We Have Seen Strange Things!

Luke 5:12-26

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

12 And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."

13 Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And 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."

15 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. 16 So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.

Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralytic

17 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. 18 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. 19 And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.

20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."

21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins"—He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."

25 Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. 26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today!"

When the Lord and Christ Jesus worked marvelously, the onlookers bearing witness of His divine power and authority over nature as we know it could not grasp how He did it and could only say in awe and amazement, “We have seen strange things today!”  Jesus started by being seen by an outcast man with contagious leprosy.  That man saw Jesus and begged Him to make him clean (Leviticus 13:8) again to be healthy and acceptable to the community once more.  He fell prostrate on the ground in worship to demonstrate his absolute reliance on and faith in Jesus to make him well.  He also made it clear that he knew it was only if Jesus willed him to be clean could he be healed; he was in no position to demand or even expect to be well unless the Lord wanted him to be healed.  Many in our own time would do well to learn such humility and stop expecting Christ to heal them on their demand by inventing doctrine to support their desires in of according to the scriptures and God’s sovereign will and providence.  As soon as Jesus said that He was willing to make the man well that sick one was whole again to be accepted by others again and by God’s good grace, and chose to live an acceptable life in a response of immense gratitude.  He showed himself as commanded according to the law to be verified clean as a testimony to all and this proof enabled the account of the grace of God’s healing to spread quicker than leprosy could ever do through the community.  The next time Jesus did such a miraculous act of compassion was for a paralyzed man who had been brought by his friends to the Lord to be made whole again.  Unfortunately, the crowd was so thick that they could not carry him on his cumbersome stretcher to get to Jesus so the Master could touch him and make him well.  They improvised out of love and pulled the mud-covered roofing branches out of the way and lowered their friend by a rope before Jesus.  The Lord saw not just their faith but that also of the man willing to allow his faithful friends to risk dropping him or upsetting others in this manner of getting him to the Lord for His healing touch of grace.  Jesus saw their faith and the man’s trust of true faith and told him that He forgave that paralyzed man his sins.  Of course the religious scribes of the scriptures and the faithless Pharisees complained immediately about the authority of Jesus to forgive sins.  They said the divine Lord had spoken blasphemy against God (who is His Father!) for claiming to have the authority to forgive sin (Matthew 28:18) as only God can.  They were blind to not be able to see the finger of God working in and through the Messiah standing before them because they were blinded by their misunderstanding of God and the scriptures to know who He was and is.  Jesus as divine God could read their minds and asked them if their reasoning could answer if it was easier to accept the truth of His power and authority by seeing the man made well and walking away and then accept that He was also able to forgive sin.  Jesus demonstrated His power and authority by commanding the man to stand up, pick up the cot, and walk home.  That stopped their mouths as the man made whole praised God all the way home!  The onlookers could only stand in awe and say, “We have seen strange things today!” as they praised and glorified the Lord in fearful awe along with that man.  How much more should we praise God as He saves sinful men and women by this grace of absolute power and divine authority of grace?  The strangest thing of all is to grant His righteousness to sinners without demanding it be earned.