Invitation to a Changed Life
12One
day in one of the villages there was a man covered with leprosy. When
he saw Jesus he fell down before him in prayer and said, "If you want
to, you can cleanse me."
13Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said, "I want to. Be clean." Then and there his skin was smooth, the leprosy gone.
14-16Jesus
instructed him, "Don't talk about this all over town. Just quietly
present your healed self to the priest, along with the offering ordered
by Moses. Your cleansed and obedient life, not your words, will bear
witness to what I have done." But the man couldn't keep it to himself,
and the word got out. Soon a large crowd of people had gathered to
listen and be healed of their ailments. As often as possible Jesus
withdrew to out-of-the-way places for prayer.
17One
day as he was teaching, Pharisees and religion teachers were sitting
around. They had come from nearly every village in Galilee and Judea,
even as far away as Jerusalem, to be there. The healing power of God was
on him.
18-20Some
men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for
a way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. When they
couldn't find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof,
removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in
front of Jesus. Impressed by their bold belief, he said, "Friend, I
forgive your sins."
21That
set the religion scholars and Pharisees buzzing. "Who does he think he
is? That's blasphemous talk! God and only God can forgive sins."
22-26Jesus
knew exactly what they were thinking and said, "Why all this gossipy
whispering? Which is simpler: to say 'I forgive your sins,' or to say
'Get up and start walking'? Well, just so it's clear that I'm the Son of
Man and authorized to do either, or both. . . ." He now spoke directly
to the paraplegic: "Get up. Take your bedroll and go home." Without a
moment's hesitation, he did it—got up, took his blanket, and left for
home, giving glory to God all the way. The people rubbed their eyes,
incredulous—and then also gave glory to God. Awestruck, they said,
"We've never seen anything like that!"