Psalm 105:1-22; Dan. 6:1-15; 2 John 1-13; Luke 5:12-26
The prophecy is fulfilled that the kingdom of Babylon would fall to the Medes and Persians and Darius, king of Persia is the new sheriff in town. Darius reorganizes things and sets up local and regional rulers, and among the chief rulers is Daniel. Because of the spirit of God within him, Daniel becomes clearly the best among the presidents and the king planned to set him above the entire kingdom, over all except himself, just as Pharaoh had done with Joseph in Egypt. Not surprisingly, this aroused the jealousy of the other leaders and they devised a trap for Daniel, much as had happened in Daniel 4 to the three companions of Daniel. Daniel is a faithful man and he is not afraid of rulers. These men surely knew his history and devised a plan they knew would succeed in entrapping Daniel. The only outcome of this plan from the start was that Daniel would be condemned but he considered his duty to God as greater than his duty to any king. Can you imagine him doing anything else?
The first scene in our Gospel story is one of the tenderest moments in the Bible. The man is described as being “full of leprosy” and Jesus does something that He doesn’t have to do in order to effect the healing, He stretches out His hand and touches the man. He could have healed him by simply speaking but He didn’t. Lepers had to shout out to the world that they were unclean lest anyone they encountered should touch them and therefore be made unclean themselves but here Jesus willingly touches this man and the result is that both are clean. How incredible must the touch of another human being have been to this man, and yet the touch also healed his body. The paralytic, I believe, was healed in the same way. Jesus offered absolution for sin first and then healing. He never did anything without purpose and I believe that the forgiveness of sin was connected with the healing itself, perhaps the paralysis was a result of sin. At any rate, it was clearly necessary for the man to hear these words or Jesus wouldn’t have spoken them. How can we go beyond speaking truth to communicating it at a more personal level as Jesus does with these two men?
The one unique thing we have to offer the world is grace. How are we dispensers of grace? We do it by following Jesus and His example, we reach out to a hurting world in love. God loved the world enough to send His Son to die that those who believe in Him would have life eternal. Do we love the world enough to extend grace to others? Daniel loved God with all his heart and was willing to take any worldly risk to remain faithful to Him but he also clearly served the world, including pagan kings, well enough that they promoted him to the highest office they could give. Jesus was willing to extend the grace and love of God in ways that religious people found scandalous. He immersed Himself in the pain and suffering of the world and redeemed it, revealing the Father. Are we willing to do the same?
Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail;
Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end,
Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.
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