Eyes to See

Friday, April 14,

Eyes To See
By: Anna Williams

“One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord’s healing power was strongly with Jesus.
 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus, but they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”
But the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”
Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts?  Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man[a] has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”
And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home praising God. Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!” - Luke 5:17-26 NLT

I found it interesting that the New Life Version of this passage of Scripture refers to the Pharisees as “some proud religious law-keepers”. They were men who had spent their lives studying God’s Old Testament teachings; took pride in how well they knew God’s truth; and who had traveled from afar to see what Jesus was really about. They were well-versed in how to navigate the religious world and even knew when to arrive to get the best seats in the house.
Isn’t it intriguing that the paralytic (whom one could easily argue had great need to see Jesus) could noto access Him at first because of the crowds of religious onlookers blocking the way?

 Oh, how I pray that I would never get in the way of others finding Jesus because I am too busy trying to get something from Him instead of trying to be like Him!!

And even after the paralytic’s friends found a way to get him to Jesus and Jesus healed him, these religious men still missed the lesson! Jesus clearly claimed to be the Son of God and then healed the paralytic with authority granted by God himself. But the passage says “Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!”  

They left that encounter with Jesus exclaiming they had seen amazing things – not the most amazing ONE ever to walk the face of the Earth. They had seen the Son of God but missed the significance of it because of their hardened hearts.

Lord, we ask that today you would give us eyes to see and ears to hear; that you would give us your heart and help us to be more like you, Jesus. In your precious name we pray, AMEN.