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The universe
is broken. Humanity is broken. Human beings have
been devastated, paralyzed, corrupted, ruined
by the powerful forces of rebellion, sin and death.
Our rebellion caused us to be alienated from our
Creator, who is the source of well-being, peace,
happiness and eternal life. We are now under the
control of dark, evil, demonic and satanic forces.
We are headed toward death, not life; Hell, not
Heaven.
Yeshua
alone is the answer! He is the Son of God and
Son of Man and the unique God-Man; He is Seed
of the Woman and the only Savior of a lost and
dying world; He is our Kinsman Redeemer; He is
the Messiah - the ultimate Prophet, Priest and
King; He is the Supreme Sage; wisest of Rabbis;
greatest of Torah-teachers, teaching us about
God and salvation; He is the Healer of Humanity
- the One through whom God was doing and will
do great miracles of healing from all kinds of
illnesses; One through whom God was casting out
demons; the One who will ultimately cast out all
evil spirits.
No wonder
why so many of the Jewish people were responding
so enthusiastically to Yeshua of Nazareth! Yeshua
was hugely popular! Many of the ordinary people
loved Him, and were coming to Him for His teaching
and His great healing ministry, as we can tell
by Luke’s account of Yeshua on the Kinneret:
Now
it happened that while the crowd was pressing
around Him and listening to the Word of God, He
was standing by the lake of Kinneret. So
many people crowded around Yeshua, hungry for
the Word of God that the situation became difficult
and dangerous. Yeshua needed extra room to continue
teaching them. And He saw two boats lying at
the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten
out of them and were washing their nets. And He
got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s,
and asked him to put out a little way from the
land. With Simon’s gracious assistance, the
crowding problem was solved. And He sat down
and began teaching the people from the boat.
Simon
Peter had done a favor for the young Rabbi from
Nazareth by allowing Him to use his boat. Now
Yeshua will return the favor by doing something
good for this fisherman: When He had finished
speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the
deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard
all night and caught nothing, but I will do as
You say and let down the nets.”
Simon
Peter and his partners had been fishing all night
and had not caught any fish. They had worked hard.
Peter must have been tired. Peter must have wanted
to go home and sleep. But, Simon Peter respected
the young Rabbi enough - the Rabbi who had been
doing miracles in his hometown of Capernaum, the
Rabbi who gave such great teachings from the Word
of God - that if the Rabbi said go back out and
try to catch some fish, he would go back out again
and try to catch some fish. And, it was a good
thing for this fisherman that he did!
When
they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity
of fish, and their nets began to break; so they
signaled to their partners in the other boat for
them to come and help them. And they came and
filled both of the boats, so that they began to
sink. Wow! Both boats started sinking because
they had caught so many fish! That is an amazing
amount of fish! Probably the record catch of their
lives! Maybe the biggest catch ever caught on
that lake. Fishermen almost always remember the
biggest fish they caught, and the time when they
caught the most number of fish. Simon Peter and
his friends probably never forgot that day and
that amazing catch, and the Rabbi who directed
them to it!
This
amazing catch helped Simon Peter recognize that
Yeshua was someone who was indeed very special
and very close to God; and, compared to the holy
young Rabbi from Nazareth, Peter understood that
he was not. But when Simon Peter saw that,
he fell down at Yeshua’ feet, saying, “Go away
from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For amazement
had seized him and all his companions because
of the catch of fish which they had taken; and
so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee,
who were partners with Simon. These three
fishermen, friends and business partners, became
Yeshua’s followers, and became Messiah’s trusted
inner circle. These three men will become some
of the very greatest and most important human
beings who ever lived.
Fear
of God is good! Fear of the God-Man is also good,
especially if it leads to a personal transformation
and a changed life, as it did for Peter. And
Yeshua said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on
you will be catching men.” From this moment,
Peter’s life was never the same. Yeshua changed
Peter’s life, his calling, his occupation, his
profession. He changed him from a fisher of fish
to a fisher of men; from catching fish to catching
human beings - bringing Jews and Gentiles who
are far from God, far from salvation, from truth,
from life, into God’s saving nets; hauling them
up from the dark waters of sin and death and chaos
and confusion, onto good firm land, into the saving
light; into God’s eternal kingdom.
What
Yeshua did to Peter, He wants to do to each one
of us. None of us here at Shema are professional
fishermen, but some of us are businessmen. Yeshua
wants to give us a new business. He wants us to
be in the business of bringing lost human beings
to God. Maybe you are a doctor. He wants you to
be healing damaged souls. Maybe you are a homemaker.
He wants you bringing people into God’s home and
taking care of them. Maybe you are in the car
business. He wants you to provide spiritual transportation
for human beings to get to His Kingdom. Maybe
you are an engineer. He wants you to come up with
designs to save humanity.
Yeshua’s
mission became Simon Peter’s life mission, which
becomes our mission too! Yeshua needs our help!
The One who is the Source of Salvation, the Only
and Great Helper of Humanity, the Rescuer of the
Wretched, needs good men and women, boys and girls
to help Him rescue human beings. Yeshua asks a
lot from human beings who will follow Him. He
asks for total commitment. And, what He asks is
not just for the leaders, like Peter, James and
John. This request to take on His mission is for
every potential Christian and Messianic Jew. Is
that your life-mission?
