A Contextual Reading of Luke 5:17-26

One well known rule when reading the Gospel of Luke is that we must see the evangelist as concerned with portraying Jesus as the liberator of the poor and outcast. Jesus’ initial declaration of the purpose of his ministry (4:18-20) clearly declares such, but the narratives form beginning to end are steeped with the concerns of the poor and outcast, whether they be the sick, the sinful, the foreigner, or women. Throughout, the faith of the outcast to come and receive from Jesus is always rewarded with a blessing, much to the chagrin of the “righteous.” Keeping this in mind will help us understand and apply the Gospel to our setting in very real and relevant ways. I hope to demonstrate this by looking at Luke 5:17-26.

The passage under consideration tells us of Jesus teaching in a house, apparently in Galilee. His ministry was growing in popularity, and a large crowd gathered to hear him speak. Seated close by him were Pharisees and Teachers of the Law from all over Galilee and Judea, listening intently to what he was saying. Because the crowd was so thick, some men carrying a paralyzed man on a mat, and who wanted to get him to Jesus for healing, could not pass through. They therefore made their way unto the roof of the house, removed some of the tiles and lowered the man in front of Jesus. On seeing their faith Jesus forgave the man his sins and then healed him, much to the amazement of the crowd.

Often, what concerns us is the confrontation between Jesus and the religious leaders over his ability to forgive sins. They chaff under the implication of His pronouncement, which leads him to astoundingly heal the man from his disability. But there is so much more in the passage of relevance to us than Jesus’ identity, as important as that might be. We need always to keep in mind the question of the poor and outcast, and how God acts on their behalf despite the actions of the religious establishment of the day, to the contrary. When we do this many other points of application, very relevant to our context, become clear.

For instance, there are the many things that we concern ourselves with as religious people to safeguard God’s integrity, which indeed hinder his work with those who most need it. We camp around doctrinal matters and build fortresses around our ideas that bar non-conformists from entry while protecting the faithful. Unless outsiders are willing to toe the line they do not gain entry, and dissident insiders quickly find themselves on the outside. Protecting the truth about God has led to denominational schisms too numerous to count, and form the focal point of our existence. It saps so much of our energies that we easily ignore the maimed and pained who are looking in from the outside, longing to receive from God’s love. Many have stopped looking in, instead drinking from “broken cisterns” to have their longings met.

Additionally, the attitude of the friends in the story stands in stark contrast to that of the religious establishment. As they, along with other curious onlookers bar the way of entry to the one who needs Jesus the most, the friends make a way to get the crippled man inside. Do the maimed and crippled find it physically easy to enter our sanctuaries of worship? Do we have ramps for those bound to wheel chairs or seats specifically designed and set aside for those who find conventional sitting impossible? Just by the way we structure our pews we often send out the message that God’s word prefers the able-bodied and normal, which is in stark contrast to the message of the Gospel. God holds no favourites, and if He did his favourites would be those who cannot help themselves. Like Him, these people must be the focal point of our attention as we share the message of the Gospel.

Luke 5:17-26 shows us that we can be assiduously practicing our religious duties and still ignore that which most concerns God. Too often when we do this we end up ignoring the needy and thus become bad representatives of God. Each and every person, especially the one helpless for whatever reason is special to Him and so should be to us. It behoves us then to think on these things and design our ministries in such a way that brings hope, love and joy to those who most need it. Anything else means that we are merely taking up space.

As usual, what do you think?