“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.’ And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I will; be clean.’ And immediately the leprosy left him. 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.’ But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. 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. 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, 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. And when he saw their faith, he said, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you.’ And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, ‘Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, ‘Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven you,” or to say, “Rise and walk”? 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.’ And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, ‘We have seen extraordinary things today.’”

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all provide us with their accounts of the gospel message. Each author, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives a different angle on the narrative, a unique flavor or perspective, which we’ve discussed at some length previously. Matthew gives a renewed perspective on the Jewish relationship with the gospel as he outlines the ways in which the teaching and ministry of Jesus clarified the Law which had become so muddled. Mark writes simply, directly, with an urgent appeal to the common man. Luke provides an excellent appeal to the gentiles through his heavily researched and clearly laid out discipleship letter to Theophilus. John, writing last of the four, clearly and indisputably communicates the absolute reality of Jesus’ divinity, combating the heresies and twisted teachings that had sprung up after the writings of the other gospel accounts. We often think of, or even call them, “the four gospels,” and we’re not exactly wrong in this, but it can also present a slippery slope, depending on how we frame this in our minds. There are four writers, four perspectives – and yet despite their variances, there is ultimately only one gospel, the four are communicating the same thing – the same good news of Jesus Christ. Jesus came into the world, not just as a man with wise teachings and charisma to stir up a following, nor as a detached and only spiritual divine being. The reality, the Truth that our human minds must wrestle with is that Jesus was both fully God, and fully Man. While John illustrates this most explicitly, this central Truth of Jesus’ nature is present in all four gospels. Despite attempts by non-believers to downplay or diminish what each account says, or claim that we’re somehow misinterpreting or stretching what is written, each of the four accounts attests to the same thing, and far from contradicting one another, allow us to appreciate this reality from different, complementing perspectives. As we’ve moved through Luke, we can see how he has made this known through careful, meticulously laid evidence. We get to see the divine miracle of a virgin conceiving and bearing the Christ, yet in this we’re shown that Jesus grew in the womb and was born of the body of a human woman. We see how He held wisdom and understanding that far exceeded His age, and yet also how He grew as any boy might into a man, and in this grew in knowledge. Jesus was baptized like a man, was tempted like a man, and yet was testified to by the Lord, and persevered in a way that no ordinary man could. His teachings were more than what the people had ever encountered, and His miracles were the answer to many a desperate prayer. Last week as we look at Jesus’ calling of the first disciples, Peter first among them, we saw an outpouring of grace, and an unimaginable hope that is offered to us all. In this we’re given an image of both the physical, and the spiritual calling of Christ on our lives, as we leave behind a lost and dying world to do the eternal work that the Lord has set before us. As we shift into today’s passage, we again see a set of circumstances that highlight the dual nature of Christ’s Lordship, and the way in which He offers healing, not just to our bodies, and not just to our souls, but how His power and providence extends fully over both.

The Life Changing Work of the Eternal Healer

1. The Willing Healer

“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.’ And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I will; be clean.’ And immediately the leprosy left him. 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.’”

In reading this, the thing that jumped out at me is not just that this man had leprosy, but that he’s described as being “full” of leprosy. Depending on your translation, the word used will likely be “full” or “covered,” both of which are faithful to the Greek word used, “plērēs.” Plērēs, used in different contexts, pertains to a vessel that is full, a surface that is completely covered, or a soul that is thoroughly permeated with something. In modern times the diagnosis of leprosy pertains to a specific illness, also known as Hansen’s disease, which is a bacterial infection of the skin. In Scripture, leprosy has a broader meaning, pertaining to multiple potential skin diseases, however, even without knowing the man’s exact diagnosis we can know that his case was severe and that his illness dominated his entire life. Leviticus 13, which gives extensive rules for identifying, addressing, and quarantining cases of leprosy, states in verses 45–46,

“The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.”

