Sinners Wanted

Took another break or should I say have another break. Or maybe I am broken. Anyway I reinjured my hand a week and a half ago. I was playing 1 on 1 basketball with my son in the driveway. I realized I was way out of my league even though he was going easy on me.  Well during a ungraceful (I was wearing motorcycle boots) cut to the basket I ran smack into Ben and went flying down on the driveway landing right on my right hand again.  By the time  I got home it had swollen up as big as an orange.  The doctor wasn't sure but I might have a hairline fracture.  So back to wearing a splint for 3 weeks.

So lets pick up where we left off in Luke chapter 5.

²⁷After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, ²⁸and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
 ²⁹Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. ³⁰But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
 ³¹Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³²I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Well the Pharisees and teachers of the Law are still with us.   Waiting and watching every move that Jesus makes.  But now we are going to meet a new character Levi the tax collector.  Maybe when you think of a tax collector you think of an IRS agent.  You might think its bad enough someone poking into your finances to be sure that you are paying your taxes according to the law.  However a tax collector during Jesus time represented something worse.

•  They were hired under contract to deliver a certian amount of money by direct collection or levies.
• They were Jews who worked for the Roman government
• Their independence allowed them to abuse and collect more tax for their own use through extortion and physical coersion.  Some control of excess reported to the Roman's could lead to persecution, but if the tax collector kept it small scale thier abuses were tolerated.
• Tax collectors worked on the Sabbath
• Considered unclean by associating with gentiles (non-jews)

The Romans were an occupying force that the Jews resented.  To be a Jew and work for the Romans would have been viewed a traitorous by those who belief was orthodox or nationalist.  The Romans believed in Roman gods and Ceaser as a god.  So not only would a tax collector be considered a national traitor but a religious traitor.  The Romans used local people from the district as tax collectors because they would know the people and not be deceived.

So it should come as no surprise to have the comment equating tax collectors and sinners.

So the question asked not directly to Jesus but to His disciples.  At this point the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law are cautious about confronting Jesus directly.  As you remember from the last story they were caught muttering amoung themselves.

The religious leaders wanted to have a holy club where only those who were rightous would hang out.  They believed that God would like them for thier good work, thier holy practices and the group they hung around with.  But Jesus has come for the sinners.  He is looking for sinners.  He walked right up to Levi's tax collecting table and said follow me.  Jesus has come to a party where sinners are hanging out to bring them too repentence.

In a sense though he is also poking at the illusion of the religious leaders.  He says has not come for the rightous.  But we know thier are none rightous by thier own works.  So the Pharisees are in a sense being made fun of.  They would have viewed themselves as rightous and deserving of the utmost respect from anyone sent by God.  Jesus leaves them to consider the paradox of thier view.  If they are rightous why is thier compassion for others absent.  Jesus is saying sinners need help.  The Pharisees think the rightous are to avoid sinners.

In reality thier we are all sinners.  The dividing line is not between the rightous and sinners.  But between those who know they are sinners and need the forgiveness of God.  And those who believe they are not sinners, but are rightous in thier own eyes.

If you are really searching for a savior then in order to find Him you need to recognize that you are a sinner and cannot obtain rightousness on your own.  Only through faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who died on the Cross can we be transformed from our old self to a new person.

Healing

Right now I am sitting on the porch overlooking the bay on a nice sunny morning in York Beach, Me.  My in-laws have a nice cottage bay side.  The air is dry and just the right temperature in the shade.   It has been a real blessing spending the time here the past few days over the 4th of July weekend with family visiting on Saturday.   Also managed to swing down to Newburyport on Sunday to visit my brother and nephews.  

I really missed my church family yesterday.  Last week we were at His Mansion ministry in New Hampshire.  This weekend vacation in York Beach.  Next weekend riding with the Calvary Cruisers up to a church in Albion, ME to encourage the folks at Albion Bible Church.  I don't think I have ever gone 3 Sunday's without being with my home church family.  I hope if some of you are reading this that you know how much you mean to Cheryl and I.

We plan on heading out soon to get back home and do some chores with the remainder of the day.  If the weather back home is nice enough I hope to take a spin with my motorcycle.  I am hoping my hand is healed enough to be able to make the trip with my motorcycle up to Albion (about 2 1/2 hours away).

When I think of the whole idea of healing, I have been amazed at the miracle of how God designed the human body.  The bone that goes from my wrist to the base of my thumb was basically shattered.  The surgery that I had was to insert screws and plate to hold the pieces together while they healed on their own.   We can say that our bodies heal themselves, but in reality they heal themselves because our creator made them to heal themselves.  What a miracle.

But what about the man in our story? 
Luke 5:24But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 25Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."

The man was paralyzed.  Obviously beyond the natural healing that is built into the way our bodies are created.  In this passage there appears to be a relationship between the man's need to be healed, sin in his life and Jesus authority to forgive and heal. 

We live in a fallen world because of sin.   There is sickness, disease and violence that cause our bodies not to be all that God would desire for us.   Also specifically we may be sick due to our unrepentant hearts and rejection of God's grace.   We may find healing through

• Medicinal care
• Natural healing of our bodies
• Prayer and repentance
  
• Or the miraculous power of Jesus

In this story the man first of all received forgiveness from Jesus.   Then Jesus makes the point that to demonstrate that He has the authority to forgive sins, He also miraculously heals the man.  What is the result? The man went home praising God.  Those who saw were filled with awe and proclaimed to each other "We have seen remarkable things today".

The healing that takes place in this story is a demonstration of who Jesus is.  He is the Son of God.  He is God.   Those religious groups that use the Bible as the cornerstone of their faith, yet deny the divine nature of Jesus would have real trouble with this passage.  The proposition here is Jesus performed a miracle to prove that He had authority on earth to forgive sins.  The Pharisees in a sense were correct that only God can forgive sins on behalf of God.

So what have we learned about our savior from this story?

• He is in opposition to the established religious order as represented by the Pharisees
• He has compassion on those seeking healing
• He has the authority to forgive sins
• He has the Power and Authority to heal
• He is God
• He commends the faith of those who trust in Him
• He is concerned about our heart attitude

From this passage we have learned alot about the Savior we are searching to know.  Next time we will look at Luke 5:27 - 32.