When It Comes to Supernatural Healing and Unshakeable Faith, You Can’t Have One Without the Other

Why Healing and Faith Are Intertwined

(Luke chapter 5, verses 17–39)

Last week when we left off at verse 16, we got down to details about the calling of Jesus’ first disciples, as well as one of the earliest examples of Christ healing someone near the beginning of his 3 ½ year ministry. Today we will be moving on to the second half of chapter 5, where we will explore the reasons Jesus needed no justification or validation for his ministry, particularly in the eyes of the religious establishment of that time. Jesus then makes a comparison between the Law of Moses (the first 5 books of the Old Testament) and himself as the fulfillment of that Law, as we studied back in chapter 4. Interestingly enough, he uses “wine skins” as a way to compare them to each other, but I’m going to try and use a more modern example. Bearing that in mind, let’s examine the second half of chapter 5 of Luke’s gospel beginning at verse 17.

“One day when he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village in Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. Some men came there carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him…