There were many leprous conditions that may require a time of isolation to heal and recover before being ritually purified and rejoining the congregation, but to have a permanent, chronic case means that you were permanently unclean. The severity of this man’s illness, the fullness of his disease doesn’t just speak to the sores covering his body, but to the constant shadow that hung over his everyday life. The man would have been an exile among his own people, unable to congregate for fellowship or worship, there’s not a rung of society in which he would be welcome. The man wasn’t just living out the fallen human experience, but was enduring his days on the earth full of disease and brokenness. In this very human condition, he comes to Jesus, his position desperate, but his faith sincere. He doesn’t ask if Jesus can heal him, but fully acknowledges that in His Lordship Jesus is fully able. The man makes his appeal as he comes before the Christ, but we don’t see him ask a question, only make an observation. A central theme of the Lord’s Prayer, which Jesus gives during the Sermon on the Mount, is stated in Matthew 6:10,

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Our highest aim when we come before the Lord is not, “God, please do this for me,” but that His will be done, and that our hearts be joyful in surrender before Him. It’s not that we don’t desire reprieve from our trials, and it’s not that God is not merciful or attentive to our plights. Psalm 34:15–18 tells us,

“The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

In Matthew 6:31–33 Jesus teaches,

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

And 1 Peter 5:6–7 says,

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

We do not serve some distant, alien god, like those empty idols propped up by the world. Our God is alive, loving, perfectly holy, perfectly just, and compassionate upon those He has made in His image. Knowing this, we are called to place our faith in Him, not necessarily keeping our appeals silent, but trusting in Him above our own aims and desires. No blessing or trial is without purpose when the ultimate purpose is that God be honored. As Jesus says concerning the man born blind in John 9:3,

“… It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

And so, looking back to the leprous man in today’s passage, we can see from the severity of his condition as well as the manner in which he comes before the Lord, what the condition of his heart is. He makes no demands of Jesus, but displays an open and desperate faith – similar to the centurion whose son Jesus heals, or the woman with the issue of blood who only seeks to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, both of which we’ll look at in more detail in Luke 7 and 8 respectively, the leprous man places himself entirely in the hands of His Lord. His submission shows a surrender beyond the physical, but marks a surrender of the heart. Just as last week we saw men who dropped their professional lives and left everything to follow Jesus, not in a grudging, halfhearted sort of way, but with great hope and obedience, we now see a man submit his heart and body before the Lord, entrusting himself and his future to Him. If he is to be healed, in body or in spirit, then Jesus is his one and only hope. And what we see in response from Jesus is that He is willing. Matthew places this same event immediately following the Sermon on the Mount. While this creates a more obvious contrast, the same principles are visible in how Luke structures things. What’s apparent from both accounts is the degree of notoriety that Jesus walks into this situation with. He’s teaching with authority, He’s clarifying the core principles of the Law as no teacher ever has, He’s healing people with miracle power, and the crowds are flocking to Him. Jesus is in many respects at the pinnacle of what we might imagine as human power, because humanity values the fickle favor of the crowd. The man who comes before Him is physically broken and socially cast out – it would be harder to imagine a greater worldly gap than the one that should exist between Jesus and this man. And yet we see no ego, no derision, no ceremonial sense of contempt, only compassion and willingness to meet the man’s need and lift him up in his faith. Jesus doesn’t just heal the man, He heals him by touching him, by making physical contact with a man who has lived as a pariah for however long he’s carried this disease. But rather than the man’s uncleanness having any bearing or influence on Jesus, it is Jesus’ purity that spreads to the man and cures him completely. In His willingness and ability to heal, Jesus takes no glory for Himself directly, but tells the man to remain obedient to the Law and abide by the instruction of Leviticus 14:1–4,

“The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘This shall be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest, and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall look. Then, if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person, the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live clean birds and cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop.”

The passage goes on to give great detail about the offering and sacrifice of a person who has been healed of leprosy. However, it would be a terrible mistake to think that Jesus’ instructions are somehow about a detailed, legalistic approach to what He’s done here. We have to remember that the Law was never about a set of rules, it was about God, honoring Him, and drawing closer through the path He had created. In telling the man to abide by the command of the Law, Jesus doesn’t attempt to gain attention and fame for Himself, but rather uses His miracle work as the Son to honor the Father.

“But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.”

In another instance where Jesus tells someone not to speak publicly about their healing, Mark 7:35–37 recounts Him restoring the speech and hearing of a man who was mute and deaf, saying,

“And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.’”

