10. Amazed with Jesus and the Paralytic Man Dropped Through the Roof
10. Amazed with Jesus and the Paralytic Man Dropped Through the Roof.
“Life without wonder – radical amazement – is not worth living. It is the beginning of our happiness. Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement… get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible. Never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.” (Abraham Joshua Heschel).
I Stand Amazed | Celtic Worship ft. Steph Macleod
Jesus Christ engaged in a ministry of amazement, astonishment, wonder. Everywhere He traveled, He left people astounded and in awe. He caused a big stir wherever he went, and people left in His wake were amazed at who He was and what He was able to do, whether from His unusually wise teaching, His authoritative exorcisms, His unprecedented healings, His clever and insightful conversations, His dramatic miracles. It seemed everyone marveled at Jesus, despite His best efforts sometimes to be off the radar. There are three Greek synonyms that mean complete astonishment or radical amazement: ekplesso, thaumazo, and existemi. The differences between these three words, though, are fascinating. Are those of us who follow Jesus now, are we also amazed and astonished with Jesus?
“And the people were astonished (“ekplesso”) beyond measure, saying, ‘Everything He does is beautiful (“kalos”), and is done with excellence!” (Mark 7:37).
(1.) ASTONISHED: “ekplesso”; a strong Greek word for astonished; amazed; dumfounded; awestruck; overwhelmed at something extraordinary; struck out of one’s senses; takes your breath away, even to the point of panic. There were at least fifteen gospel events in which the Greek superlative “ekplesso” was used to communicate a radical amazement, astonishment, wonder at Jesus. Jesus was met with overwhelming astonishment after His Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7:28); by His hometown friends as they rejected Him (Matt. 13:54); after His teaching on the inadequacy of wealth (Matt. 19:25); after His conversation with the Sadducees about heaven and the resurrection (Matt. 22:33); at His synagogue exorcism (Mark 1:22, 27); after His healing of the deaf and mute man (Mark 7:37); after He whipped the moneychangers in the Temple (Mark 11:18); at His brilliant level of understanding with the rabbis at just 12 years of age (Luke 2:48); after casting out a demon with just a word (Luke 4:32, 36); at the exorcism of a demon-possessed boy (Luke 9:43).
“And behold, a man from the crowd shouted out, ‘Master, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child! A spirit seizes him and suddenly he screams out and it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth! It mauls him and will scarcely leave him!’ Jesus answered, ‘Bring your son here to me.’ And even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him down to the ground and completely convulsed him. But Jesus severely rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the child, and then restored the boy to his father. And all were completely astounded (“ekplesso”) at the evidence of God’s mighty power, His majesty and His magnificence. While they were all marveling (“thaumazo”) at everything Jesus was doing…” (Luke 9:38-43).
(2.) MARVELED: “thaumazo”; another strong Greek word that means… marveled at, astonished by; amazed at; filled with wonder to the point of being bewildered; being awestruck in admiration. There were forty-four passages in the gospels in which people were greatly amazed by Jesus, astonished to the point of awed by Him. Included in the group of people who were completely amazed, “thaumazo’d” by Christ: the shepherds, Mary and Joesph, the disciples, the Pharisees, various crowds during His ministry, and even Pilate himself was astonished by Jesus and marveled at Him. People were amazed by everything from the angelic baby announcement, to various prophecies in Jesus’ young life, to the calming of the storm and the withering of the fig tree; from His miraculous exorcisms and healings to His teachings that always were on point and what were needed at the time.
“Then a blind and mute man under the power of a demon was brought to Jesus and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all the crowds of people were overwhelmed with astonishment, stunned with amazement and practically out of their minds with wonder (“existemi”), and said, ‘This cannot be the Son of David, the Messiah, can it?” (Matt. 12:22-23).
(3.) FLABBERGASTED: “existemi”; an extreme word that means to be out of one’s mind with amazement; crazy with wonderment; a stunned astonishment so strong that one is beside oneself; to be overwhelmed so as to be bowled over; literally, to remove from a standing position. This word is used seventeen times in the gospels, including when Jesus healed and forgave the paralyzed man dropped through the ceiling of Peter’s house; when Jesus raised a young girl from the dead; when Jesus calmed the storm and casually climbed into the boat with His disciples; on the road to Emmaus when the disciples heard about the empty tomb from the women. Existemi is also used when the family of Jesus thought He was crazy, going out of His mind.
I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous)
“And when the friends of the paralytic couldn’t get near to Jesus in the house, they made a hole in the roof and lowered him down in front of Him… When Jesus saw their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven!’ ‘But that you all here may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins,’ he turns to the paralytic and says to him, ‘I say to you, arise, pick up your mat, and go home!’ And the man rose, immediately picked up his mat, and went out before them all, so that all the people were flabbergasted, out of their minds with amazement (“existemi”), and glorified God, exclaiming, ’We never saw anything like this!” (the whole story is in Mark 2:1-12).
Capernaum. This flourishing city on the Sea of Galilee was Jesus’ adopted hometown. Because of its thriving businesses, especially in fishing and many different trades, it was densely populated and wealthy. Several major highways intersected in Capernaum, which brought people from as far away as Egypt and Mesopotamia. The Roman military presence was strong in Capernaum, since a Roman garrison was there to keep the peace in that region. Capernaum was an interesting place for Jesus to select as His ministry headquarters, because the town was a cultural melting pot loaded with Greek, Roman, and international influences. Jesus was well known in Capernaum and that region at that time, because He had just been touring the Galilee area, preaching, healing, and casting out demons. It was no surprise that wherever Jesus went, there was a large crowd surrounding Him. Capernaum was a cosmopolitan city, the opposite of a primitive village stuck out in the sticks somewhere.
