The Healings of Jesus I: The Paralytic

As many of you know, I bring a weekly message of faith and healing. Often, I repeat truths throughout my blogs and videos. This is because faith doesn’t come by one hearing but by continual hearing of God’s Word. Repetition helps faith!

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Rom 10:17 NKJV

Anointed preaching and teaching of the Word are what set the stage for the power of God to manifest. Jesus promised this in Mark 16:20: He said that when the Word is taught, He will confirm it with signs following. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus first taught the Word of God, and then people received their healing.

So, I want to teach from some of the healings in Jesus’ ministry. These true accounts offer us tremendous insight into how we can receive divine healing for ourselves. The examples instruct us!

Today let’s look at Mark’s great account of Jesus healing a paralytic.

And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Mark 2:1-2 NKJV

People filled the house to overflowing because they all wanted to hear what Jesus was preaching: the Word.

Luke’s account then gives us additional information.

Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. Luke 5:17 NKJV

Here we see that the crowd included religious leaders and educated teachers of the law, and that they traveled from every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. Among this large group were some who only wanted to catch Jesus in what they thought was error in His teaching.

But notice that despite the bad motives of some in the group, the power of the Lord was still present to heal. God desired that all who were diseased would receive healing—no matter who was listening.

Also, the reason the power of God was present to heal is because Jesus was evidently teaching on healing. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that preachers will always get what they preach! Jesus’ teaching of the Word set the stage for what came next:

Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. Mark 2:3-4 NKJV

Now, notice the important details here:

            - The man and his friends did not linger passively on the property, merely hoping to eventually get a glimpse of Jesus.

- When the man, who was most likely a quadriplegic, and his friends could not get near Jesus, they did not give up, turn around, and go home. 

            - The man’s friends decided to carry him up to the roof of the house! How many paralytics would let their friends do that? How many friends would persist with such determination? Nowadays we have trouble getting people with far less serious conditions to come to a comfortable church to hear and be healed. By contrast, the paralytic and his friends meant business.

            - Once up on the roof, the friends broke open a hole large enough to lower their friend down through. They were willing to deal with the consequences of damaging someone else’s property.

We can learn so much from this account. For one thing, everyone needs FAITH friends—people who will stand and believe with us, no matter what the sacrifice. I heard the story of a few preachers and their wives who traveled 300 miles to pray with another preacher and his wife, who was dying in the last stages of cancer. These friends prayed for two days and nights, sleeping only four hours. On the third day, the woman was raised up completely healed!

Few people are willing to sacrifice to that extent, to push past every hindrance of Satan. Instead, many people stop believing and pursuing healing when symptoms linger or circumstances get tough. Some of the most amazing testimonies I’ve heard were from people who were very diligent about receiving their answer.

Another point we learn is that faith can be seen! Faith must have corresponding actions for it to be effective. This man’s corresponding action was to let his friends carry him up to a rooftop and then lower him in front of Jesus. He could have refused out of fear or embarrassment, but instead he demonstrated his faith with action.

What else do we learn from this account? Before Jesus healed the paralytic, He addressed forgiveness of sins. Physical and spiritual sickness are connected.

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” Mark 2:5 NKJV

This tells us that the paralytic must have had sin in his life that would have kept him from receiving his healing.

For many who are seeking healing, the first steps may be to ask for forgiveness of sin and to turn away from it. If a person in sin receives healing, yet doesn’t change his sinful actions, he will end up losing his healing.

We also see in this story that Jesus is so good that He offers us whatever is necessary to enjoy a blessed life.

And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” — He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”  Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” Mark 2:6-12 NKJV

Religious demons will never be happy about what God has to offer you.

But don’t let that stop your faith from receiving! You have God and His Word to stand on!

I love Jesus’ response to the religious question. He said, “Which is easier?” It is just as easy to receive healing as to receive forgiveness. They were both paid for at the same time. Long before Jesus was born, Isaiah prophesied about this package deal He freely offers us:

But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we are healed.  Isa 53:5 NKJV

This paralytic was no longer paralyzed! And his sins were forgiven!

Finally, we see from this account that all who saw what happened were amazed and glorified God! When we receive our healing, those who know us will be amazed, and they will give glory to God.

So, today, hear the Word being taught, determine to receive your healing, and don’t let any obstacle stand in your way.

I highly encourage you to get a copy of my new daily devotional, Healing Nuggets: 31 Days of God's Word for Health, Wholeness, and Peace, to help you meditate day and night. I believe it will be a blessing to your life.

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