It is possible that, filled with zeal and joy, the man healed of leprosy in today’s passage simply could not find the restraint to keep quiet and told everyone about Jesus healing him, despite the charge not to. It’s also entirely possible that the man followed Jesus’ instructions to the letter, and this healing still added to His notoriety among the gathering crowd. In considering this, it helps to return to the passage we touched on previously concerning the man who was born blind that Jesus healed. John 9:8–12 says,

“The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, ‘Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?’ Some said, ‘It is he.’ Others said, ‘No, but he is like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’ So they said to him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, “Go to Siloam and wash.” So I went and washed and received my sight.’ They said to him, ‘Where is he?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’”

This man was known within his community – he was the guy who was born blind, who spent untold years begging outside the temple, and then one day the people who have known him see him, and he can see – the questions that would follow seem fairly obvious. Considering this it seems reasonable to think that a man who was covered by his skin condition, cast out because of his uncleanness, and recognizable to all he might operate around as the one who was unwelcome and other, would garner some attention if one day he turned up at the temple completely cleansed. Regardless of how the crowd learned that Jesus has healed this man, the act added once more to His renown among the people. But in this, as with every time attention is showered upon Him, Jesus’ only aim is that the Father be glorified. Sometimes this took the form of Him slipping away unnoticed, other times, like with the cleansing of the temple or the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, this meant Him being the center of attention, but being God made flesh, Jesus’ work was always about the will of the Father. Here we see that amid the throng of people vying for His teaching and attention, Jesus would withdraw – not that He would ignore those who were lost and hurting, but that He took time to isolate Himself and go to the Father in prayer, rather than constantly surround Himself with the praise and attention of the people.

• 2. The Authoritative Healer

“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.”

Here again we’re given an indicator as to just how much attention Jesus’ ministry has garnered – it’s not just that crowds of people follow Him, it’s not just that some of the religious teachers have come to hear what He has to say. We read that Pharisees and their fellow teachers of the Law have come from the villages of the somewhat removed Galilee, the villages of the more central region of Judea, and from Jerusalem, the epicenter of Jewish culture and religious practice. What we have to bear in mind is that, as is seen elsewhere in Scripture, these men have not come to receive Jesus’ teaching or bear witness to His miracles, but to judge. Throughout the gospel accounts, these are the men who constantly question Jesus, not out of a desire for understanding, but seeking to trip Him up, force Him into taking a political stance, or discredit Him in some way. We see select Pharisees, like Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea who had a sincere curiosity around Jesus’ identity and came to be genuine followers, but in general when we see the ruling Jews their presence is one of antagonism as opposed to allegiance or submission. The distinct contrast is that, while the religious rulers held power, it was a frail and worldly authority. Jesus teaches in Matthew 23:2–3,

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.”

God had blessed these men, charged them with leading His people, and they had betrayed this responsibility, coveting the moral authority that their piety gave them over others while also courting the power of Rome. So these hypocrites from all over the region are now in attendance as Jesus teaches, sitting and judging what they see – and what we witness is the profound contrast between their hollow, human authority, and the true authority that Jesus holds as the Son of God.

“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, 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. And when he saw their faith, he said, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you.’ And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, ‘Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’”

Again, as with the leprous man, we see here a great display of faith. The crowds have Jesus blocked, but rather than be deterred the friends of this crippled man lower him down through the roof to get him before the Lord. We’re not actually told that they desire or expect him to be healed, although assuming that doesn’t seem altogether inappropriate given the circumstances. What we actually know however is that, as with the man who was full of leprosy, the entirety of their faith was set upon Jesus, whatever may come next. With their eyes fixed on Him, they’re persistent despite the obstacles, what people might think, or apparently, a bit of property damage. Through the way that things unfold we can see great devotion and faith on the part of the man’s friends, and in how Jesus responds we can see this mirrored in the man himself. Jesus can teach with authority because He teaches His own Word, He can heal with authority because He has dominion over all flesh which He Himself made, and He can forgive sin with authority because He is the Lamb of God, the perfect atonement for the sins of man. God says to the people in Exodus 15:25–26,

“… If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.”

The call is that through their faith and obedience before God the people would be healed from the afflictions that plague the rest of mankind. The call is not so different now, that we could come to God, obey His voice and be made right before Him, healed of our sin, the greatest and most fatal of all our afflictions. The question that the Pharisees ask, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” is not an altogether invalid question, however if they had eyes to see or ears to hear, they never would have asked it. God proclaims in Exodus 34:6–7,

“The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

He alone can forgive, and He alone can condemn. The ruling Jews held themselves in high esteem as sons of Abraham and inheritors of his covenant. Yet Jesus tells them in John 8:44–45,

“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.”