Preaching. Whenever Jesus was with other people, he preached. The Gospels evidently use the terms preaching and teaching interchangeably, since the parallel passage in Luke 5 has Him teaching here. Jesus loved to expound God’s word wherever He was… in the synagogue, on a hilltop, on a plain, in a boat, and in a home. Remember that the Jewish Bible, the Old Testament, was Jesus’ Scripture, the Word He expounded. Some churches forget there is even an Old Testament to expound. That’s a mistake. Jesus taught the Hebrew Scriptures, the Jewish Bible. How can a church claim to be Christ-centered and not teach Christ’s Bible? The OT is the tap root of the New Testament, and we cut off this root at our peril. Do you get enough solid teaching from the Old Testament? Jesus taught all the time. So here we are in Capernaum, with Jesus, preaching the Word, in a local house, and the place is completely jammed full with people.
True Friends. The house was so packed that the main room and even the courtyard outside the doorway was filled with people. There was no room for anyone to move, no less four friends lugging a paralyzed friend on a stretcher. So, the friends, not to be denied, carried the paralyzed man up the exterior stairway to the roof, made a hole in the roof big enough to fit the stretcher, and lowered the man down to Jesus’ feet. It would be impossible to miss the man on the stretcher right in front of His face. These friends wanted nothing more than for Jesus to heal their friend. If each friend held onto a rope tied to each corner of the stretcher, they had to coordinate between themselves so as to lower the man safely to the floor below. This was work, but they were not daunted. What friends! And what faith in Jesus! What qualities did these men have in order to pull this off? They were resourceful, unembarrassed, determined, faithful, compassionate, courageous, unapologetic. Sometimes that is what it takes to literally bear someone’s burden. Paul states that there is no greater commandment, no greater act of love, than to bear the burdens of another. (Gal. 6:2) Burden-bearing “fulfills the law of Christ.” This scene is a clear picture of what that can look like. These friends decided to bear the burden of their friend, literally, and bring him to Jesus for healing. What a meaningful picture of intercession, where we in faith bring someone we love to Christ to have their needs met.
Substitute Faith. Jesus sees the faith of these friends, and He counts it to the credit of the paralyzed man, who was not willing or able to speak for himself. The friends were ‘standing in’ for their friend, they were substituting their faith for the apparent lack of faith in their friend on the stretcher, and Jesus seemed to say… “I see your faith, my friends, and I’ll count it as his faith.” Faith by proxy? Can Jesus do that? “Seeing their faith,” Jesus announced forgiveness of sins to the paralyzed man. There is a mystery here. Does God accept someone’s Christian faith as a substitute for another person’s lack of faith? Does God’s mercy run this deep? Is this similar to infant baptism, when faithful parents ‘stand in’ for their baby?
Forgiveness. Jesus evidently had certain priorities in mind with this paralyzed man. Physical healing was secondary. Spiritual healing comes first. Jesus felt compelled to heal this man’s paralysis of the soul before the paralysis of the body. Jesus has the power to heal both body and soul, and the soul comes first. In this scene’s parallel version in Matthew 9:2, Jesus said something interesting to the man on the stretcher… “Be encouraged! Cheer up! Your sins are forgiven!” So perhaps there was an urgency in Jesus’ mind to tend to the spiritual, maybe this paralyzed man had lived long enough in discouragement, with a conscience burdened by sin, guilt and shame. Perhaps Jesus wanted to release this man and forgive him now, pronto!
Religious Police. Mixed into the crowd around Jesus were a few professional skeptics, the Jewish legal authorities. They were not righteously curious as so many others were. They were there to sit in judgment, to criticize, to entrap Jesus in some breaking of the Law. After Jesus pronounced forgiveness to the paralyzed man, these skeptics were questioning in their own minds what happened. They were thinking, “What? Wait! Only God can forgive sins! This man Jesus is claiming to be equal to God! This is blasphemy, and the penalty is death! We got him!” Jesus read their minds, because He knew their hearts. He cornered them and asked them, “Why are you wondering about this? It’s easy for me to speak forgiveness, because you can’t prove these words one way or another. That wasn’t that hard for me to say. But to back up my claim to be God’s right hand man, I will here and now heal this paralyzed man!” And so He did.
Son of Man. Jesus refers to Himself here as Son of Man, the first time he did so. It’s a phrase that refers to the “fully human” part of Jesus. It was His favorite way to identify Himself, because Jesus so closely identifies Himself with mankind, with humanity’s deepest needs and vulnerabilities. Jesus also wants to confirm the dignity of being human, made in God’s image, yet still in need of salvation. There also is a prophetic word in Daniel 7:13 that all good Jews knew about, that the Son of Man is the one to whom God is going to entrust His judgment and kingdom. When Jesus claims to be the Son of Man, it’s quite a messianic mouthful.
Healing. Jesus simply told the man to stand up, pick up his stretcher, and walk home. Immediately, the paralysis was reversed, he was healed, he pranced his way through the crowd, and he went home, singing God’s praises all the way. I’d bet his four friends had a hard time keeping up with him.
The People Lost Their Minds with Amazement. The witnesses to these events were utterly stunned, they were completely bowled over by what they had just seen. They were understandably filled with a sort of fearful wonder and astonished awe. They told each other that they have never seen anything like this before, ever! And they began to praise God.