Luke 5:17-39

One day when Jesus was teaching, some men came with their paralyzed friend for Jesus to heal, but the crowd was so thick they could not get to Him. Not willing to give up, they removed some tiles from the roof of the house where Jesus was and lowered their friend down to Jesus. Jesus healed the man, but before He did, He forgave the man's sins.

Jesus offers us healing and forgiveness today as well. Once our sins are forgiven, the healing process can begin. Since the burden of our sin is the root of so many of our spiritual and emotional hurts, the healing process can't start until that weight has been lifted off of us.


Jesus called Matthew, a tax collector, to follow Him. Matthew left what he was doing and followed Jesus. He then got some of his fellow tax collectors together for a feast honoring Jesus. The scribes and Pharisees expressed concern that Jesus was associating with tax collectors and "sinners". Jesus answered that He came to call people to repent. Just like only sick people need a doctor, only sinners need to repent.

Matthew brought his friends to meet Jesus. He wasn't satisfied to keep this to himself. He didn't just forget about them when he met Jesus. Jesus came to sinners (and we're all sinners) with a message of repentance. This is the same message that we carry to the world today. If we just stay in our Christian circle of friends, who are we taking that message to?


They continued by asking Him why His disciples did not fast like everyone else. He explained that because He was with them, it was not the proper time for fasting. The Messiah that they had been waiting for had come and was among them. That should be cause for celebration. Soon enough He would not be with them and that would be the time for fasting.

When Jesus is with us, it is a time for rejoicing. We are right where we need to be. Sometimes we fall away from Him and it is these times we need to fast (not necessarily from food, but perhaps TV, internet, friends, etc.) and return our focus to Him. That is the purpose of fasting - to put our focus back on God by taking it off of worldly things. Do a checkup: Is there something you need to take a break from and refocus on God?