God Cares
One of the most frequent complaints people have about government, or big corporations, or the very rich - those who have power and influence - they don't seem to understand or care about the needs or concerns of the average man. Now agree or disagree - that sentiment is nothing new.
There have always been people who feel that the powerful ruling class is out of touch with the common man. And it's easy to feel resentment for those 'above you' when you feel they don't understand or even care about your problems or daily trials. ...But have you ever had those feelings about God?
"Well, no - of course not - no 'good Christian' ever has doubts or questions about God and His authority..." It's normal to have doubts. When times are hard - and we've had plenty of those lately - do you feel like God doesn't seem to even hear your prayers? Sure, at times, it might feel like God doesn't care, or even understand your problems - but God does care. God does understand. And that's why He came in the flesh, in the person of Jesus.
There's a story recorded in scripture in three of the four Gospels - Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And I wanted to look at that passage from Luke 5:17-26 - but I want to look at it in a different way this morning. I always encourage you to open up your Bibles to see the context - and you can still look up Luke 5 in your Bibles, or phone or tablet - but I found a site that had videos to dramatize this passage. So I wanted to look at that while you might follow along...
Now, in the video - Did you notice how Jesus referred to Himself? What title did He use?
I. Son of Man
In this section of scripture, Jesus called himself the Son of Man. And let's go ahead and look at that again in Luke 5:24a (NIV)...
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...
I underlined the phrase... And we also see Him use that title in Matthew 8:20 (NIV)...
Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
And then again in Matthew 12:8 (NIV)...
For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.
Jesus is called "Son of Man" over eighty times in the New Testament. There's a reason for that title. The Jewish people studied scripture very closely. They had the books which are now referred to as the Old Testament. Of course they didn't call it that back then because there wasn't a New Testament - they were living that story. So they were very familiar with the title 'Son of Man' and would have recognized it as a reference to the prophecy of Daniel, from hundreds of years earlier. Let's look at Daniel 7:13-14 (NIV)...
In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. (14) He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
When Jesus called himself "Son of Man," He was making a clear reference to His identity as the promised Messiah and His authority. He didn't want anyone to miss that. But the phrase "Son of Man" also refers to the fact that Jesus shares in our humanity, that He is both fully God and fully human.
The Jews of Jesus' day of course expected their coming Messiah to be human. But Jesus surprised them by being more than just human - by being God in the flesh. Now my mind can't really fully understand how Jesus can be both fully human and fully God. But just because I can't understand something doesn't mean God can't do it.
So despite Jesus being fully God, possessing all of the power of our Supreme Creator - He was also fully human and experienced everyday life with its trials and frustrations and its pains. God does understand firsthand what it means to be hungry; what it means to be cold or tired, what it feels like to be lonely, what if feels like to work hard to make a living.
He experienced disappointment, rejection, betrayal, loss and grief. Jesus, as the 'Son of Man' understands our struggles much more than we tend to think at times... And there's yet another passage where we see the title 'Son of Man'.
Luke 19:10 (NIV)
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.
Jesus came to experience life as a man
to seek and save us. But Jesus didn't
come to force anyone to accept Him. So
while He came to seek us - we are also called to...
II. Seek Jesus
But this is not a 'you have to meet Jesus halfway' message. Jesus gave up the glory of Heaven, emptied Himself, came down as a baby and grew to be a man who gave His life for you. This is not about meeting halfway - Jesus did all the hard work here. But Jesus won't force anyone to respond to His love. You have to seek out Jesus; you have to come to Him. And many of you have experienced just that...
Jesus spoke in parables for much of His teaching so that only those who really wanted to know Him would find Him. In the account from Luke 5, the teachers of the Law knew all about God but they couldn't recognize their Messiah when He was right in front of them! Reading scripture is a very good thing and I always encourage it on a daily basis - but just knowing the Bible isn't the same as knowing Jesus. We need to seek Jesus! Let's go back to our story again in Luke 5:17-19 (NIV)...
One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. (18) Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus.
(19) When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
These men tenaciously sought out Jesus. They tore through a roof in the middle of Jesus' teaching. ...And from what we can read, it didn't seem like that bothered Jesus. He apparently stopped what He was doing and gave the paralyzed man His full attention. That's because these men weren't getting in the way of Jesus' mission - they were His mission. Jesus, the Son of Man, was infinitely approachable.
And in all these years, Jesus hasn't changed. The Son of Man is still infinitely approachable. Jesus will not turn away anyone who genuinely seeks Him out. But He also won't force Himself on you.
Is there something that's keeping you from tenaciously seeking Jesus? What might be keeping you at arms length? ...And the men who brought their friend to Jesus apparently came looking for one thing but received another. You see...
A. We need forgiveness
These men sought The Son of Man for one thing but got even more than they bargained for. Let's look again at Jesus' response to this situation...
Luke 5:20 (NIV)
When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."
