Desperate Faith

Luke 5:17-20

Sometimes a lot of detail is packed into a verse or two, a few lines we are likely to read over quickly as we move on to the next story. This is one of those passages. Jesus is in someone’s house. As was common with traveling rabbis, he has been going from town to town in Galilee, declaring and demonstrating his message.

As news about him gets around, he starts to attract a following. This following includes a cast of characters with a wide mix of motives. Luke notes that Pharisees and teachers of the law have gathered from all over, including Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem. It is probable that those from down in Judea and Jerusalem hadn’t come north just to see Jesus, but were here on other business and decided to visit this new rising star on the religious and cultural scene. These guys made it their duty to check out any and all developments, especially if they appeared threatening to the status quo.

As Luke picks up the story, Jesus is teaching and these Pharisees and teachers are sitting listening to him. The teaching of the day was often an interactive one, both in the synagogue on the Sabbath as well as in less formal settings, such as this one in someone’s home. The house, likely owned by a man of financial means, is very crowded with people in spite of its probable significant size. The head of the home likely has invited Jesus and these other religious leaders for dinner and discourse. People from the village and folks passing through have crowded in or, if they are less desirable, are crowding the outer gates and window openings.

When we were living in Taichung, Taiwan, our row house was on a tiny dead end street that faced a three story wall. The houses were narrow, about 13 feet wide, and less than 25 feet in depth, going up about three stories. On our first floor, we had a kitchen and living area. A large window looked out on our tiny cement covered front yard. The window, protected by security bars, was of a translucent glass that let in the light, but could not be seen through when the panes were closed. In the usually warm to hot climate, we often had the windows open. Neighborhood kids loved to climb the bars of our windows to look in while we were eating. An open door or window was always an invitation for someone to come in or at least look in. I can still picture Fuxiang and his siblings hanging all over our window.

Such was the case in Jesus’ day. Tthis particular house was crowded with visitors, so much so that people could hardly move. As was usually the case, the sick came to Jesus to be healed. Some men, having heard that Jesus was in the area, brought their sick friend to Jesus. Happened to be he was paralyzed, couldn’t walk, so they carried him in a hammock or mat of some sort. As they couldn’t get in, they climbed to the flat roof the house, removed the tiles and lowered their friend down right in front of Jesus. The architecture was common enough for these guys to be familiar with how all this could work. But I imagine that even for that time and place, this was a highly unusual operation. It certainly is the only time it occurs in Scripture.

When people get desperate, they will do anything. As I write this blog, piracy off the coast of Somalia is in the news. Somalia is a failed state, its government is defunct, its people getting desperate. It is hard to find positive things to say about pirates. And yet I can understand how these Somalians would resort to anything to get ahead in life, especially with all those ships passing by with so much of value on board.

Such is the case with these friends of the paralytic – so desperate to get some help for their friend that they resort to breaking and entering, and in front of all these religious leaders from all over. Jesus is very impressed with their faith, Luke writes, a faith that moves them to take drastic measures to break the law and social mores for something of far higher priority, a faith that moves heaven and earth to solve the unsolvable. This is the kind of faith that moves Jesus every time.