Today’s Scripture reading recounts two miraculous healing stories. Even though the details of the two stories drastically differ, they share a main purpose of displaying desperate faith and divine authority. Let me begin by explaining what I mean by “desperate faith.”
Desperate Faith
Both of these stories convey desperate faith! Even though Luke doesn’t tell us which city Jesus was in at the time, he does tell us that a leper came into the city to see Jesus. This may not seem like a big deal to us today, but this was extraordinary for Jesus’ day. Leprosy was a chronic and highly contagious skin disease which had no cure in the ancient world. Symptoms usually included severe itching and chaffing skin, disfigurement of the face and hands, and sometimes included neurological problems. Lepers were, by law, forced to leave their homes and families and were sentenced to live in leper colonies that were often located in caves. They were forbidden to enter communities or come into contact with healthy people, so they were reduced to standing along roadways in order to beg for food and charity.
Even worse than the physical pain and itching was the social ostracism and religious stigma associated with the disease; leprosy was generally considered a punishment for sin or a curse from God. There was no known cure, and if contracted, people would often live with the dreadful and lonely affliction for the rest of their lives.
This leper bucked up against the cultural customs and flat out broke they law when he entered the city, fell down at the feet of Jesus, and begged Jesus to heal him. But desperate times call for desperate measures—and his was a complete and utter act of desperatation. He threw all caution to the wind because he knew that Jesus had the divine power and authority to heal his body and restore his life. The only question was, “Would Jesus be willing to cure him?” Either way, this leper demonstrated a desperate faith in Jesus.
The circumstances of the second story are different from the first story, but it displays the same desperate faith. While Jesus was inside a house teaching a large crowd of people, which included a group of suspicious religious leaders, there was a group of men carrying a crippled man on a stretcher. We don’t know how or how long the man had been paralyzed, but we do know that he was trying to get to Jesus for healing.
When the men could not make their way through the horde of people, they were not deterred. They somehow hoisted the crippled man onto the rooftop, removed the ceiling tiles, and lowered him into the room where Jesus was teaching. Can you imagine seeing this? What extravagance! What desperation! What an act of faith! Jesus was so impressed with their desperate faith that he made the man walk.
Isn’t it interesting to see how Jesus granted miracles to people who came to him in desperation? He did not heal everyone he ever met, but he consistently showed incredible compassion toward those who came to him in meekness and humility. When someone displayed a desperate faith in Jesus—that is when he met their needs and restored their lives.
This makes me wonder if a lack of miracles in our lives today is related to our lack of desperation. When I stop and think about the times that God has shown up most clearly and dramatically, it is always when I am most desperate—when my resources were exhausted—when I had reached my whit’s end—when I had no idea what I was going to do—when I gave up control—and when I finally fell before the feet of Jesus and begged for his help.
I can think of many examples of this from my own life, but let me share just one. When I was back in college, and everyone in my dormitory was heading home for Christmas break, I had to stay behind and work a few extra days. I was allowed to stay in my dorm room, but the dining hall was closed, which meant that I was on my own for meals. The problem was that I had just paid my school bill and my financial resources were completely exhausted. I had no food and no money. I couldn’t even scrape up fifty cents to buy a bag of peanuts from the vending machine in the lobby. It was the first time in my life that I ever faced a period of days without food.
After the first day, I was hungry, frustrated, and scarred. I had already resigned myself to fasting for those days, but I prayed that if it be the Lord’s will that he would provide for me. It was indeed a prayer of desperation! About 10 minutes later, I heard a knock on the door. It was my good friend Scott Mooberry. He said, “I was supposed to go home yesterday, but it didn’t work out. I’m heading home now, but I wanted to stop by to say good bye and to tell you to help yourself to the pizza in the refrigerator. I ordered way too much last night and I’m not going to take it home.”
As soon as he left, I ran into the lounge and opened the fridge—and to my great surprise, he didn’t just leave me a few pieces of dried out Domino’s pizza, but he left me a whole Giordano’s deep dish stuffed pizza—the best pizza in Chicago—the kind that weighs 20 pounds and costs $35 a pie. That miracle pizza sustained me for the next three days until I got home for Christmas. Scott never knew that his pizza was the immediate answer to my desperate prayer!
How about you? When was the last time you really cried out to Jesus and fell before him in desperation? When was the last time you were either forced or willing to give up control over your own life? That was probably the last time you saw God do something amazing in your life. Desperate situations call for desperate faith!
