurtured and protected, and the church leaders had their time cut out taking care of them. This was the nature of the first century church — not large congregations meeting in ornate buildings and guided by theologically trained ministers, but little groups of people meeting in homes and doing life together.

Their leadership and lives were simple and unsophisticated. They worshiped and prayed together, shared their experiences and their resources, and encouraged one another as best they could according to their understanding of this new Way. They loved and protected one another in a hostile environment.

This way of life was so foreign to the average person that they were attracted to it and many joined the church in spite of the dangers. It was a place of safety and hope in a dangerous and uncertain world since living under Roman domination was no Sunday school picnic.

The Conflict Begins

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THE CONFLICT BEGINS

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that He had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and He preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to Him a paralysed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on (Mark 2: 1-4).

Picture the scene. Jesus left Capernaum after a mass healing in the town. A leper had been cleansed but, instead of keeping quiet about it as Jesus had instructed him to do, he became a walking advert for the Healer, forcing Jesus to withdraw from the town. After a few days, when the dust had settled, He returned, only to be mobbed again, this time to hear Him preach. He was in the house – whose house we do not know – and every room was crowded with people who wanted to hear Him.

When a group of men arrived, carrying their paralysed friend on a mat, no one would give way for them. The people were wedged so tightly together in the house that it was impossible for them to make a gap, even if they wanted to. The mat-bearers had only one alternative – the roof. Imagine that! They were so determined to plant their friend under Jesus’ nose that they had no compunction about ripping a hole in the roof to do it.

Flat-roofed houses in the Middle East had balconies which were used to cool off at night. The men quickly carried their burden up the outside staircase, set him down and began to dig up the roof. Imagine the surprise of the people inside when bits of mud and plant debris began to fall from above. They must have wondered what on earth was going on! They soon got out of the way, leaving a cleared space right where Jesus sat.

That was exactly what these men were aiming for. When their friend came down through the roof, lowered on his mat by the four men, he came to rest right at Jesus’ feet.

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralysed man, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’ Mark 2: 5).

Hey! That’s not why they came. The man needed healing, not forgiveness. If he wanted forgiveness, they could have taken him to the temple and offered a sacrifice for him. What was wrong with Jesus? Couldn’t He see what the man’s problem was?

Ah, but Jesus saw his heart. His friends thought they knew what he needed but Jesus knew better. Perhaps the condition of his body was merely a symptom of something deep inside, something he had never dared mention to another soul. He had enough hours in every day to think. Perhaps his mind was so locked into his past that he was desperate to stop thinking.

What music the words of Jesus must have been in his ears. Forgiven! He never imagined it possible that he could feel such peace in his heart in an instant after all these years of guilt, shame and regret. Whoever this man was who had pronounced him forgiven, he believed Him; he felt it and it was like being in heaven. Even if he never walked again, it was worth the upheaval he caused to hear that word, “Forgiven!”

Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ‘Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ (Mark 2: 6-7).

Enter the opposition! It had to happen. Sooner or later Jesus would bump heads with the religious types. They were like the proverbial Gestapo, always around to sniff out anything Jesus might say or do which could be used in evidence against Him. His popularity began to get to them. They were there, not to learn but to spy on Him to see how they could bring Him down.

Forgiven! This stuck in their throats. ‘How can He pronounce a man forgiven, just like that? What about sacrifice? How can He override what the Torah says about sin and sacrifice? This man is a blasphemer. He thinks He is God. He says things He has no right to say. We’ll have to watch Him closely. He’s leading the people astray. He must be crazy.’

We can’t judge them. Yet. After all, they knew nothing about Jesus except that He had amazing powers to heal and evict demons, and they had no idea how He did it.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Don’t Interfere With Me!

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DON’T INTERFERE WITH ME

“Some time later Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.

“Now there was in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie — the blind, the lame, the paralysed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, He asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?'” John 5:1-6 (NIV).

What a question! Thirty-eight years lying paralysed and helpless on a mat and Jesus asks a question like that!

But Jesus knew the inner workings of this man better that we give Him credit for. Thirty eight years is a long enough time in which to get used to a certain way of life and to develop an attitude. To this man it was normal for him to lie there, day after day, to feel sorry for himself and to watch the world go by and not be a part of it. He had his “spot”, no doubt; he was probably give food by his family and, since he had long given up hope of a miraculous cure in the pool, he just lay there….and even stopped thinking.

