Inspection Team

Readings in Luke Continued – No.13

Lk 5:17 One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick.

We are looking, you may remember, at the material that is unique to Luke. When it comes to this particular incident Mark reports: “A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum , the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.” (Mk 2:1,2). Matthew merely said, “Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town,” (Mt 9:1) and then moved into the account, that they all include, of the paralytic being dropped through the roof of the house and being healed by Jesus.

Now in Luke’s unique materials we find two things that Luke heard about and which stayed with him, so he included these matters that no one else thought to include. The first one is what I have called “the inspection team”. We have inspection teams in education who come into schools, sit in on classes and give their verdicts as to the quality of teaching. The people Luke picks up on were a bit like that. We have already seen that the people of the area had appreciated Jesus’ preaching and now we have those described as Pharisees and teachers of the law who come to hear him. Now the word Pharisee means “the separated ones, separatists,” and they were a religious party who first appeared about 135 B.C. They were also known as chasidim, meaning “loved of God” or “loyal to God.” and according to Josephus, their number at the height of their popularity was more than 6,000. They considered they were exponents and guardians of the oral and written law.

The teachers of the law, sometimes just referred to as scribes, were men who studied, taught, interpreted and conveyed the Law of Moses. Both of these groups felt a need to check out Jesus and his teaching to see that it conformed, in their eyes at least, with the Law of Moses.

This is the first time Luke mentions these two groups and they represent the intellectual opposition that Jesus would encounter. He, as they would hear, was just the son of humble carpenter and so they would not expect him to do very well conveying the law. They would expect his teaching to be very rough and ready and expected to be able to pull him apart as far as adhering to the ‘proper’ teaching was concerned.

Many times in the Gospels we therefore find this opposition coming. What is interesting here is that Luke says they had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. They came from the north where he was preaching, but the word had spread much further and so they came from the south, and even from Jerusalem the home of their religion.

What is interesting is that at the end, when Jesus is being accused by the Sanhedrin, many of whom were Pharisees, none of them was able to pick up on and criticise Jesus’ general teaching. When the Son of God teaches, he is accurate! How do we feel about Jesus’ teaching, I wonder? Do we seek to find fault so that we can reject him? Do we seek to find fault because we too are threatened by him? Criticising Jesus’ teaching is a sign of never having properly studied what he taught, but mostly it is a sign of a heart that has never been truly surrendered to God. The person who has surrendered their heart fully to God finds the teaching of Jesus meat and drink.

The second thing that stuck with Luke was the power of God that was clearly with Jesus for he states that the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. He understands that healing only comes when God imparts healing power. For healing to come counter to the normal flow of nature, miraculously in other words, it has to be because God imparts His power for that specific purpose. There is also, it seems, an implication that that isn’t always so. In that same place Mark records on one occasion, “He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith.” (Mk 6:5,6). It would appear on this latter occasion the unbelief of the people hindered the power of God flowing through Jesus. Possibly the phrase above, the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick implies that on different occasions God’s power flowed in different ways to achieve different ends, and the end at this moment was healing.

Luke, as a doctor, has a special awareness of these things. The message and lesson for us is, as we’ve stated above, is that if we are to see healing it must be because it is God’s will and God’s power flows to bring the change. Without God we cannot heal. There is no inherent power within us, as some think, that brings healing to others. No, it is specifically the power of God flowing that reverses the course of ill-health and brings instant or speedy good-health. Luke wants us to make sure we give the glory to God if we are involved in this sort of ministry. Power doesn’t just happen; it is the operation of God moving. And the result? The result must always be that God is glorified. At the end of this account we find, “Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God.” (v.26) When that happens people will be drawn to God, and not to us. That is why it is important to realise that it is God’s power and God’s activity.

You may wonder why we major on this point, but it is because the glory is to be God’s and not ours. When great things happen they happen because God moves. We might have been the channel through which He flowed, but ultimately it was God’s power flowing and He and He alone is to be glorified. Let’s not hinder that happening.