THE PARALYSED MAN - Year Two - c AD28-29

(Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26) Matthew 9:1-8 - (After healing the madman - or men - of Gadarene) ... Jesus re-embarked on the boat, crossed the lake, and came to his own town (of Capernaum). Immediately some people arrived bringing him a paralytic lying flat on his bed. When Jesus saw the faith of those who brought him he said to the paralytic, "Cheer up, my son! Your sins are forgiven."
At once some of the scribes thought to themselves, "This man is blaspheming". But Jesus realised what they were thinking, and said to them, "Why must you have such evil thoughts in your minds? Do you think it is easier to say to this man, 'Your sins are forgiven' or 'Get up and walk'? But to make it quite plain that the Son of Man has full authority on earth to forgive sins" - and here he spoke to the paralytic - "Get up, pick up your bed and go home." And the man sprang to his feet and went home. When the crowds saw what had happened they were filled with awe and praised God for giving such power to men.

Mark 2:1-12 - When he re-entered Capernaum some days later (after curing the leper, and staying away from the towns because of his popularity), a rumour spread that he was in somebody's house. Such a large crowd collected that while he was giving them his message it was impossible even to get near the doorway. Meanwhile, a group of people arrived to see him, bringing with them a paralytic whom four of them were carrying. And when they found it was impossible to get near him because of the crowd, they removed the tiles from the roof over Jesus' head and let down the paralytic's bed through the opening. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man on the bed, "My son, your sins are forgiven."
But some of the scribes were sitting there silently asking themselves, "Why does this man talk such blasphemy? Who can possibly forgive sins but God?"
Jesus realised instantly what they were thinking, and said to them, "why must you argue like this in your minds? Which do you suppose is easier - to say to a paralysed man, 'Your sins are forgiven', or 'Get up, pick up your bed and walk'? But to prove to you that the Son of Man has full authority to forgive sins on earth, I say to you," - and here he spoke to the paralytic - "Get up, pick up your bed and go home."
At once the man sprang to his feet, picked up his bed and walked off in full view of them all. Everyone was amazed, praised God, and said, "We have never seen anything like this before."

Luke 5:17-26 - One day while Jesus was teaching (after curing the leper and going out to lonely places where he could pray), some Pharisees and experts in the Law were sitting near him. They had come out of every village in Galilee and Judea as well as from Jerusalem. God's power to heal people was with him. Soon some men arrived carrying a paralytic and they kept trying to carry him in to put him down in front of Jesus. When they failed to find a way of getting him in because of the dense crowd, they went up on to the top of the house and let him down, bed and all, through the tiles, into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, "My friend, your sins are forgiven."

The scribes and the Pharisees began to argue about this, saying, "Who is this man who talks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins? Only God can do that."

Jesus realised what was going on in their minds and spoke straight to them.

"Why must you argue like this in your minds? Which do you suppose is easier - to say, 'Your sins are forgiven' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But to make you realise that the Son of Man has full authority on earth to forgive sins - I tell you," he said to the man who was paralysed, "get up, pick up your bed and go home!"

Instantly the man sprang to his feet before their eyes, picked up the bedding on which he used to lie, and went off home, praising God. Sheer amazement gripped every man present, and they praised God and said in awed voices, "We have seen incredible things today."

THE INVALID AT THE POOL OF BETHESDA - Year Two - c AD28-29

- Jesus now journeys south from Galilee to Jerusalem for a festival - possibly the second Passover of the Gospels:

John 5:1-15 - Some time later (after Jesus had met the woman at the well in Samaria, and then, in Cana in Galilee, saved the official's dying son) came one of the Jewish feast-days and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. There is in Jerusalem near the sheep-gate a pool surrounded by five arches, which has the Hebrew name of Bethzatha (the Pool of Bethesda). Under these arches a great many sick people were in the habit of lying; some of them were blind, some lame, and some had withered limbs. (They used to wait there for the "moving of the water", for at certain times an angel used to come down into the pool and disturb the water, and then the first person who stepped into the water after the disturbance would be healed of whatever he was suffering from - this explanation in brackets is only in some ancient manuscripts.) One particular man had been there ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there on his back - knowing that he had been like that for a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to get well again?" "Sir," replied the sick man, "I just haven't got anybody to put me into the pool when the water is all stirred up. While I'm trying to get there somebody else gets down into it first."
"Get up," said Jesus, "pick up your bed and walk!"
At once the man recovered, picked up his bed and walked.
This happened on a Sabbath day, which made the Jews keep on telling the man who had been healed, "It's the Sabbath, you know; it's not right for you to carry your bed."
"The man who made me well," he replied, "was the one who told me, 'Pick up your bed and walk.'"
Then they asked him, "And who is the man who told you to do that?"
But the one who had been healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away in the dense crowd. Later Jesus found him in the Temple and said to him, "Look: you are a fit man now. Do not sin again or something worse might happen to you!"
Then the man went off and informed the Jews that the one who had made him well was Jesus.

