The Great Physician

INTRO: this is a great place to be. To be with “a little bit of heaven on earth”, and away from the world for a short while.

The world is broken. We each need healing.

The Need For Healing

Our World —

Each of Us —

In Luke 5, Jesus shows Himself to be the Great Physician—the only one who can heal the entirety of a person.

Just by looking at this narrative, we learn a lot of good things about Jesus.

V.12-26

Leper (v.12–16):

Outcast, unclean, hopeless. No doctor could cure him.

V.13 - did Jesus have to touch the man to heal him? No. Imagine the lepers surprise and joy when he could finally contact someone.

My Jesus is personal!

V.14-16

Why not? Keep the first things first! Bragging to crowds of healing isn’t what should be first, but glorifying God, honoring the law, and worship of Him is what’s most important!

Paralytic (v.17–26):

V.17-20

The Friend’s Faith:

What are you willing to do to get your friends and family to Jesus?

Never underestimate what you’re following of Jesus can do for those around you.

You can have impact that you never fully see just by being faithful in prayer, by saying “come and see”, by sticking by someone’s side and sharing wisdom from God’s word.

Who are you carrying to Jesus?

What did the man REALLY need? Not physical healing, but spiritual.

Do we get more disturbed and despair more over physical health than we do the state of our souls or other people’s souls? Jesus is reminding us that what ULTIMATELY matters is our spiritual condition!

That’s not to minimize what you’re dealing with or going through. But what is it that eternally matters? This body isn’t. 2 Corinthians 5:1–2 “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling,”

This man being healed is great! But if he lived life long enough he’d get to the point where his body is broken down again — and that’s all of us. But you know what won’t fade with time? My soul’s condition in the healing hands of Jesus!

This act of physical healing matters, but it points to his ability of greater healing. When Jesus heals our soul, it’s not temporary—it’s eternal.

V.21-26

v.21 — “WHO?” x2. THE HEALER!!

They were right in what they thought, but were wrong in their understanding of who it was doing and saying these things.

Jesus proved His ability/power to heal body and soul. He proved His authority. That’s the whole purpose of miracles!

Hebrews 2:3–4 “how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.”

It was to prove His words were from God, to prove He was sent from God, to prove He has the authority of God!

That’s why Jesus did what He did in v.16 — did you catch it? He pulled away from them and went to be alone because they were only seeking Him for miracles, they just wanted some great things for their life from Jesus instead of really following Him because of what the miracles meant!

You could say amid all the people present, one of the “characters” at play is the crowd. And the crowd hasn’t been doing to well up to this point. Selfishly seeking things from Jesus was v.16. And V.19 the crowd was keeping someone in great need of seeing Jesus, now obviously not maliciously or or intentionally. But it begs the question: what kind of crowd are we?

Do people fail to see Jesus because of us — even unintentionally? Sometimes, without meaning to, we can become like that crowd in Luke 5 — blocking the view of the very One people need most.

What do people see when they look at you and I?

Do they see a group only concerned with what we can get from Jesus — blessings, comfort, security?

Or do they see a people committed to the full mission of Jesus — bringing the sick, the broken, and the lost into His healing presence?

Can they even see Jesus at all through us? Are we eager to let people through to Jesus, going so far as to find them and bring them?

The reality is this: we can either be the crowd that clears a path to Christ, or the crowd that clutters the way.

Don’t get in the way of people seeing the truth of Jesus, and in this context it’s that YES He cares about our physical pain, but he always points us to a deeper healing and understanding that we need.

Every time He healed someone’s body, He was pointing to the greater power He has to heal the soul. A healed body is temporary, but a forgiven soul is eternal.

V.27-32

V.27-28

A tax collector, despised and spiritually sick. Jesus calls him to follow, and Levi leaves everything behind. His first response? A feast—inviting other tax collectors and sinners to meet the Great Physician.

V.29-31

He didn’t affirm their sin. But Jesus did affirm their value.

Spiritually speaking, every one of us is sick with sin — all are lost apart from Him. The difference isn’t between “healthy” people and “sick” people, but between those who think they’re fine and those who know they need help.

The Pharisees thought they were spiritually healthy, but they were blind to their sickness. Tax collectors and sinners, some of them here, at least acknowledged they needed something from Jesus even if they didn’t fully know what it was!

Jesus can only heal those who admit they’re sick. Pride keeps us from the cure, but humility opens us up to be healed!

And Jesus isn’t “sick” of you. He absolutely DESPISES sin and came to destroy it, but He didn’t come to destroy you! He came to heal of you and I of the disease of sin.

Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound”

But we think “Jesus must be getting tired of me and my problems by now. I shouldn’t be as bad off as I am, I don’t have much to give as I should, anyone else would be too frustrated to keep helping me or even start to help me”.....but not Him. Not Jesus.

Notice what it’s said about Jesus in Isaiah 42:3. Isaiah 42:3 “a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.”

This is the manner that Jesus comes to the weak. He’s gentle and lowly. He’s not rude or uncaring.

AND He SKILLFULLY restores you, masterfully HELPS you. Why do I say that? Well, he’s not going to break the reed. He’s not going to put out the wick or just watch it suffer. He’s going to bind it up, he’s going to give it more fuel to keep burning...It takes MORE skill to pour more oil into the bowl and NOT put out the burning wick!

Illustration - restoring a priceless painting: precision, patience. Protecting: knowledge of light exposure, air moisture, oils from hands that cause damage and protected appropriately.

Jesus is both the Restorer and the Protector—guarding us from what would destroy us, and skillfully renewing us so the image of God shines in us.

V.33-39 (KINGDOM MINDSET/PERSPECTIVE)

The people questioned why Jesus’ disciples didn’t fast like others. Was that the actual complaint? Usually when people complain, there is something more to the complaint, something else at the heart of it. SO, this is really an accusation that their lack of fasting meant lack of reverence and respect for tradition.

What’s the meaning of the 3 illustrations?

Bridegroom —

Jesus is saying His presence changes everything. The picture of a wedding is a joyous and celebratory setting! No one fast at wedding, His disciples weren’t fasting because the Messiah — the Bridegroom — was right there with them. Fasting was often a sign of mourning or longing for God’s presence, but why mourn when God Himself is in the room?

The Pharisees saw their traditions as ultimate, but Jesus was pointing them to relationship. The kingdom isn’t about lifeless rituals; it’s about joy in the presence of Christ. His coming meant the long-awaited union between God and His people.

Parable of Patch & Wineskin -

Both parables are Jesus saying “you’re trying to make me, the Messiah, merely a PIECE of your old ways. But in actuality I’m bringing something New. The old was good and served its purpose well to get us to the new! But it’s time for me to bring the new.”

Jesus said you cannot pour me into your old traditions and it work. You keep trying forcing me to come into agreement with how YOU want things to be and that won’t happen. Jesus sees things through God’s eyes and Pharisees see things through their traditions

Jesus hasn’t fit their pattern and way of doing things so far. Healing people, forgiving sins, and now calling sinners like Matthew whose a tax collector and those like him! That doesn’t fit their mold and ways at all!!!...

If Jesus doesn’t fit into my patterns, the problem isn’t with the Him — the problem is with me. That goes for what we do as a Church and what we each do individually. If Jesus doesn’t fit my pattern of life, I’ve got the wrong way of living life.

Jesus wasn’t just a new medicine added to the old system. He was something completely new. He came to reshape their understanding of God’s kingdom.

Healing isn’t just about the body or soul—it’s about renewing our minds (Romans 12:2).

They had to see God’s kingdom not as legalistic rules, but as life in Christ.

Jesus not only heals what’s broken, He reshapes how we see God, ourselves, and the world.

Jesus is the Great Physician because He alone heals:

Bring your troubles to Him, repent and be washed from sin at baptism by Him, let His Word renew your mind.

Only Jesus can make you whole.

Can we help you see Jesus? We want to be the crowd that carries you to him?