Lesson 14: Luke 5:12-35 Jesus Cleansing and Healing

The Healing Crusade Continues: The cleansing of the Leper 5:12- 16

English Standard Version (Chapter 5)

12 While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 13 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” 15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

The intensity provided by the crowds of insistent people, fatal dangerous prognosis of the the people coming to Jesus, crowds catching the attention of the Roman and Jewish authorities, places Jesus needed to go, and the limitations of transportation to move about, all served to move Him into the desolate places to pray. Then there are the unseen and unmentioned forces that were weighing upon Jesus and His followers that brought them to very high stressful points. Even the stress of encountering a leper and having that man touch Him could have made him ceremonially unclean. In order for ministry to continue, Jesus was bound to heal him. We can see from verse 13 that Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him. Jesus was able to make him totally clean! And as a proof, Jesus demanded that he get proof from the priest of the temple, according to the law of Moses. Jesus came to fulfill the law and He did at every juncture. It was not a suggestion, it was a command(verse 14).

Great crowds of sick people and “rubber neckers” or “gawkers” came about to make the situation more and more uncontrollable. If the word is getting out of the country “abroad” and they are already finding their way to Jesus, then just think what it must have been like if the celebrity is one of your own countrymen? Healing is a big need. It demands attention and a caring physician! Jesus is all of that but the crowds are forcing Him to spend time with perhaps too many large crowds and not enough smaller venues. No matter what the need, Jesus was of a mind and heart to go to a desolate place to pray. That is a great piece of advice for us: when the demands of the day increase to overflowing, it’s best to retreat and pray than to advance and run out of steam.

Jesus Heals the Paralytic 5:17- 26

English Standard Version (Chapter 5)

17 On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. 18 And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus,

19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. 20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”

21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts?

23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.”

25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. 26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

Talk about relying on extraordinary measures to get someone to see Jesus, this would be it. Years ago, I heard a man say that this was the first bus ministry. That is definitely a stretch for telling Bible stories, because this is more than bus ministry. This is true faith. Bus ministry is a “way in”, but these individuals had “no way” to get the man to Jesus (verse 19.)

This wonderfully creative method of getting someone to Jesus brought about a minor spiritual predicament for those in attendance. Scribes and Pharisees were all there in the house and they heard Jesus “forgive” the sins of the paralyzed man. They are thinking God alone can forgive sins, so if Jesus can do this, then we would have to proclaim Him as God. They did not want to do that. Undoubtedly this was a teachable moment for the elite holy men in the area.

It was a crowd of Pharisees, teachers of the Law, and Scribes. The Scribes were “expert” teachers. I’m sure there were teachers of the Law and then there were also the “experts.” The Pharisees had a difficult role as far as explanation is concerned, but they were the elite of the elite. They were leaders: spiritually, scholarly, and politically. Many times they were in direct competition with the priesthood. Three of the leading Jewish schools of thought of the Pharisees would be: Pharisees, Sadducees, and the Essenes. The Essenes were the ones that were believed to be connected to the Dead Sea Scrolls. We probably have an incomplete understanding of their role, but we know it was major. We also know these groups were deeply involved in the investigations going on around Jesus as He ministered. Some truly wanted to know more about Him and others were jealous and envious of Jesus and they sought to rub Him out. It was a complicated relationship and Jesus did not shy away from them. Some have said the big difference between a Pharisees and Sadducees was that that the Sadducees were “Sad you see” because they did not believe in the miraculous. The Pharisees believed in this divine intervention of the miraculous but still held it at arms length.

We must remember that in the books of Acts, there were scores of them that believed after Jesus rose from the Dead. When we discuss religious leaders and their beliefs, we probably cannot be too critical because of the tremendous weight of responsibility on their shoulders as they watch over men’s souls. Religious leaders usually have a “high buy in” thresh hold to their belief system and they do not change quickly, which is what we should expect from a leader. We expect them to be protective of us and that is what is going on in Israel. The leaders are getting acquainted with the Son of Man and boy are they getting and eyeful.

Jesus had a gifted response. That is, either way, His response was a gift to the paralyzed man. The two way gift was” Your sins are forgiven” or “rise up and walk.” Pretty clever. He never put any of the leaders down, but He did in essence put the answer in the form of their questions in their spirits. Was this a spiritual problem or was it a physical problem? But since you need to know I can forgive sins, I say it is both problems, so “I say, rise up and walk, pick up your bed and go home.” Case closed.

This was a public declaration of His place in the Godhead and His Lordship over the leaders. Yes, this was very impressive and the leaders could do nothing against this because it answered the questions in their minds with evidence on the spot. The crippled man left walking, and carrying his bed. It doesn’t get much better than that. Couple that with the healing of an unclean leprous man, and there is some major acceptance of what Jesus is doing. He is riding the wave of the glory of God and it is filling the people with awe and the fear of God.