According to the Random House College Dictionary, paralysis is a loss or impairment of sensation, especially of muscles, caused through disease or injury, or a crippling of powers or activities. A paralytic is someone who suffers from paralysis. The body of a paralytic does not respond to the commands of their mind.
Doesn’t this describe our spiritual condition as well? We suffer from a loss of “spiritual” sensation. We are “spiritual” paralytics. We want to have compassion for people in difficulty, but we can’t always get ourselves to help. We want to keep our minds free of evil and impure thoughts, but we often seem to have little control over the occurrence of these thoughts. The root of our spiritual paralysis is our basic sinful nature.
In Luke 5:17-26, Jesus heals a paralytic. The man was physically paralyzed and, as we, was spiritually paralyzed. His friends brought him to Jesus because they had heard that he was a great healer. They and the man had faith that Jesus would heal the man’s paralysis.
It’s striking that Jesus first forgives him his sins. Jesus was looking at the cause of his spiritual paralysis. It was only after hearing complaints from the Pharisees that He healed the man’s physical paralysis as a sign that He had the authority to forgive sins.
This is how Jesus deals with us. He first forgives us our sins. Then through the process of sanctification, God begins to heal our spiritual paralysis. But we need to come to him, or be brought to Him, with the faith that He is who He says He is.
John Best
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