I wish I had been there as a fly on the wall at the time of
Jesus. You had to be there to understand the excitement; the
pandemonium Jesus caused among the pastors, bishops and popes of the
day. You can cause no greater excitement than by doing the
impossible. That is precisely what Jesus did.
He set the ball rolling by healing a leper. Then he sent the
healed man to the religious establishment: “He charged him to tell no
one, ‘But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for
your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded.’
However, the report went around concerning him all the more; and great
multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their
infirmities. So he himself often withdrew into the wilderness.” (Luke
5:14-16).
Our Jesus was asking for trouble. Every leper in Israel had a
certificate of leprosy. Leviticus 13 establishes how to diagnose
leprosy. When the leprosy is confirmed, the leper is issued a
certificate which effectively ostracises him from the rest of
society. Leviticus 14 then establishes how to validate officially the
healing of leprosy. After the healing is certified, the healed leper is
required to make some sacrifices of thanksgiving.
No Jew had ever been healed of leprosy in Israel, so Leviticus 14
had never ever been put into effect before. Elisha healed Naaman of
leprosy; but Naaman was a gentile from Syria and not a Jew. As far as
the Pharisees were concerned, should a man with a certificate of leprosy
ever show up at the priesthood without any trace of leprosy, it can
only mean one thing: the Messiah has arrived. Imagine then their
surprise and consternation when they discovered that the man who healed
the leper was their arch-enemy and critic: Jesus of Nazareth.
As a result, Jesus’ ministry was immediately inundated by the
Pharisees and the teachers of the law. They came in droves from every
town in Galilee to see this man who has the power to heal a leper: “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).
Raising the stakes
Just think about this; you come to church one Sunday to discover
that all the seats have been taken by unbelievers; so you had to stand
outside. This is what happened in Jesus’ ministry as a result of his
healing a leper. It became standing-room only. Therefore, when they
brought a paralytic to him, there was no way for them to get to
him. They had to resort to the extreme action of removing the roof in
order to let the sick man down with a rope.
With all the Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, Jesus
created even more problems by saying to the paralytic: “Man, your sins
are forgiven you.” (Luke 5:20). The scribes and the Pharisees
were livid thinking: “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can
forgive sins but God alone?” (Luke 5:21). The answer was
obvious but they did not want to admit it. This man who forgives sins
is the same man who healed a leper. Therefore, this “obnoxious”
“offensive” Jesus, the man you love to hate, is the Messiah.
As I said, I wish I had been there. You had to be
there. Nevertheless, Luke managed to capture the moment vividly in the
scriptures. Jesus would not let up. He read their thoughts and asked
them provokingly: “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is
easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and
walk’?” (Luke 5:22-23).
Even me: I can answer that one. It is far easier to tell a
paralytic your sins are forgiven than to tell him “rise up and
walk.” If you tell him his sins are forgiven, nobody can tell if they
are forgiven or not. But if you tell him to rise up and walk everyone
can tell if you are fibbing. If the man does not rise up and walk, they
will know your words are worthless.
Boy, I really wish I had been there. Jesus then turned to the
paralytic and said; “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power
on earth to forgive sins, I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go
to your house.” (Luke 5:24). In short, Jesus decided to do the
more difficult task. Luke says of the paralyric: “Immediately he rose
up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his
own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified
God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things
today!” (Luke 5:25-26).
The overdrive
I think you can now begin to understand my insistence that
everybody must have known Jesus is the Messiah. Before they could
recover from the shock that Jesus healed a leper, he forgave a man his
sins. Before they could recover from the audacity of a man forgiving
the sins of a stranger, Jesus validated his authority to do so by
healing the man instantaneously of his paralysis. While they were still
reeling from all this; Jesus raised the stakes yet again.
Before they could decide what to do about the fact that the Messiah
who healed a man of leprosy was this ragamuffin called Jesus, Jesus
proceeded to heal ten men of leprosy in one go; all in one day: “Now it
happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of
Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him
ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their
voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” So when He saw them,
He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was
that as they went, they were cleansed.” (Luke 17:11-14).
Don’t miss the implications of all this and the complications Jesus
was bringing to the Jewish religious establishment. No leper had ever
been healed in Israel before Jesus broke the mould by healing a
leper. Now in one day, he healed ten. They had just finished
conducting investigations about the one healed leper, now they are
confronted with ten, and all from the same source: Jesus of Nazareth.
What are they going to do about this? The house of the Pharisees
was divided and therefore could not stand.(Matthew 12:25). Some
reached the obvious conclusion. Jesus is the Messiah. Others found the
truth too inconvenient. Jesus is the wrong Messiah.
Among the ranks of those who already admitted defeat was
Nicodemus. Although he would not yet openly identify with Jesus, he
came to see him by night to avoid detection. He said to him: “Rabbi, we
know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these
signs that you do unless God is with him.” (John 3:2).
But “Nicky,” Jesus is not just a teacher; Jesus is the Messiah.
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