Encounters with the Great Physician

A Sermon edited by Steve Fountain originally preached on February 10, 2013 called "Encounters with the Great Physician" from Luke 5:12-32.

Luke points us to a doctor who cares and is willing to spend the time trying to understand what is going on. Jesus is not only the Son of God; he is also the Curer of Souls.  We see Jesus do three healings, each offering a glimpse of the tenderness, depth, and gentleness of our Great Physician.             

1.  A Man Full of Leprosy (Luke 5:12-16).  As a leper, this man was an outcast living a slow and painful death.  He was a man without family, employment, and hope.  In verse 12, the leper fell down on his face and begged Jesus, saying “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean?”  Notice he asks “will,” not “can.” The man had faith that Jesus was powerful enough, but he was unsure if Jesus would help a leper.

Contrary to social norms, Jesus defiled Himself and touched him, saying, “I will; Be clean.”   The tenderness of the moment cannot be overstated.

Jesus asks the man to tell no one and to show himself to the priest. It may be that Jesus is attempting to force the priesthood to recognize the signs of the age.  Jesus is reversing the affects of sin.  If they verified the cleansing, the priest would be forced whether or not to announce the arrival of the Messiah. 

2. A Man Full of Paralysis (Luke 5:17-26).  In these verses, we view a paralyzed man whose friends have so much faith in Jesus that they go the the crowded house where Jesus is teaching.  Undeterred — just like the unclean man venturing from the leper colony  — they scale the walls, punch a hole through the roof, and lower their friend to Jesus.

Jesus was completely aware of who is listening in the audience when He says: “Man, your sins are forgiven you” (v. 20).  This forced the Pharisees and teachers of the law present to whisper “Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?”  (v. 21)

What does Jesus mean when he says, “What is easier to say” (v. 23)?  In that day, most Jewish writings made a cause and effect conclusion that paralysis (effect) was the result of sin (cause).  So, Jesus says, if you believe that paralysis is the result of sin, and I heal him, then have I not overturned the effect of sin and therefore forgiven the cause of the paralysis?  So, Jesus says, “It doesn’t make much difference how I say it, to heal the man is to forgive the man.”

Jesus connects the dots for the Pharisees, but they still refuse to listen and believe.

So Jesus looks at the man and says, “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.”  And immediately he does!

3.  A Man Full of Regret (Luke 5:27-32).  Meet Levi.  He is a Jewish man who earns his living through highway robbery — collecting tolls from merchants as they moved their products from place to place. Often, the toll collectors gouged the people with the enforcement of a watchful Roman soldier. He knows it is wrong and is feeling the burden. 

Yet Levi makes a great feast, and invites a large company of tax collectors to come—and Jesus and His disciples.  The Pharisees are grumbling while standing outside looking in. (v. 30).  One of them says to Peter, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors an sinners?” (v. 32).

And Jesus responds, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31–32).

Conclusion:  Something that all these three encounters have in common is the awareness of inability and powerlessness.  This is called humility.  If you are strong, it will be very difficult for you to recognize that you need a savior.  Better to discover your inability now, rather than when it is too late.

Perhaps we do not see restoration because of a lack of desire to deal with our root issue called sin.  Any attempt to fix you apart from the prescription of repentance will result in an incomplete healing.  We might as well stick a band-aid on a victim of a heart attack.  For if we look to the surface issues of self-esteem, or environmental causes, we actually miss the healing balm of the gospel.   What greater medicine to know that all who repent will be forgiven!  And then forgiven people can go and forgive others.

Jesus is a compassionate, and tender practitioner of grace.  He is the Great Physician.