This
is not a message of easy believism; this is not
a message of cheap grace; this is not a message
about self-improvement, and how your life will
improve, and your finances will get better, and
your marriage will improve. This is not a men-pleasing
message. This is not a painless Gospel. What Yeshua
asks is not easy or convenient. He asks each one
of us to follow Him. He asks each one of us to
put Him above family, business, career; He asks
each one to deny the world, pick up a cross, and
take His message that alone will save human beings,
into the world.
Peter
and James and John accepted Yeshua’s invitation
to join Him and become His disciples and take
on His mission. But, there was a very high cost
for them: When they had brought their boats
to land, they left everything and followed Him.
John,
James and Simon Peter were willing to leave everything
that most people value most - home, family, business
- in order to stay close to Yeshua, and learn
from Him, and work with Him to rescue human beings.
We must have that same willingness to leave everything
in order to follow Yeshua, to stay close to Yeshua,
to serve Yeshua, to learn from Yeshua and help
Him carry on His work. Do you? Yeshua is not looking
for pew-warmers. He is looking for disciples,
students, followers, co-workers, assistants, helpers.
Is that you?
Humanity
is very sick. Sin has sickened us terribly. Sin
has made us unhealthy. Sin has made us unclean.
Sin has caused us to be isolated from the close
companionship of a holy God. Sin has impoverished
us. If we can compare the consequences of sin
to a disease, sin is like leprosy, and sin has
made humanity like a leper - sick, dying, contagious,
in need of isolation, poor, impoverished. But,
there is hope for the leper! Luke tells us about
one powerful interaction between Yeshua and a
leper that is full of hope for humanity:
While
He was in one of the cities, behold, there was
a man covered with leprosy. This was not
a mild case of leprosy, but a serious case. He
was covered with leprosy. According to Torah,
the person with such an infectious disease must
wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover
the lower part of his face and cry out, 'Unclean!
Unclean!' He had to avoid contact with healthy
human beings. He must live outside the camp. Normal
family life would be limited. Religious opportunities
would be limited. The leper couldn’t go to synagogue
or Temple. Work opportunities would be severely
limited. Money would be limited. The life of a
leper was not a good life. Leprosy was an awful,
horrible disease.
But,
this poor leper knew something that might help
him. He knew that young Rabbi Yeshua of Nazareth
was a good man who wanted to help people, and
that Yeshua was close to God, and that God could
use Yeshua to heal even someone as ill as him.
And when he saw Yeshua, he fell on his face
and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing,
You can make me clean.” And Yeshua stretched out
His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing;
be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left
him.
Normally,
no rabbi would touch a leper. If he did, he might
become infected. He might become unclean. But
Rabbi Yeshua was and is so good, so holy, so full
of the saving and healing power of God, that when
He touched the leper, the leper didn’t make Him
unclean. No, Rabbi Yeshua made the leper clean!
A great miracle occurred and the man was instantly
and completely healed. This poor man who had been
without so much, could lead a normal, healthy,
good life!
That
leper is representative of all of humanity. That
leper is us. That leper is you. That leper is
me. We are not wholesome and sound and brimming
with health. We are not good. We are not honorable.
We are not even OK. We are leprous! We are very
sick! We don’t need just a little healing - we
are deeply infected by a terrible terrible devastating
disease and we are in need of a tremendous, miraculous
amount of healing.
What
Yeshua did for this leper, He can do for us! Mohammed
can’t heal us. Buddha can’t heal us. Even Moses
and the other prophets of Israel can’t heal us!
The disciples of Freud can’t heal us. Scientists
can’t cure our illness. The Democrats and Republicans
and Independents can’t make us sufficiently well.
Yeshua alone can completely cure us of our terrible
disease. He has the authority to declare: Be
clean! And, if He says “be clean” to us, we
will be clean!
And,
He is willing to heal us. He is willing and able
to reach out and touch us, just as He reached
out and touched that leper. He touched us by the
Incarnation. He touched humanity by becoming a
human being, and living among us, and living a
perfect life, and then taking our sin upon Himself.
No one else can touch leprous humanity like this.
No one else can heal our wounds or cure our illnesses.
We must
be like the leper, and simply understand who Yeshua
is, come to Him by having faith and confidence
in Him, talk to Him and ask Him to make us clean.
Have you?
And,
after we are healed and cleansed of our spiritual
leprosy, we don’t want that leprosy to ever come
back! If we feel we are getting a little leprous,
a little sick, a little unclean; if we are losing
our love for God; if we are giving into the things
that tempt us, we need to keep on trusting Yeshua,
keep on getting close to Yeshua, and keep on asking
Him to touch us and once again making us clean.
Yeshua
knew who He was. Yeshua knew who God was. Yeshua
knew who He was in relationship to God. Because
He was strong in His self-identity, and in His
God-identity, Messiah did not seek popularity
from fallen human beings. He did not seek the
praise of flawed men and women. He didn’t need
or want the former leper, now normal and healthy,
to go out and advertise to others this great miracle
of healing.
