Does Anyone Know a Good Roofer?

Matthew 9:1-17

Jesus may have been raised in Nazareth and born in Bethlehem and killed in Jerusalem, but Capernaum was His base of operations in Galilee and during His earthly ministry. The last time He visited, all manner of sick were brought to Him for healing (Mark 1:33-34).

■ Concerned Supporters

At the time of this visit to Capernaum a paralytic is brought before Jesus to be healed. His four friends were deeply concerned. However, due to the crowd the four friends carrying him cannot bring him through the door. So they must find another way to get their friend to Jesus. Would it not be great if those who want to help and support us were concerned enough to find a way to get us to Jesus even if there were obstacles in the way. Will we bring others to Jesus due to our concern for their souls even when faced with hindrances?

The friends were not just concerned; they were determined and resourceful. They could have said, “Oh, well tomorrow is another day. Perhaps, we will get to Jesus earlier and find help for our friend.” Neither were they the type who said, “we will pray for you” and leave it at that. Instead, they put their back and brains into it. They do not simply return him to the city gate, where he would have begged for his daily sustenance.

They went up on the housetop and were going to lower the paralytic down through the roof. William Barclay describes the average home of the time: “The Palestinian house was flat-roofed. The roof had only the slightest tilt, sufficient to make the rain water run off. It was composed of beams laid from wall to wall and quite a short distance apart. The space between the beams was filled with close packed twigs, compacted together with mortar and then marled over. It was the easiest thing in the world to take out the packing between two beams. In fact, coffins were very often taken in and out of a house via the roof.”

While they were up on the roof digging a hole. Jesus was down below teaching the crowd. Among the audience were the scribes and Pharisees who had front row seating. First, they heard the sound of the men moving around up on the roof. Then came the sound of scraping and digging as pieces of the roof and ceiling started to fall on the curious spectators below. The annoyed religious leaders were shaking the debris off their robes. As the bed descends from above the crowd scatters to safety. Perhaps Peter’s mother-in-law was standing there looking up yelling at them, “Okay, now who is going to pay of the repairs to my roof.”

Jesus noticed their faith. They had an active faith which did not stop until they achieved the goal of reaching Jesus. Christ was the only answer to the paralytic’s problem. They had a fellowship of faith allowing them to work together to get him to Jesus.

What if all personal evangelists had this kind of faith, determination, and love as demonstrated by these four who were supporting a crippled man who could not support himself. Perhaps more like them are needed to bring those paralyzed by sin to Jesus. Willing to find a way to get them to Him instead of finding a plethora of excuses. Those who will love the lost enough to tear through the roof if necessary. After all “God so loved the world that he made the ultimate sacrifice for us (John 3:16). He dug, so to speak, though the roof of the world and lowered his Son down so Jesus could die for our sins” (Hughes 175).

These men labored to bring the man to Jesus without regard to reward. Other than Jesus’ taking note of their faith, they are not praised. Their actions alone speak volumes about their compassion and conviction. Perhaps, they were the ones who were going to pay for and repair the roof.

■ Crippled Sinner

The man was suffering from a form of palsy resulting in a gradual paralysis. Palsy is the Greek word paralytidos from which the English word “paralytic” is derived. Palsy is an abbreviation of the word “paralysis.”

Jesus tells him, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you” (Matt. 9:2b). Perhaps, the man felt a burden of guilt or embarrassment. Crippled bodies sin. After all sin begins not in the hands and legs but in the heart.

Does the fact Jesus forgives the man and then heals him prove that his sickness is linked in some way with his personal sin? It is true that some have brought upon themselves illnesses and injuries due to their sinful lifestyle. Some of the Jews of the day would have claimed the man suffered physically because of his own sinfulness (John 9:2). Just as Job’s friends attributed his suffering to his sin. The Babylonian Talmud claimed, “the sick man recovers not form his sickness until (God) has forgiven all his sins” (Nedarim 41a). Jesus did not attribute the paralysis to evil in his life. Men suffer because human sinfulness is generally in the world.

Jesus is not demonstrating a promise of physical healing for all those who receive forgiveness. The Health/Wealth gospel claims if one is a faithful follower of Jesus, they were be prospered in material wealth and physical health. The New Testament makes no such promise.

Notice when Jesus heals the man, He commands him to do three things: 1) arise; 2) take up bed; 3) and go into thine house. He obeys. And while obeying he glorifies God for the gifts of both walking home and walking in fellowship with God. Certainly, this is the only way to travel home.

■ Charitable Savior

Although the most noticeable need of the crippled man being lowered through the roof was his palsy, Jesus focuses on that which was not so visible: the sinful condition of the man’s soul. At first Jesus remarks might seem cruel. Here four men bring a man in obvious physical need and Jesus decides to deal with the greater, deeper need first. The greatest problem facing every man and woman is their sin and the greatest need is salvation through Divine forgiveness. Jesus did not come to heal the sick. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Mark 2:17).

In truth all of Jesus’ miracles in one way or another point to the spiritual needs of man. Healing the body demonstrates Jesus’ power and man’s need for the healing of the soul. Jesus proved He was the only one who could do both. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Peter proclaimed to the Jewish council, “nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

■ Critical Scribes

The critics of Jesus were composed of scribes and pharisees. The scribes were men who copied the Scriptures and preserved them. Their job resulted in a great knowledge of the Scriptures. This enabled them to teach the people. The pharisees were a group of men numbering about six thousand at this time in Palestine according to Josephus. Their name comes from the Hebrew word perushim. They are the “separated ones.” They would strive to be holy and separated from the Greco-Roman culture and true to the Law of Moses. They have gathered to watch Jesus who is a growing threat to their leadership and control and influence over the Jewish people.