If the Pharisees understood what they were witnessing, they wouldn’t have questioned because they would have known that Jesus, the Ancient of Days manifest as the Son of Man standing before them, had all authority to forgive sin. The paralyzed man and his friends knew this – even if they didn’t fully comprehend it, their actions attest to their faith in Jesus’ authority. In this again we have to consider the scope of Jesus’ station – His power is not some illusion or placebo, He doesn’t hold authority if you believe in Him, but somehow lack if you don’t. His authority is entire and complete, capable of healing the flesh or the spirit, and shining in the darkness of the fallen world. His Light is true and His authority is real, whether those who look truly see and believe, or not.

• 3. The Miraculous Healer

“When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, ‘Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven you,” or to say, “Rise and walk”? 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.’ And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, ‘We have seen extraordinary things today.’”

Jesus doesn’t need to wait to hear the doubting questions or accusations of the Pharisees. Being fully God, He knows their thoughts and their hearts, He can perceive the lack of faith that lies at their core before they ever speak it. And so He asks a question – is it easier to tell someone that their sins are forgiven, or easier to tell a paralyzed cripple to stand up and walk? Now, the reality is that the greater barrier here is the sin. The medical advancement of first century Judea may not have had many options in trying to address a problem like paralysis, but they were just as utterly hopeless in the face of confronting the curse of sin as we are today. A man may try to help another walk, but there is nothing that one sin-stained man can do for another when we are all lost in the dark. Salvation comes from Christ and Christ alone – but this is not the obvious answer to Jesus’ question, certainly not in the moment. The matter of sin, terrible as it is, seems far less apparent than the issue of this man’s broken body – a body so incapable of moving that his friends had to carry him there on his bed and lower him through the ceiling to get him before Jesus. Comparatively speaking, telling this man to get up and walk seems like the truly impossible task. And so, given that these religious leaders have no understanding of their own desperate spiritual condition, Jesus does what is obviously impossible, that people might see His miracle work and know the authority that He holds. In John 10:37–39 Jesus says to this same class of religious leader,

“‘If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.’ Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.”

Later, speaking to the disciples in the upper room, Jesus says in John 14:10–11,

“Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.”

While addressing two very different audiences under two very different circumstances, Jesus says remarkably similar things. The reality is that His teaching alone should attest to who He is – Jesus is the incarnation of the Word of God, the Truth that pours from His mouth to strike down lies and deception, the Light that shines from Him in the darkness, it all screams to the reality that He is who He says He is. And yet, if that is too much to comprehend, He invites both His friends, and those who have made themselves His enemies to look at the works, look at the miracles and see that they validate His claim. God in His abundant mercy has given us, both in His Word, and in the observable reality around us, steps in which we may come to know who He is. Eternity may be too big a concept to properly wrap our minds around, yet God has given us a natural world that He created, which cries out to the Creator whose hand formed it from nothing. We may begin on spiritual milk, but we are grown toward eating solid food and coming to know Him more and more through the enlightening of the Spirit. And so with a word Jesus heals the paralyzed man, telling him to rise, take up his bed and go home. Not only is the man healed, he immediately obeys, taking up his bed and going home, glorifying God all the while. There are multiple examples throughout the gospels of the religious rulers ignoring, or even maligning Jesus’ miracle work, one of the most extreme examples being in Matthew 12:22–26,

“Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, ‘Can this be the Son of David?’ But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, ‘It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.’ Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?’”

However, this sort of outright denial doesn’t seem to be the response in today’s passage. We read that they all are seized with amazement at this undeniable miracle that has just been performed before them, as they glorify God and confess that what they have witnessed is extraordinary. We know from the rest of the gospel narrative that this position of awed reverence for Jesus is not maintained throughout His ministry by many of the crowd, and it’s certainly not the position of the majority of the ruling Jews. However, what we must understand is that whether every voice in the crowd is shouting “hosanna,” with joy and praise, or crying “crucify Him,” with hate in their hearts, Jesus remains the same. The gracious healing that He alone offers is just as within His power to give, His authority stands undiminished, the miracles that come from His hands alone unblemished. Jesus’ authority is absolute, unaffected by the world, and so we may take heart in our faith, knowing that we have all confidence in the One who heals us, not just today, but for all eternity.

Pastor Chris’ sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgXkKvtiCZQ