The Greatest Need

A need is something that is essential or required for survival, stability, or functioning. It's a deficiency that, if not met, causes clear negative outcomes like dysfunction or death. 

Need can also refer to a lack of something useful or required, or a situation requiring relief or supply. 

Have you ever undertaken a Do It Yourself project (DIY) that ended up costing more time, energy, money and stress than if you had a professional do the job?  Sometimes DIY projects are a bad idea.  

This Biblical study looks at humanity’s greatest need and why reconciliation with the Divine is not a DIY endeavor.  

Our spiritual lives and our need for a relationship with a Divine cannot be a DIY endeavor, for it takes two parties, not just one.  A human can’t just say “I am one with God” and it IS so.  God has a say in the matter.  Just as one can’t go up grab an individual and unilaterally declare “you are now my spouse” without them having any say in the matter, a similar analogy arises when humanity declares “you are now my God”, but proceeds to ignore the needs of relationship required in a two-person relationship.

Thankfully, our greatest need is met by one who is truly the greatest. Yes, this study is a Christ based study, but I think that you will find that it is sensible.

Luke 5:17-26 shows us that Jesus (whose name literally means Yah Rescues) can take care of our need for reconciliation with the creator of "all that is." In his gospel, Luke presented an orderly, carefully investigated, historical account of Jesus’s life and ministry. He was in close contact with many who were in close contact with Jesus during his ministry.

The passage below demonstrates for us that we must overcome obstacles, rather than create obstacles for one seeking reconciliation with the Divine.

Luke 5:17-19

17 On one of those days while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and also from Jerusalem. And the Lord’s power to heal was in him. 18 Just then some men came, carrying on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed. They tried to bring him in and set him down before him. 19 Since they could not find a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the roof tiles into the middle of the crowd before Jesus.

First some history.  Paul identifies Luke in Colossians as "the dearly loved physician". Luke was a learned man and used his learning to assist others with their physical needs. 

The Roman Empire was forged through centuries of contact between Greek and Roman culture, much like Texas has been forged predominately through American, Mexican and Native American cultures. 

Roman healing was based on herbs, chants, prayers and charms that were the responsibility of the head of the household. When you were ill the head of the household would prepare herbs for you, chant and pray over you and put a charm in your vicinity. The first Roman physicians were religious figures with no medical training, or who were the head of the family.

But Roman medicine was highly influenced by the Greek medical tradition. Prior to the introduction of Greek medicine Roman medicine was a combination of religion and magic. The first professional physicians were Greek physicians when Greek medicine was introduced into Italy.  By the 200-300s BC it became publicly accepted in Rome. Systems of public hygiene were undertaken indicating there was an understanding that this was of importance to public health. Other examples can be seen in their practices of burying the dead outside the city walls, their large supplies of water available through aqueducts, public bathing areas and public sewage systems. They also began draining swamps in close proximity to cities. 

In 46 BC Julius Caesar granted Roman citizenship to physicians when the Roman army had a need for trained surgeons. In 30 BC the Romans conquered the city of Alexandria, which as an important center for learning.  Its Great Library held countless volumes of ancient Greek medical information.

Luke, the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts of the Apostles, was a Gentile (non-Jew) who traveled with the Apostle Paul on some of his journeys. Being an educated man, Luke sought to present a carefully investigated, historical account of Jesus' life and ministry. This first passage demonstrates this by noting that Jesus’s ministry included teaching as well as healing. 

Jesus’ teaching astonished the crowds because he taught with authority. Jesus was also able to connect with the average person through his use of parables and illustrations as opposed to others who merely dictated religious dogma and doctrine. The good news (literal meaning of gospel) about Jesus and his teaching and healing had spread.  Large crowds gathered to listen to Him and to be healed. Certainly such a teaching and healing ministry would have been of interest to a physician of the time.

Luke notes that the setting of this circumstance was one where Pharisees and teachers of the law were gathered. The designation Pharisee means "separated one." It likely indicated that the "learned" Pharisee considered themselves to have been separated from the "average" masses.  

The Pharisees appear to have been responsible for the transition of Judaism from a religion of 

sacrifice (literally meaning sacred doing, and one where the relationship to God was in focus) to one of law (where the relationship to law and to the teachers of the law was in focus). 

The Pharisees viewed obedience to the law as the way to God. They developed the oral tradition surrounding the Mosaic law making it equivalent to God's law. The Pharisees opposed Jesus because He rejected their interpretations of the law which often shifted the focus away from God and to the law which had become their idol.  A modern understanding for this passage might be "the elite lawyers and law professors" were there.

Luke noted that the Lord’s power to heal was in Jesus.  He healed in the power of the God most High. Because of Jesus' intimate connection with the Divine, Divine power was available to him. This was a power the Pharisees and law professors likely would not have experienced before, but were now about to witness first hand in the next passage.

Because of the crowd in the building where they were teaching the men carrying a stretcher could not gain access. So they literally went over their heads.  They carried their friend above the meeting room to the roof. In that era roofs were typically flat and accessed by an external stairway to allow access to the roof for enjoying breezes and other outdoor activities. The roof was composed of wooden beams covered with branches and a layer of earth or clay. 

