Luke 5:17-39 ~ I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home

Luke 5:17-39

17 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. 18 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, 19 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. 20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”

21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24 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.” 25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. 26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good [better].’”

There is an energy to the 5th chapter of Luke. Jesus knew what He was doing. He moves with certainty. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law debate and grumble endlessly. Jesus did not take the time to finesse the Pharisees into agreeing with Jesus' healing from God. Jesus is busy doing His Father's business. Jesus walked past Levi and asked Levi to follow Him. The Pharisees are puzzled why John the Baptist's disciples fast, pray, but do not have this deliberateness, this directness of Jesus and want to understand the difference.

It is interesting they see extraordinary events, but cannot comprehend Jesus.

So many of the paintings, particularly paintings of Jesus painted in the last century, portray Jesus as a man of intimate conversation. He took His time when the crowd wanted to stone the woman caught in adultery, in fact, He deliberately waited for the blood fever in the crowd to become moral, reasoned thinking. John ends the Gospel of John by explaining much more of Jesus occurred than books could hold. Jesus' longest conversations seem to be the hours He spent in prayer.

Jesus willingness to spend hours in prayer is More Good News for us. The gospels record Jesus as getting to the point in conversation. Yet we see Him spend time with His Father, for hours. Just as Jesus was always willing to give His time, His patience to the needs of the daughter of the Synagogue ruler. His time to Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. His patience for the woman caught in adultery. Forgiveness for the frightened woman who had reached out to touch the fringe of His garment. Patience and love to Peter for forsaking Him 3 times.

Let the energy of Jesus in the 5th chapter of Luke guide your time in prayer with Father God. The willingness to heal, to redeem is swift. Just like the Father running to His prodigal son. Jesus, our elder brother, knows His Father's Love.

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