The Story of the Paralyzed Man According to St. Luke
In the Gospel of St. Luke 5:17-26, we see the story of Jesus healing the paralytic man. This account has so many factors that need to be taken into account:
Faith of a paralytic man’s friends
Persistence due to love of a paralytic man’s friends
The strict rigidly of the supposed “righteous”
Jealousy among the “righteous”
Healing of a sickness and/or paralysis
First and foremost, we see the faith of the paralytic man’s friends. Just like the woman who was bleeding for 12 years and had the faith that she could be healed if she touched the cloak of Christ, the friends of this paralytic man knew that if the man were simply placed at the feet of Christ, he would be healed. This is the faith of a mustard seed.
Christ preached in the Gospel of St. Mathew 17:20: “Truly I [Christ] tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move…” Thus, with this faith the man’s friends brought the paralytic man to Christ to move the mountain of paralysis.
Indeed, here – we see that faith moved the mountain.
I have always wondered about intercessory prayer – why is it needed? Why do we need to pray for others and other countries? Does God not know to help them already? God does. But, God may have placed these other people and countries in our hearts and lives for us to prove to Him – and to ourselves – our faiths as small as mustard seeds.
When we ask the blessed Theotokos and all the other blessed saints (living and deceased) to pray for us, we are like the paralytic man, putting our lives into the hands of others – in order to be taken to Christ. Thus, we find ourselves putting our lives into the hands of those stronger than us and with more faith.
This does not ever mean that we cannot go to Christ ourselves. We can, we should, and we must go to Christ ourselves. However, sometimes it is easier to reach Christ with the help of others such as our (living) friends and the ever-benevolent saints.
The paralytic man was able to reach Christ, not only because of his friends – but because he, himself also wished to be taken to the one who could heal him.
We also see in this story – the scribes and Pharisees murmuring about blasphemy. Their main problem is that there is a new power (Jesus) in town who is swaying the people away from them. They do not want the paralytic man healed if Jesus is going to heal him. Their act of piety and righteousness makes them outcast Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God and the Only Begotten Son of God, and thus God Himself.
Another topic that needs to be addressed the forgiving of sins to the healing of the man. In St. Luke 5:23, Christ asks, “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’?” Jesus says this because He has perceived the thoughts of the scribes and Pharisees. Whenever I read or heard this passage before, I always thought it was harder for Christ to tell the man to rise and walk since this is the miracle. However, right now – I believe that I was wrong.
It is definitely harder to say, “Your sins are forgiven you”. In fact, Christ only tells the man the second part, “Rise up and walk”, in order to prove that He has said and meant the first part. Only when the man’s sins were forgiven would he have been healed. The hard part is to forgive the sins.
Think about it – is it not harder to forgive someone who has deeply hurt you than to do something good for that person? We can do good things for people who we have not forgiven, but we find it difficult to actually forgive them. Doing any sort of sin deeply hurts God. Thus, Christ sets an example for us – we need to forgive the sins of those who hurt us.
The last part of this story is the glorification of God. The healed man, in addition to everyone who witnessed the miracle glorified God. When our sins are forgiven, or when we see the sins of our dear brother or sister are forgiven – it is a wonderful, joyous occasion. It is an occasion to rejoice and glorify God.
You healed the paralytic man who was lowered to your feet by his loving friends. You saw the love, faith, and persistence of the man’s loved ones and because of the faith of his friends You forgave the paralytic man and thus healed him. Jesus, please heal our loved ones who we pray for tirelessly. See our faith and use it to forgive and heal those that we love, but may be spiritually, emotionally, or physically paralytic.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit we pray,
