Ben’s Healing School – S6

This week’s class begins with a brief introduction to Words of Knowledge. Next, we spend some time gleaning some wonderful truth from the day Jesus healed the Paralytic in His home town, Capernaum.

Words of Knowledge

Tonight before we feast one of my favorite encounters with Jesus, the Paralytic who was carried to the Master by his four friends, I want to spend a couple of minutes talking about Words of Knowledge, and stirring up an expectation (a.k.a. faith) for Words of Knowledge while we meet together.

In Paul’s instruction on spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 he mentions words of knowledge given by the Spirit.

…and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; – 1 Corinthians 12:8 NASB

Let’s put that in context…

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; – 1 Corinthians 12:4-8 NASB

This preamble to the list of gifts makes it clear that God is the giver of all spiritual gifts, and in each manifestation of any gift, God is the primary actor – it is “God who works all things in all.”

Some teach that we each get a spiritual gift, one and only one, and we get it till we die. But this sounds more to me like God, through the Spirit in each of us, manifests various giftings or various manifestations of the Spirit depending on the need at the moment, and all in accordance with His will.

So, I have seen many times during in-person gatherings, where the Spirit moves through words of knowledge as people make themselves available to be used in that way. Often they will end in healing for others in the group.

Now, because some big-name healing ministers do this in their meetings, and these meetings are broadcast far and wide, the lost love to mock this. Benny Hinn will stand up and say something like, “someone is being healed of cancer right now,” and scoffers will mock. But we are not scoffers, but believers. I’ve seen it time and time again and moved in it myself at times. God will give you a glimpse of something. Or maybe you’ll see a body part, or even feel an odd pain in your own body, and know that God wants to heal something. So when you share that word of knowledge, the person in the gathering who has it will know that God sees them and knows their pain and wants to heal them right now. It’s really fun because it stirs up faith in the one who’s struggling and in the one who stepped out with the word.

So, I want to make sure we make time for the Spirit to move in our meetings. The last thing I want to have is Holy Spirit proof meetings. We must let Him in. We must make Him feel welcome, and give Him the platform. And often this is a method He uses where there is faith for it. My heart tonight, and going forward is to give as much time and space to the Holy Spirit to move among us as possible. 

We also want to be an extremely safe place for people to “practice” spiritual gifts. The Holy Spirit has got lots of experience with all of the gifts and knows just how they operate. But not so with us. We are all in different places in terms of experience, and any of us who have moved in Spiritual gifts in the past, have missed it more than once. So Don’t Be Afraid to give it a try. God doesn’t use the talented, He uses the available.

The Paralytic

We’re looking at the miracles of Jesus and observing what’s going on in each one. We’re looking for faith, and how it works. We’re observing how Jesus ministers healing, and how people who He touched receive healing. Tonight we come to the story of a paralyzed man who is carried to Jesus by four friends.

The event is in three of the gospel accounts, Matthew 9, Mark 2, and Luke 5. Mathew is the shortest telling, and pretty much all that he tells is included in Mark, so let’s start with Mark, and then we’ll come back and read Luke last since it holds one detail that is a game-changer for me.

Background

This is a few weeks into Jesus’ ministry. After His baptism and temptation in the wilderness, He went to Nazareth, where He had been raised, and reading from Isaiah 61, made His declaration, that He was the Messiah they had been waiting for. 

“THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” – Luke 4:18-21 NASB

Then He headed back to Capernaum which was His home base for His ministry years. From this headquarters, He traveled around preaching and healing. He was just coming back from a trip across the lake, where He had spent several days after setting the demoniac free and flooding the Sea with bacon.

We pick up here – a few weeks into His public ministry. Let’s read staring in Mark 2:1

When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins“–He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.” – Mark 2:1-12 NASB (Emphasis mine.)

His House

Interestingly, Mark uses language that almost sounds like this was Jesus’ own house. The original amplified version suggests it was probably Peter’s house, but the text just tells us He was “back home.” Was it His own house – maybe with a carpentry shop on the side? Or did He just live as a guest in the homes of others?

At one point in his ministry, (right before this actually) He tells a potential follower that He has no place to lay His head. This was while he was across the Sea of Galilee, so it’s hard to tell if He simply had no place over there, or if he always went around camping in the woods as depicted in the TV series, The Chosen.

What we do know is that Capernaum was Jesus’ base of operations, at least for the early years of his ministry. We don’t really know when He moved there from Nazareth, but it’s clear that this was “home” for Him. Perhaps He only moved there when He began His ministry since it seems as though all the local fishermen didn’t know Him prior to His launch party.

The flow in Mathew has Him starting out at Peter’s house in Capernaum, then heading over to the other side of the lake and ministering int he area of the Gadarenes. Then, several days later, they headed back to Capernaum and this is where we find Him today.

Speaking the Word to them

Remember, this was His pattern. He would teach, preach, and heal. Let me share a few scriptures that demonstrate this pattern. 

Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. – Matthew 4:23 NASB (Emphasis mine.)

