Receiving God's Wholeness - Part 3

DAILY BYTE

The focus of our reflections today will be on the part that we play in enabling others to receive the gift of God’s wholeness for their lives. A question for us to ponder is this:

Are we a help or a hindrance to those around us in their encounter of Jesus?

The story of the healing of the paralytic (Luke 5:17-26) can help us to reflect on this question. Consider some of the characters in the story:

1. There’s the paralytic man himself. Someone in desperate need of encountering Jesus but unable to do so on his own. As he lies there on his mat he is a powerful symbol of all those who are paralysed in some way, and whose paralysis prevents them from meeting Jesus:
   • Those paralysed by guilt and shame who stay away from church for fear of being judged and condemned.
   • Those paralysed by arrogance & pride who feel that faith is only for the weak.
   • Those paralysed by intellectual ideas that would deny the existence of God.
   • Those paralysed by grief or suffering that has caused them to believe that they have been abandoned by God.
    
2. There’s the crowd pressing in to hear Jesus. In their eagerness to see and hear Jesus, they do not realize that they are blocking the way for someone in great need. This crowd symbolises the church that has become so inward looking that it has forgotten its responsibility to open a way for those on the outside to come near. This happens whenever the traditions, practices and jargon of the church cater only for the initiated, and alienate those on the outside.
    
3. There are the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. They are suspicious of anything that does not conform to their interpretation of what is right and proper. They symbolise those who are so rigidly stuck in what is permissible, that they miss the occasion of the fresh wind of God’s Spirit blowing through our midst.
    
4. There are the friends of the paralytic man. They are simply focused on getting their friend to Jesus, and will do anything they can to achieve that, even if it means going through the roof. They are a wonderful example of those who recognise that the primary task of sharing the good news is being the kind of friends who simply enable others to encounter Jesus.  

PRAY AS YOU GO:

Lord, I’m not the only one in need of transformation and the gift of your wholeness. There are people all around me who are paralysed in many different ways, and are in desperate need of encountering Jesus. I consciously bring them before you now by name........ Help me to be a help, not a hindrance to them in finding you, and give me the courage, the determination and the grace to do everything that you ask of me in this regard. Remind me Lord that the work of healing and forgiveness and salvation is your responsibility, not mine. But keep me true to my own part I pray. Amen.

FOCUS READING:

Luke 5:17-26

One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven." The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."