Then a strange man came along and asked him an even stranger question, ‘Do you want to get well?’ On the surface it seems like a foolish and unnecessary question but wait a minute, to whom was Jesus talking? Not to someone who has ‘flu or even pneumonia but to a man who had been useless and helpless for a very long time. He had no dreams, no ambitions, nothing to look forward to, and nothing to plan. He just was.

What would it take for this man to have to start thinking and living again? He was used to his condition which required no effort at all. Who did this man think He was, coming here and trying to shake him out of his comfortable nothingness? What was the point of even trying to raise his hopes when it was all hopeless anyway?

“‘Sir,’ the invalid replied, ‘I have no-one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.’” John 5:7 (NIV).

The man’s spontaneous response was to retreat into self-pity mode. ‘Sir, don’t you understand that I am useless, helpless and alone? No one cares enough about me to help me into the pool.’ He was so locked into his situation and mind-set that he did not hear Jesus’ question. He had a pat answer that played in his mind like a stuck record.

What would it take to rekindle hope in the heart of this man? Without hope, healing could never happen. Somehow Jesus had to get beyond his wall of despair and begin to help him to dream again.

A simple command changed everything for the paralysed man. “The Jesus said to him, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.” John 5:8, 9a (NIV).

There was no need for Jesus to enter into a counselling session with him. Having gauged his state of mind, He spoke a word and the man responded. There was authority in His command. Healing flowed through the man’s body as he acted.

Is that not the key that opens the door of hope for us too? When Jesus speaks a word to us it requires an act of faith to respond to His command before the miracle happens. Whatever miracle we are needing takes more than a passive “believing”; it needs the active “responding” to activate the power of God.

What is your state of mind? Have you lost hope? Has despair clouded your spiritual hearing and sight? Jesus is asking you, ‘Do you want to be healed?’ That’s the real issue. Do you want to be alive again or are you so comfortable in your misery that it has become the normal for you?

Jesus is saying to you today, ‘Get up!’

Boomerang Blessing!

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BOOMERANG BLESSING!

“One day as He was teaching, Pharisees and religion teachers were sitting around. They had come from nearly every village in Galilee and Judea, even as far away as Jerusalem, to be there. Some men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for a way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. When they couldn’t find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. Impressed by their bold belief, He said, ‘Friend, I forgive your sins.'” Luke 5:17-20 (The Message).

Talk about initiative! These men were certainly determined to get their friend to Jesus.

How big was the house? A normal family home could not have been big enough to host fifty or a hundred people even if they squashed into every room. And it was full of scribes and Pharisees. What an elite congregation Jesus had that day from all over Israel, so Luke tells us! This rabbi must have caused quite a stir in the land — without Twitter and Facebook!

The men with the sick friend weren’t concerned about who was in the congregation. They had a mission — to get their friend to Jesus. He needed a miracle and there was no one better than Jesus to do it. There was no way they could get him through the door and past all the people, but a flat-roofed house and the roof conveniently accessible by an outside staircase was all they needed to carry out their plan.

Imagine the surprise and consternation when pieces of the roof began falling on the crowd inside. Then some faces appeared and next a man suspended on a mat. The hole in the roof must have been quite big to allow them to manoeuvre a paralysed man on a sleeping mat through.

Of course the people made way for him then. They didn’t want him coming down on their heads! Talk about determination! If the crowd would not make space for him from below, they certainly would from above. Nothing was too big an obstacle for them even to ripping up the roof. That could always be repaired but Jesus might move on and their opportunity might have been lost.

What went through Jesus’ mind as the man was slowly lowered to the ground in front of Him? Was He amused? He certainly was impressed, according to Luke. Jesus, impressed? God, impressed? Is there anything that humans can do to impress God? It seems that the answer is ‘Yes”.

There was one thing that impressed Jesus, many times over — faith. He even categorised faith; no faith; little faith; great faith and such great faith. Why was faith such a big deal to Him? What else is there that links people to an unseen God and gets such a lavish response from Him?

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 (NIV). It’s quite understandable really. If you don’t trust me, why should I do anything for you?

But what is more surprising is that Jesus responded to the faith of the friends. Can one person believe for another? Of course! Don’t we do that all the time when we pray for others; otherwise what’s the point?

There’s something beautiful about believing for others. It’s part of the way God works. Every time we reach out to someone else, be it through prayer or helping in some way, we create a current that comes back to us. It’s one of those laws that God has built into the very fabric of human life. Jesus put it like this: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38 (NIV).

It’s what I call “boomerang blessing.”