Miracles Four

In Luke chapter four Jesus receives a less than warm welcome  in His home town of Nazareth.
"Truly I say to you," He comments in verse 24, "no prophet is welcome in his home town."
The Master goes on to say things  that enrage  the people in  the synagogue, and they attempt to kill Him.  Of course, it is not yet  time for His death according to God's plan, so He walks through their midst and goes His way.
After this incident, the Lord seems to adopt Capernaum as His home. Some of the apostles, including Peter, are natives of this town.
It is while He is in Capernaum that four men try to reach Him with a friend who is paralyzed.  When they find that they cannot enter the house because of the great multitude, they go to the roof where they remove some of the tiles and lower the friend on his pallet with a rope.
"My son," Jesus addresses the paralytic in Mark 2:5, "your  sins are forgiven."
"Who is this man who speaks blasphemies?" the scribes and Pharisees wonder to themselves in the account in Luke 5:21.  "Who can forgive sins, but God alone?"
For once this group is right.  At least the question is right.  It is their conclusion that is wrong.  No one but God can forgive sins.  But  it is incorrect to assume that Jesus is not God and therefore cannot  forgive sins.  It is more correct to assume that,  if  Jesus  is  really able  to forgive sins, then He must be God.  The difficult part  is  finding out whether or not He really can forgive sins.
"Why are you reasoning in your hearts?" the master inquires in verses 22 and 23.  "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins have been forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?"
These men must have their minds on something else, because the  first clue about the identity of Jesus should come from the fact that He is able to know what they are thinking.  Jesus does this on other occasions,  too, but they never seem to catch on.
The question that Jesus asks is a valid one.  It is relatively simple to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' since there is no clear way to check  to find out whether the forgiveness has taken place.  It is much easier  to determine whether or not a healing has occurred.
Once again, the Lord is using the occasion of a physical  healing  to teach a spiritual lesson.  If He is able to accomplish something  that we can verify, then it is easier to believe that He can do  that which we cannot check.
Is Jesus able to forgive sins?  Let's see if He is able to heal  the man.
"But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins," the Lord continues in Luke 5:24, "I  say  to you, rise, and take up your stretcher and go home."
The man gets up at once, picks up his bed and goes home,  glorifying God.
On an earlier visit to Capernaum, Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law of a fever.  As soon as Jesus touches her the fever leaves and she begins to wait on Him.
One of the things we learn from this short account is that we,  like Peter's mother-in-law, should be eager  to serve Jesus as soon as He touches us with His healing hand.
The other thing that we learn is that Peter was married.
"Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife," Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 9:5, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?"  Cephas, of course, is Peter.
This would have to be the case, since 1  Peter  5:1  identifies  this apostle as an elder.  And 1 Timothy 3:2 and Titus  1:6  require  that an elder be married.  Remember that a careful study of Acts 20:17-28  reveals that the terms, "elder," "bishop"  and "pastor"  all  refer  to the same office.
What does 1 Peter 5:1-3 tell us about Peter's relationship with  the others who serve in the same office?
"Therefore I exhort the elders among you," the apostle writes,  "as your fellow-elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of  God; and not for sordid gain, but with great eagerness; nor yet as  lording  it over those allotted to your charge, but proving  to be examples  to  the flock."
Was Peter married?  Yes, he was.  Did Peter occupy a position above any other bishops?  No, he did not.

Jesus is on His way to help a young girl when He stops because He has been touched by someone.  The curious thing is  that  the Lord  is being pressed on all sides by a multitude of people.
"You see the multitude pressing in on You,"  the disciples  remark, "and You say, 'Who touched Me?"'
Jesus explains that this touch was not that of those who are pressing against Him but rather of one seeking healing.
Verse 25 explains that the woman has suffered with a hemorrhage  for twelve years.  The next verse points out that she has endured much at  the hands of many physicians but still has not been helped.  In fact, she has grown worse.
How many of those  in Jesus'  day were growing worse spiritually because they were listening to the doctors of the Jewish law instead of to Jesus?  How many in the religious world today are spiritually sick  and growing worse because they insist on following the instructions of  false teachers?
Immediately upon touching Jesus the woman is healed.
When Jesus asks, "Who  touched Me?"  the woman steps  forward and explains everything.
"Daughter, your faith has made you well;"  Jesus explains,  "go  in peace, and be healed of your affliction."
Perhaps the woman tries at first  to go by unnoticed because she doesn't want to interrupt an important man on an  important mission.   Or maybe she does not feel worthy to confront  the Master.   Hopefully,  her reason  is  not  that she wants  to sneak  by without being noticed. Hopefully, none of us today want to sneak by as followers of Jesus without being noticed.
The Son of God does not want any silent partners.
"Every one therefore who shall confess Me before men," Jesus promises in Matthew 10:32-33, "I will also confess him before My Father who  is  in heaven.  But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven."
"Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him,"  John  12:42 notes, "but because of the Pharisees they were not  confessing Him,  lest they should be put out of the synagogue."
"By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called  the son of Pharaoh's daughter;" Hebrews  11:24-26  reveals,  "choosing  rather  to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than  to enjoy  the passing pleasures of sin; considering the reproach of Christ greater  riches  than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward."
"For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words  in  this adulterous and sinful generation," Jesus warns in Mark 8:38, "the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of  His Father  with  the holy angels."
Notice that Jesus equates being ashamed of Him with being ashamed of His word.
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel," Paul states proudly  in Romans 1:16, "for it is the power of God for salvation to every one who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."
Jesus causes the blind to see, the deaf to hear and the mute to talk. He heals a fever and cures a woman who can be helped by no one else.   But He does so much more for us, spiritually.
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of  God,"  according to Romans 3:23.
"For the wages of sin is death," we learn from Romans 6:23.  But  the verse goes on to say that the "free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus."
How do we feel when someone refuses to accept a gift from us?  How do we feel when someone would rather exchange a gift from us  for  something else?  How do we feel when someone is ashamed of a gift from us?
2 Thessalonians 2:10 makes reference to "those who perish,  because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved."
Either we love the truth or we are ashamed of it.  There is no  third choice.  There is no middle ground.
If we want to be healed by Jesus we must be proud of  and obey  the truth that will set us free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."