In Jesus’ ministry healing comes as a result of the people hearing most of the time. Especially when He was ministering to the multitudes, it seems as though this is His pattern.

The Psalmist prophesies of Jesus’ coming with this verse,

He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions. – Psalm 107:20 NASB

Paul reinforces this pattern in Romans,

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. – Romans 10:17 NASB

But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. – Luke 5:15 NASB

who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. – Luke 6:18 NASB

“Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.” – Isaiah 6:10 NASB

Remember our FF Bosworth quote, “Faith begins where the will of God is known.” And the will of God communicated to us through the Word of God.

Seeing their faith

Whose faith? Was it just the four friends, or does the fact that the man let them lower him down through a hole in the roof pretty clearly militate for him being full of faith too. He may have been the instigator of the whole road trip. Either way – all five of the characters demonstrate great faith. 

The paralytic’s own faith is clearly demonstrated in the fact that He did not argue with Jesus when the Master told Him “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” A lesser faith would have explained why He could not comply. But our protagonist simply obeys. 

That, my friend, is the mark of faith. Faith does not look at the circumstances. Faith obeys in the face of the raging contradiction of the facts.

Sins are forgiven – Sozo

In this healing, Jesus links these multiple aspects of our salvation. We see them linked and compared throughout scripture, and it’s clear that Jesus’ ministry prioritized both healing and forgiveness, fully and equally. We’ve looked at these descriptors of Jesus’ ministry a few times now, but remember in Matthew’s overview of Jesus’ activities he said.

Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. – Matthew 4:23 NASB (Emphasis mine.)

The preaching of the gospel of the kingdom was always accompanied by healing in Jesus’ ministry. So much so that the scribes and Pharisees heard that He was in town and showed up at the house in hopes of finding fault.

The Word for salvation in the New Testament Greek is Sozo – and it is used in the gospels to point to salvation as we use it today. The gospel writers used for physical healing and deliverance from demons as well. Sozo even is used in the raising of the dead. NASB translates it “Made Whole” much of the time.

We’ll spend a full week on the concept of Sozo in the near future.

Visible vs Unseen Evidence

Why do we believe that our sins are forgiven, when there is nothing to see. When we step into a relationship with God, what happens? Is there a visible manifestation that accompanies salvation? Yes. Do repentance and rebirth look like something? Like the manifestation of salvation takes time, so the manifestation of healing can take time. When a man is soundly saved, sometimes there is an immediate deliverance from some sin or failing, but full sanctification is a life-long work. We go from glory to glory, evermore resembling the Lord Jesus Christ. We are transformed into the image of the Lord Jesus as our mind is renewed, day by day.

Some of the scribes

Luke starts his telling of this event with these Religious leaders, so let’s pop over and read his account now. You can add to your notes, anything new that pops out this time.

One day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? “But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”–He said to the paralytic–“I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.” Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. They were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.” – Luke 5:17-26 NASB (Emphasis mine.)

Pharisees and teachers of the law

So Luke tweaks it just a bit and lets us know that the house had no shortage of religious leaders. Not only were the scribes there (a.k.a. teachers of the law) but there were Pharisees too. And they were not just the local Capernaum wiggidy wigs, but they were there from every village in Galilee and Judea, and even the wiggidiest of wigs, the leaders from Jerusalem itself. Let me tell you, this was a house full of religious leaders.

What were they doing there? Where they there to hear and be healed? Where they there to submit to the teachings of this new young rabbi?

No – they were there because news of Jesus’ ministry had gotten right to the heart of their religious machine, and it was a big deal. They needed to figure out what to do with this Jesus. 

the power of the Lord was present

This is striking. These skeptics are taking up all the space in the house, and those who needed healing were blocked from gaining access to Jesus. I want to tell you that every time Jesus taught and preached, it was supposed to be one of those, “he healed them all” moments. When he taught, the power of God showed up to heal. And this was no exception. But in this case it was only one man who went away healed. The religeous leaders, and all under their influence left with hard hearts and broken bodies, just the way they came in.

Notice. These people were hearing the gospel message from the greatest preacher who ever lived. If anyone had a grasp on the Word of God it was the Word made Flesh. Jesus himself could not bring these men to a place where they could have their sins forgiven or their bodies healed. 

Be careful little ears how you hear, lest you go away unchanged.

not finding any way

But faith…
Faith pushes past dead religion.
Faith ignores the naysayers.
Faith overcomes obstacles.
Faith breaks through barriers
Faith prevails where it seems impossible.

set him down in front of Him

This is a great plan. Do you have sick friends and loved ones? Get them to the feet of Jesus. Encourage their faith with the Word of God and the power of the testimony, and let them hear and be healed.

Are you in need of healing? Spend your time with people of faith. Those who will stir you up and carry you to Jesus if need be.

That’s all we have time for in this session. We’ll pick up with the Paralytic next week.

These stories are so rich and full

Thanks for coming by today

Walk in faith today and see what God will do.

Blessings, 

Ben