THE MAN BORN BLIND WHO GOES BEFORE THE PHARISEES - Year Three - c AD29-30

John 9:1-41 - Later, as Jesus walked along (in Jerusalem, after he had forgiven the woman caught in adultery) he saw a man who had been blind from birth.

"Master, whose sin caused this man's blindness," asked the disciples, "his own or his parents'?"

"He was not born blind because of his own sin or that of his parents," returned Jesus, "but to show the power of God at work in him. We must carry on the work of him who sent me while the daylight lasts. Night is coming, when no one can work. I am the world's light as long as I am in it."
Having said this, he spat on the ground and made a sort of clay with the saliva. This he applied to the man's eyes and said, "Go and wash in the pool of Siloam (in the Lower City of Jerusalem)." (Siloam means "one who has been sent".) So the man went off and washed and came home with his sight restored.
His neighbours and the people who had often seen him before as a beggar remarked, "Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?"
"Yes, that's the one," said some.
Others said, "No, but he's very like him."
But he himself said, "I'm the man all right!"
"Then how was your blindness cured?" they asked.
"The man called Jesus made some clay and smeared it on my eyes," he replied, "and then he said, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' So off I went and washed - and that's how I got my sight!"
"Where is he now?" they asked.
"I don't know," he returned.
So they brought the man who had once been blind before the Pharisees. (It should be noted that Jesus made the clay and restored his sight on a Sabbath day.) The Pharisees asked the question all over again as to how he had become able to see.
"He put clay on my eyes; I washed it off; now I can see - that's all," he replied.
Some of the Pharisees commented, "This man cannot be from God since he does not observe the Sabbath."
"But how can a sinner give such wonderful signs as these?" others demurred. And they were in two minds about him. Finally, they asked the blind man again, "And what do you say about him? You're the one whose sight was restored."
"I believe he is a prophet," he replied.
The Jews did not really believe that the man had been blind and then had become able to see, until they had summoned his parents and asked them, "Is this your son who you say was born blind? How does it happen that he can now see?"
"We know that this is our son, and we know that he was born blind," returned his parents, "but how he can see now, or who made him able to see, we have no idea. Why don't you ask him? He is a grown-up man; he can speak for himself."
His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews who had already agreed that anybody who admitted that Christ had done this thing should be excommunicated. It was this fear which made his parents say, "Ask him, he is a grown-up man."
So, once again they summoned the man who had been born blind and said to him, "You should 'give God the glory'.
for what has happened to you. We know that this man is a sinner."
"Whether he is a sinner or not, I couldn't tell, but one thing I am sure of," the man replied, "I used to be blind, now I can see!"
"But what did he do to you - how did he make you see?" they continued.
"I've told you before," he replied. "Weren't you listening? Why do you want to hear it all over again? Are you wanting to be his disciples too?"
At this, they turned on him furiously.
"You're the one who is his disciple! We are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this man, we don't even know where he came from."
"Now here's the extraordinary thing," he retorted, "you don't know where he came from and yet he gave me the gift of sight.
Everybody knows that God does not listen to sinners. It is the man who has a proper respect for God and does what God wants him to do - he's the one God listens to. Why, since the world began, nobody's ever heard of a man who was born blind being given his sight. If this man did not come from God, he couldn't do such a thing!"
"You misbegotten wretch!" they flung back at him. "Are you trying to teach us?" And they threw him out.
Jesus heard that they had expelled him and when he had found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
"And who is he, sir?" the man replied. "Tell me, so that I can believe in him."
"You have seen him," replied Jesus. "It is the one who is talking to you now."
"Lord, I do believe," he said, and worshipped him.
Then Jesus said, ÒMy coming into this world is itself a judgement - those who cannot see have their eyes opened and those who think they can see become blind."
Some of the Pharisees near him overheard this and said, "So we're blind, too, are we?"
"If you were blind," returned Jesus, "nobody could blame you, but, as you insist 'We can see', your guilt remains."

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