Divine Authority
Now that we have seen people come to Jesus with desperate faith, let’s take a look at his divine authority. In both stories, Jesus displays his divine authority to heal people’s lives physically and spiritually.
Physical Restoration
These stories show Jesus’ divine authority to restore people’s physical lives. Notice how the leper knew that Jesus had the power to heal; it was not a question of ability, it was one of willingness. And in this case, Jesus was willing to heal.
When Jesus healed the man with leprosy, he didn’t just cleanse his skin; he gave him his life back! He didn’t just deliver him from physical pain and discomfort; he delivered him from the agony of social ostracism. Now he could be reunited with his family, resume his career, and be involved in his community. Every aspect of his physical life was restored. What an incredible display of divine authority!
The story of the crippled man also shows Jesus’ divine authority to heal. We don’t know how this man became a paralytic or how long he had been disabled. All we know is that he couldn’t walk and he had to rely on his friends to move him from place to place—remember, this was long before the days of prosthetic legs, wheelchairs, and physical therapy.
Despite his handicap, he wasn’t going to let anyone stand in the way of him getting to Jesus. Why? Because he believed that Jesus had the divine power to heal him. And when Jesus restored his legs, is it any wonder that he went home glorifying God? Is it any wonder that the whole crowd glorified God and said, “We have seen extraordinary things today?” Everyone there recognized Jesus’ divine authority to heal and restore people’s lives.
How about you? Do you recognize Jesus’ divine authority to heal? Throughout the gospels we see Jesus heal people from leprosy, paralysis, fever, blindness, deafness, and even raise people from death. Throughout my life, I have seen Jesus miraculously heal people from all sorts of aliments: pneumonia, stroke, cancer, drug addiction and many other maladies. Just like in these stories, the issue is never Jesus’ ability to heal; it is always with his willingness.
So that leaves us with the question, “Why does Jesus choose to heal sometimes and not others?” That is a good question and I have to confess that I don’t know the answer, but I will say this: when he doesn’t heal, he has another plan. Sometimes he allows us to suffer physical pain and loss because he wants to mold our character, strip away our pride, and help us to see our need for him. When he chooses not to heal, we must trust that he has our best interest in mind and that he is accomplishing some other purpose in our lives.
Spiritual Restoration
These stories also reveal Jesus’ divine authority to restore people’s spiritual lives. When Jesus healed the man from leprosy, he also restored his spiritual life. He told him to “go and show himself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing…” (13) In these days, the priests also acted as public health officers. They had to inspect any who claimed healing from a contagious disease and declare them clean before they could reenter the community. The leper’s condition prevented him from being able to worship God at the synagogue. Therefore, he could not hear the Word of God taught, sing psalms, or participate in the corporate rituals that brought glory to God. When Jesus healed his leprosy, it showed his authority to restore his spiritual life.
The healing of the crippled really highlights Jesus’ authority to restore the spiritual life. When Jesus saw the man’s great faith, instead of just telling him to get up and walk, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven.” Jesus intentionally said it this way to point to the fact that his whole soul was healed, not just his legs. He is indirectly pointing to the priority of spiritual healing over physical healing. After all, it is perfectly possible for a paralytic to enter heaven
The Pharisees and teachers of the law quickly picked up on Jesus’ phrasing. They accused him of committing the sin of blasphemy. They knew that only God had the authority to forgive sins, and Jesus by declaring the paralytic’s sins forgiven, Jesus was claiming to be God. Their assessment was correct. Jesus not only claimed divine authority by speaking these words, but he proved it by enabling the man to stand up and walk!
Like the crippled man, many of us come to Jesus seeking some type of physical fulfillment, but hopefully we will walk away seeing that our deepest need is spiritual. More than anything else in this life, our greatest need is to be forgiven for our sins against God. After all, neither paralysis, leprosy, blindness, heart disease, cancer, nor any other physical disablement can prevent us from going to heaven when we die; but unrepentant sin can!
Friends, Jesus is the only one who forgive us and free us from our sins. He was the only human being to live a perfect sinless life. He is the only one who could shed his blood to atone for our sins! He is the only one who can give us eternal life! He is the only one who has authority to restore our physical lives here on earth and the only one who can offer us paradise in heaven forever!
Have you put truly put your faith in Jesus Christ yet? Are you still trying to control your life or have you given it to him? Have you experienced transforming joy of knowing that your sins are forgiven and that your eternal future is secure?
Let me leave you with two rhetorical questions: Do you have a desperate faith? Have you experienced Jesus’ divine authority?