Such roofs required constant maintenance due to this relatively fragile nature. It would not have been too difficult to scrape away the earth, remove the branches and open a hole between the beams in which to lower a stretcher with their friend. Roof repair would have been no more than replace the branches and cover them back up with the dirt or clay previously removed and set aside.

Luke 5:20-21

20 Seeing their faith he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” 21 Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to think to themselves, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Notice that Luke said "seeing their faith." It was not only the faith of the man on the stretcher, but the faith of the men who carried him.  These men demonstrated their faith by their “works”. They not only believed, they carried their friend to the place where Jesus was ministering. They did not just stop there, they also persisted in setting their friend’s stretcher in front of Jesus. 

Jesus didn’t begin by dealing with the paralysis for which the man’s friends had brought him to Jesus. Instead, He responded to the group’s faith by addressing the paralyzed man’s greatest need. Most people at this time in history held to the notion that disease was caused by sin or the harmful nature of humanity.  Jesus addressed the man's spiritual need for forgiveness of (not remembering) this harmful nature. Jesus forgave the man of his sinful nature. 

The scribes and Pharisees clearly understood that in pronouncing this forgiveness, Jesus was claiming to be God. Also, note that “are forgiven” stresses the continuing and enduring state of this forgiveness. 

As a result these "legal elites" and "law professors" begin to think to themselves, not talk, but think: 1) only God can forgive sins, 2) By what authority does Jesus claim to speak for God?, 3) This was blasphemy, or "harm speaking", against God. 

They wondered who is this man? This question is key to understanding the entire account of the paralyzed man’s healing. The record in the following verses answers the questions of the elites, but in a way that the scribes and Pharisees refused to accept: Jesus is the Son of Man who possesses not only the divine authority to forgive sins but also the divine power to heal, to make whole again.

But the "legal experts" saw this as harmful towards God, because THEY were the ones who interpreted and pronounced the commands of God, and Jesus' concepts were not always in alignment with theirs. The 'legal experts" regarded Jesus as a blasphemer because He claimed to do what God alone can do. Anyone who asserted he could forgive sins was putting himself on an equal level with God, or at the very least placing themselves as appointed or anointed by God to speak on God's behalf. And since they, the legal experts, did not recognize Jesus' authority to speak for, or as God, they sought to destroy him. When Jesus went on trial before the Sanhedrin, the court’s members charged Him with blasphemy. The real blasphemers were those who denied the prophecies from God and denied that Jesus is the Messiah.

The harm of blasphemy can be forgiven. But the harm of continuing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not forgiven simply because this is a state of hardness in which an individual consciously and willfully resists God’s power and grace. An individual in this state is not forgiven because the person cannot recognize and repent of their harm-seeking nature. Until they become capable of doing so they remain separate from God.

The religious leaders asked the right questions but came up with the wrong answer. Jesus exercised divine prerogative and power in forgiving the paralyzed man’s sins. Jesus as the Son of God takes care of our the need for forgiveness. 

Next we see Jesus correctly answered their questions with a logic puzzle and a miracle.

Luke 5:22-26

22 But perceiving their thoughts, Jesus replied to them, “Why are you thinking this in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he told the paralyzed man, “I tell you: Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.” 25 Immediately he got up before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. 26 Then everyone was astounded, and they were giving glory to God. And they were filled with awe and said, “We have seen incredible things today.”

Because the heart is at the root of the human problem of sinfulness, our harm-seeking nature, God promised that with the coming of the Messiah he would give a new heart and a new spirit. Thus, in the New Testament, the hearts of believers become the dwelling place of the Divine. 

The heart was the center, the core (cor means heart), of the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual life of the human. It was the "central switchboard", the place of decision-making. We may refer to it as our "gut" when making such decisions it is the core of our being that makes the determination and the rest of our being that then carries out the decision.

So Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, tells them which is easier to say: your sins are forgiven, or get up and walk? Both are the same number of words, but Jesus said "so that you may know that the Son of Man..." This title was Jesus’s favorite self-designation to imply both his full humanity and his messianic mission. Jesus probably used it because it did not carry the political overtones associated with the title 
Messiah in the popular thinking of first-century biblical Israel/Judah.

While the term "son of man" can refer to just a "general human", Daniel used it as messianic prophecy in Daniel 7:13 – “one like a son of man was coming with the clouds of heaven and approached the Ancient of Days” (God). 

On trial before the Sanhedrin, Jesus responded to the high priest’s question, “Are you the Messiah” by quoting from Daniel 7:13 making clear His messianic claim.

Christ’s miracles provided evidence of God’s power at work in His ministry. Jesus’s power included not only the authority to condemn sin, but also to forgive it as demonstrated in His healing of the paralyzed man. Jesus’s authority to meet our greatest need verifies His divinity.

The use of the term today at the end of this passage recalls its use at the beginning of Jesus’s address after reading the messianic passage from Isaiah in the Nazareth synagogue. At that point He had announced that the messianic kingdom had come in Him. By his inclusion of the term, Luke called attention to the reality that the long-awaited kingdom of God had indeed come in Jesus and that he has both the authority AND the power to reconcile humanity to fellowship with God and to bring glory to God.

Jesus, Yah rescues, is the one like a son of man, who can meet our greatest need – reunification with the Divine.