But,
the Torah does have a command that should be observed
if a leper is healed, and Yeshua knew and knows
the Torah, and wanted to make sure the Torah was
obeyed. And He ordered him to tell no one,
“But go and show yourself to the priest and make
an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses
commanded, as a testimony to them.”
In spite
of not wanting fame, it came to Yeshua anyway.
But the news about Him was spreading even farther,
and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and
to be healed of their sicknesses.
And,
the more well-know He became, and the more God
used Him to heal the Chosen People, the more Yeshua
got away from people and talked to His Father,
and found that spiritual renewal and refreshment
that comes from getting alone with God and talking
to Him. But Yeshua Himself would often slip
away to the wilderness and pray.
Yeshua
was and is the greatest teacher of the Word of
God. Yeshua wanted and wants followers who know
Him, and who will carry on His message and mission.
Yeshua was and is the greatest healer of diseased
humanity. Luke now tells us that Yeshua is the
God-Man, and the Judge of all the Earth, who alone
has the authority to forgive our sins. And, we
desperately need our sins forgiven before we leave
this life! We do not want to “die in our sins”
- to leave this world in a state of unforgiveness.
Word
of Yeshua’s powerful teaching and healing ministry
had spread to the entire Jewish nation. The common
people were very attracted to Him and He was extremely
popular. But not everyone liked Him. Israel’s
religious leaders were very much aware of the
Carpenter-Turned Rabbi from Nazareth, and were
monitoring Him, but were not enthusiastically
endorsing Him. Luke now tells us about a great
miracle that Yeshua will do that will challenge
Israel’s religious leaders about who He really
is:
One
day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees
and teachers of the law sitting there, who had
come from every village of Galilee and Judea and
from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was
present for Him to perform healing. Yeshua
did not heal using His own divine power. He healed
as a man who was close to God, and anointed and
empower by the Holy Spirit.
And
some men were carrying on a bed a man who was
paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in
and to set him down in front of Him. But not finding
any way to bring him in because of the crowd,
they went up on the roof and let him down through
the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle
of the crowd, in front of Yeshua.
Seeing
their faith, Yeshua first responded to the
paralyzed man’s greatest need - the spiritual
paralysis caused by sin. He said, “Friend,
your sins are forgiven you.” If one understands
Torah, this is a very bold, audacious, startling
statement indeed!
The
scribes (Torah-Teachers experts in Jewish
Law) and the Pharisees began to reason, saying,
“Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can
forgive sins, but God alone?”
These
men knew the Torah, and they knew that the way
that God ordained for forgiveness wasn't an easy
matter. When a Jewish person sinned, it wasn't
enough to say, "Lord, I'm sorry. I won't
do it again." Atonement and forgiveness involved
much more than mere words. The person seeking
forgiveness from his sins had to find a clean,
fit animal, make a pilgrimage up to Jerusalem,
which could be several days journey, go to the
Temple, find a priest, confess his sins and lay
his hands on the head of the animal. Then, the
bull, goat, lamb, ram, or pigeon was killed. Then
the priest took the blood and poured it on the
base of the altar, cut up the animal, and burnt
some of it on the altar. Then if the man's heart
was right, and he didn't do this as an empty ceremony,
then and only then was his sin forgiven.
But,
Yeshua bypassed all this, and with His authority,
granted the man atonement and forgiveness because
of the faith that the man and his friends had
in God and in Yeshua Himself! The spiritual paralysis
was gone! He had freedom of movement so that he
could move closer and closer to God! How wonderful!
But
Yeshua, aware of their reasonings (and knowing
those thoughts were wrong), answered and said
to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been
forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
The answer
is it easier to say “Your sins are forgiven” because
that declaration is hard for human beings to verify.
It is harder to say “Get up and walk” because
that is easy to verify. Yeshua will now verify
that the paralyzed man’s sins were indeed forgiven,
because of the authority that Yeshua had, by verifying
that He also could say (and have done) the harder
thing: “Get up and walk. But, so that you may
know that the Son of Man has authority on Earth
to forgive sins,” - He said to the paralyzed man
- “I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher
and go home.” Immediately he got up before them,
and picked up what he had been lying on, and went
home glorifying God. They were all struck with
astonishment and began glorifying God; and they
were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable
things today.” And, they had seen remarkable
things that day. They had caught a glimpse that
Yeshua alone had and has God-given, God ordained
authority to forgive sins; that Yeshua had and
has the authority and the ability to heal human
beings of paralysis - those who are physically
immobilized and those who are spiritually immobilized
by their trespasses and sins.
Yeshua
is the great healer of terribly sickened and paralyzed
humanity.
Yeshua
is the great atoner of sinful humanity which is
in the most desperate desperate need of forgiveness.
Yeshua
is the great transformer of humanity who redirects
human beings to those purposes and missions that
are really important.
Is He
your healer, atoner and transformer? If He is,
wonderful! You are greatly blessed! If He isn’t,
please make an appointment to meet with me, and
I will try to help that become possible.
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