... in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Through
the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us
and save us. Amen. Glory to You, our God, Glory to You.
O Heavenly King, the
Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things,
Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us
from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us
(three times).
Again He
entered Capernaum after several days; and it was reported that He was in the
house. Immediately, many were gathered
together, so that there was not enough room to receive them, no, not even
around the door: and He preached the Word to them.
Four came to
Him carrying, bringing one sick of the palsy.
When they could not come near Him because of the crowds, they dug up the
roof where He was: when they had broken it up, they let down the bed on which
the sick of the palsy lay.
When Jesus
saw their faith[2] (of the
four), He said unto the sick of the palsy, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
There were
certain scribes sitting there, who reasoned in their hearts, “Why does this man
speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins
besides God alone?”
Immediately,
when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned this way internally, He
said to them, “Why do you reason these things in your hearts? Is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, ‘Your
sins are forgiven;’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed, and walk?’ But, so you may know that the Son of Man has
power on earth to forgive sins, He says to the sick of the palsy, ‘I say to
you, Arise, take up your bed, and go your way to your house.’ ”
Immediately,
he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; so that they were
all amazed, and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this before.”
[1] There is a
direct connection between sin and sickness.
This case is evidently the specific sin of the paralytic that is the
cause of his illness.
In other cases the cause of sickness could be the specific sin
of the individual, the sin of others, or the original sin of all mankind. In this last case the sickness has no
assignable reason, but it exists for the Glory of God (John 9:1-3): in which case
the question of who sinned is irrelevant.
The Psalms repeatedly assure us that such afflictions draw us closer to
God: that is certainly the case here.
What is amazing in this passage is that the paralytic is
healed, is forgiven his sins, because of the faith of four other people, four
friends, who have brought him to Jesus, and not because of his own faith.
Dear Father, there are more than seven billion people in our
world, more than three hundred million people in our country, more than one
hundred thousand people in our town; as well as many family members, friends,
acquaintances, even casual acquaintances, and enemies. We bring all of these to You in faith seeking
Your healing and Your forgiveness of their sins. Nevertheless, Your will be done.
Dear Father, please inform each one of them about the gift of
the Holy Ghost; move in each heart, the desire to ask You for this magnificent
gift; and give the life giving power of the Holy Ghost to all who ask in
sincerity and truth. Nevertheless, Your
will be done.
Dear Father, do this because we have had the faith to bring
all of these to you in prayer. Nevertheless,
Your will be done.
[2] Our
generation has manufactured a new concept of faith: faith in faith. This or that person does not have faith
enough to be healed: it’s their fault that they are not healed. This is utter foolishness. The faith of the four friends motivated them
to carry the paralytic to Jesus, dig up the roof, and lower the pallet through
the hole in the roof: nothing more. Faith
is the substance of things hoped for (Hebrews 11:1); it always has this
substance with it; in this case the substance of the four is seen in their
actions related to Jesus: nothing more (Hebrews 11-12). Jesus’ faith, that the Father had appointed
Him to this service enabled Him to perform the miracles involved. Note that He had the power within Himself,
but His faith assured Him that, His will and His Father’s will, as well as the
will of the Holy Ghost were in perfect accord.
Our faith assures us that it is necessary to do something: then we, in
obedience, do it.
Jesus said, “If you have faith and do not
doubt … if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’
it will be done.” (Matthew 21:21-22;
Mark 11:22-23). This is not magic. This is a veiled reference to an historic event. Ezekiel, having faith to see the will of God,
prophesied about the destruction of Tyre (26:3-21). Nebuchadnezzar II came and completed part of this
prophecy (586-573). Tyre rebuilt itself
in an island fortress. In 332 BC,
Alexander the Great came to Tyre and besieged it again. His soldiers carried dirt and rocks from an
adjacent mountain to build a causeway out to the island of Tyre, and destroyed
it. Tyre was besieged again, and again,
and again: Macedonians (315-314 BC), Fatimids (996-998 AD), Crusaders
(1111-1112), Venetians (1124), Saladin (1187); long after Jesus spoke about the
meaning of faith. God promised to
obliterate Tyre, and God did exactly that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Tyre
Jesus’ message is simply this: if you are absolutely
confident that God wants you to move this mountain, start digging. If God wants it done, it shall be done. Let us put away this abuse of the meaning of
faith. God makes His will happen. Man, in faith, may understand a small part of
that will, and be allowed to participate in it.
Mary of Bethany understood, by faith, that Jesus was about to be crucified;
accordingly, she washed His feet with her tears and anointed Him for burial (Matthew
26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; Luke 7:36-50; John 12:1-8): it was simply the decent
thing to do. All of the Apostles heard
the same preaching that Mary heard. She
alone, sat at Jesus feet and paid attention.
She alone, believed.
Faith is not a magic formula, whereby we
conjure up miracles by our own power; that idea is demonic, witchcraft: we need
to abandon it. Faith always has
substance. If you have faith in God to
do something, go do it.
This is the principal difference between faith
and hope. Faith and hope are both
informed by the certainty that God does what He wishes in heaven and on earth
(Psalms 46:10; 58:10; 115:3; 2 Peter 3:9).
Faith sees how it can enter into the will of God. Hope does not see that it can do anything,
but is confident that God will act. Love
continues even though faith has faded, hope is dimmed, and death approaches (1
Corinthians 13). Hence, love is superior
to all.
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