Though word of Jesus has spread throughout the region of Galilee since his ministry began, the healing of the leper in the last episode seems to have marked a tipping point in his popularity. As that story winds down, we hear these words: “Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.” (Luke 5:15, NIV) At this point, Jesus becomes so famous that crowds actively seek him out, a state of affairs that does not gone unnoticed by a group in ancient Judaism called the Pharisees. In today’s passage, members of this group, which was concerned with faithful law-observance, have gathered to hear Jesus’ teaching. Note that they have come from all over, which makes this look like an organized effort to assess the new teacher on the block.
The setting of Jesus’ teaching in this scene is a house, which makes for a surprising turn of events. Because the house is crowded, a group of men are unable to carry their friend - a paralyzed man - to Jesus for healing. Undeterred, this resourceful crew climbs the outdoor stairs to the roof, makes a space among the roof tiles, and lowers the man, mat and all, to Jesus. Imagine the commotion this must have caused!
Impressed by the men’s faith, Jesus pronounces that the paralyzed man’s sins are forgiven. Jesus, it seems, has seen a deeper need than physical healing and addressed it first. A scholar named NT Wright helpfully notes that in addressing the man’s need for forgiveness, Jesus circumvented the temple system - the normal means for seeking forgiveness prescribed in the law. As you might imagine, this move on Jesus’ part concerned the law-observant Pharisees. After all, it seemed like Jesus was speaking out of turn! In response, Jesus, who was aware of their thoughts on the matter, heals the man physically in order to prove his authority to pronounce forgiveness. In the end, the man walks out of the house, mat in hand, and the crowd is awed.
As we consider this episode in Luke’s gospel, I am drawn to the interplay between the men’s faith and Jesus’ response. Though we can celebrate the men’s ingenuity, we should remember that they interrupted Jesus as he taught. Yet, he appreciated their faith and honored it rather than taking umbrage at their audacity. Sometimes we think of faith in sanitized terms, as if Jesus only pays attention when we take our place in line and do things in the proper order. There’s not much proper about lowering a man through a roof, though. The key to the story is not the men’s decorum but their faith, which was bold and messy. Rather than standing aloof, waiting for us to dot our i’s and cross our t’s, Jesus is moved by our faith. This does not mean that we will always receive our requests like the man in the story (though sometimes we will). It does mean, however, that Jesus welcomes us even on messy terms. If we can approach him in good faith, he can take it from there.
Image copyright: © José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro / CC BY-SA 4.0