The scribes and pharisees became more and more critical of Jesus. They accused Him of having fellowship with publicans and sinners, violating the traditions, violating the Sabbath Day, casting out demons by the power of the devil, being demon-possessed, a winebibber and a drunkard, and here they are about to accuse Him of blasphemy.

Although there was standing room only, they were sitting. They were ready to criticize Jesus the moment they found anything they could disagree with about His teachings. They are the self-appointed investigative committee predisposed to object in their hearts to anything they found offensive.

Nonetheless their accusation of blasphemy would be accurate and justified, if they assume that Jesus was a mere man and not God incarnate. After all, men can forgive offense against themselves by another, but only God can forgive sins men.

The Jews defined three levels of blasphemy. 1) One blasphemed God by speaking evil of His law as Stephen and Paul (Acts 21;27,28). 2) To slander, speak evil of, or curse God Himself is to blaspheme Him (Lev. 24:101-6; E. 20:7). 3) One can blaspheme by usurping the role of God and act as if one were God. This 3rd level is Jesus’ blasphemy in the eyes of the scribes and pharisees.

If guilty of blasphemy Jesus could be stoned according to the Law of Moses. Blasphemy was a capital crime punishable by stoning (Lev. 24:10-23). If Jesus is a blasphemer, he could not be just a good man but a fake and liar. He could not be a true prophet. He could not be the sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Today, there are preachers and denominational priests who claim the authority to forgive sins against God by succession through the apostles. The authority to pronounce absolution has never been given to men. To do so is a true case of blasphemy. If these men can forgive sin, then they need to prove it by healing the sick.

■ Cognizant Seer

A seer is one who has supernatural insight. In Jesus’ case, He was cognizant, or aware, of the thoughts of the scribes and pharisees. Only God can read the thoughts of man.  By knowing the unspoken thoughts of the enemies of truth, Jesus was able to speak directly to their criticisms before they were verbalized. This not only proves His deity, since only God is omniscient, but allows Him to deal with the evil thoughts.

■ Called “Son of Man”

Jesus describes himself as the “Son of man” in this healing. He identifies himself as a man and the term connects himself to those men who were prophets. The phrase was used to refer to Ezekiel over eighty times. The phrase is used by Daniel and applied to the coming Messiah (Dan. 7:13, 18). It is used over eighty times in the Gospels as a messianic title to connect the humanity of Jesus with His divine mission for God. It compliments His other title “Son of God” (Matt. 27:43; Luke 22:70; John 5:25; 9:35; 10:36; 11:4) which speaks to His deity.

■ Confirming Signs

Knowing their thoughts, Jesus is able to provide proof that He is God who can forgive sin. He asked them which would be easier to say “your sins are forgiven” or “raise up and walk.” The answer is quite obvious. Forgiving of sins is not physically observable. Nor can one weigh a sinful soul and compare it with the weight of a soul that has been forgiven. Of course, it is easy to just say either. But if the physical manifestation of a supernatural event is verified, then the spiritual event is proven. “If someone couples the forgiveness of sins, which is invisible and unseen, to physical healing, which is both visible and verifiable, and then actually performs the healing, the claim is substantiated” (Boice148). Therefore, both are impossible for a mere man to do, even if it is easy for a mere man to say.

Jesus’ miracle of healing is undeniable proof. The man was completely and instantaneously healed. There was no need for weeks of physical therapy or the man needing to regain strength enough to carry the bed or learn to walk. Although the proof is solid, all men still have the right to reject the proof. Of Jesus’ detractors it is said, “but although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him” (John 12:37).

Jesus power to do miracles proves His authority to heal the soul. When He brings light to the eyes of the blind, He shows His power to remove the darkness blinding the soul. When He cleansed the lepers of their physical spots, He proves His power to remove the sin stains from the soul.

This is only one of three recorded occasions where Jesus forgave sins (Luke 7:48; 23:43). Jesus’ authority to forgive sin proves His deity. Supernatural claims demand supernatural evidence. To claim to be Superman requires a man of super strength and abilities to support the claim. Jesus forgave and Jesus healed, therefore Jesus is God. He can do it on earth by the same authority by which forgiveness takes place in Heaven.

■ Captivated Spectators

Bengel wrote, “The bed had borne the man, now the man was bearing the bed; and the crowd once blocking up his path when he was carried to the house, now makes a way for him to walk out with a cleansed soul and a thoroughly healed body.” The Gospel of Luke informs us of the crowd’s response to this healing: “And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, ‘We have seen strange things today!’” (Luke 5:26).

There was a three-fold response. First, they were “amazed.” This term is from the Greek ekstasis from which the English terms “ecstasy” and “ecstatic” are derived. They were in a state of ecstacy over what they had witnessed. Jesus forgave a man, He challenged the scribes and pharisees by reading their minds, and healed the paralytic. Second, they glorified God. Third, they were “filled with fear.” The term fear is from the Greek phobos from which the English “phobia” comes. They were fearful because: “We never saw anything like this!” (Mark 2:12).

The advertising slogan for the Louisiana tourist industry is, “Come as you are. Leave different!”  The paralytic arrived through the roof as a sinful cripple and left leaping for joy carrying his bed as a forgiven man.

Which would he appreciate more? The body which was healed or the soul whose sins have been forgiven? One day his body would grow old and wither. Again, he may not be able to walk without assistance as when he was a cripple. And finally he would die. But he would not have to die crippled by sin. He would be free from sin throughout all eternity. In addition, one day he would have a resurrected body free from all pain and decay.

Regardless of your physical state all sinners can obey the gospel and receive the promise of Jesus: “Your sins are forgiven.”

– Daniel R. Vess