A paralyzed man is lowered through a roof before Jesus. His unspoken request, and his obvious need, is to be healed. And notice again what Luke had just written in Luke 5:17b (NIV)...
And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick.
Jesus was fully capable of healing this paralyzed man. But when this man appears before Jesus, Jesus' first words aren't 'be healed' but 'your sins are forgiven'. This man may have thought his biggest need was to be healed. But the Son of Man knew he had a much greater need. Because Jesus was fully human, He completely understood the man's desire to walk again. But because Jesus is fully God, He understands that real life is bigger than just this!
And because the Son of Man had both compassion and understood the man's greatest need - He forgave his sins and healed him. Healing of physical pain and disease and disabilities is a huge benefit - in this life! But what's the point of physical healing here if you don't get to Heaven at the end of this life? Jesus met this man's needs completely!
We need forgiveness just like the man in this story. And of course we live in a time after Jesus gave His life on a cross and washed all of our sins away. We can respond to His sacrifice in baptism, we can accept His gift of grace - but do we take forgiveness for granted? Do I live in a way that shows gratitude for Jesus' sacrifice, or do I use it as an excuse to live how I want? ...Jesus doesn't force His grace on anyone.
Do you intentionally, daily seek the Son of Man as your only source of forgiveness and hope? - And there's one more thing that's important to note in this story...
B. Healing is for God's purposes
I'm not suggesting that the paralyzed man in the story didn't himself benefit from the healing - of course he did. And Jesus didn't grant healing begrudgingly - He did it freely out of love. But the healing in this story wasn't solely for this man's benefit... Let's look one more time at Luke 5.
Luke 5:21-26 (NIV)
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (22) Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? (23) Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?
(24) But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." (25) Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. (26) Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."
Now, since we didn't actually have cameras there to capture this story - we don't really know how the man himself responded when Jesus forgave his sins. But we do have recorded for us how the religious leaders of the day responded. They were thinking, "Who does this Jesus guy think He is?" And Jesus basically answered back: "I'll tell you who I am - I'm the Son of Man. I am The Messiah. I have both the authority to forgive sins, and the power to heal this man."
And then He did it. He told the man, "Get up, take your mat and go home." And the man stood up. Jesus used this opportunity to again reveal Himself as The Son of Man. Jesus demonstrated that He had the authority to forgive sins and the ability to heal completely. But I think there's something important here for us to understand. The Son of man came to seek and save the lost - not simply to grant physical healing to everyone.
Obviously Jesus wasn't opposed to healing people, but it wasn't the primary goal of His mission. Think of it this way - every single person we see healed in the New Testament, even Lazarus who Jesus personally raised from the dead - you can't get a much bigger healing miracle than that - but every single one that Jesus healed eventually died. Not a single one of them are alive with us here today.
Why? Was it because Jesus didn't really care about them? No. But any healing miracle that Jesus performed had a bigger purpose. It wasn't simply to make life nice and easy for the person with a disability or to take away everyone's pain - but Jesus had compassion and healed people to show God's power!
Jesus gave this man what He really needed by forgiving his sins; but then gave him what he wanted to show God's power, to give God glory, to show the religious leaders of the day and everyone there that Jesus was who He said He was - the Son of Man, The Messiah! Jesus used this healing for God's purpose! And the man went home praising God!
So What?
When it comes to why God chooses to heal some but appears not to heal others - we don't always get clear cut answers. How do we reconcile our faith in a God who can provide healing, but sometimes chooses not to.
It's not that God doesn't understand our pain. It's not that God doesn't care about our pain. In the person of Jesus, the Son of Man completely understands pain and suffering. But - if the man in the story had not been paralyzed - would his friends have had a reason to so aggressively seek out Jesus? ...We don't know for sure - but we do know that if this man had not been paralyzed his friends would have missed out on seeing firsthand the incredible miracle of his healing. And in seeing that miracle - do you have any doubt that their faith in Jesus was amazingly solidified at that moment?
Now, again, we have no way of knowing for sure - but we do know that God allowed this man to be paralyzed in this life, but then used this 'bad thing' as an opportunity for a miracle to reveal Jesus as the Messiah, to change peoples lives for eternity!
And someday, if we get to Heaven and bump into this man from the story, the man who suffered, who was paralyzed. If we could ask Him, "Do you resent God for allowing you to be paralyzed in the first place, for allowing such a 'bad thing' to happen to you?" How do you think he might respond as he stands before you in Heaven with his brand new immortal body? Do you think he'll feel cheated somehow that God used his very real pain to perform an eternal miracle? I sincerely doubt it.
For whatever reason, God allows pain in this life but uses it to cause us to seek Him. And in seeking Him we find everything we really need and more... Jesus came in the flesh to help us understand that HE understands the human condition. He sought us to bring salvation, forgiveness and eternal healing. And He wants us to take His message to those who need it!