man with dropsy Luke 14 1-6
The day I met Jesus started as an ordinaary Sabbath day. I didnt know that Jesus was going to be in our synagogue that day or indeed that he was going to be invited for lunch by Jonas the Pharisee afterwards. Jonas was my neighbour and I had known him for several years. He had seen my health failing little by little and knew that the doctor had said the swelling in my legs was due to some problem with my heart. I wasnt quite sure how that could be so, but I was prepared to believe it as I was constantly short of breath and sometimes did feel my heart beating with a strange rhythm.
I used to work as a lawyer and a scribe for the synagogue, but as my health deterioirated I was able to do less and less and spent much of my time at home sitting on my porch watching the world go by. But I always managed to get to synagogue on the sabbath and I had been particularly interested to hear Jesus teaching - I had heard the rumours about his outrageous claims and miraculous healings.
That day I was walking slowly home from synagogue after the service, supported by my son Simon who was pretty much always by my side. As we passed Jonas's house he came out and called to us to come in and share a glass of wine with him and his guests. We were happy to oblige and stepped into his rather fancy atrium. His house was twice the siaze of mine and built in the Roman style with an internal courtyard with a fountain in the middle of it. Off to one side I could see Jesus and some of his disciples deep in conversation with some of the leaders of the synagogue and the Sanhedrin.
I was offered a glass of wine and had just taken one sip when I heard Jesus say ' Excuse me sir' I looked up and saw that he was pointing at me. ' Would you mind coming over here for a minute?' He smiled at me and I instantly felt at ease. I shuffled across the room to stand close to him.
Jesus then turned to addess his audience and said ' Tell em friends, is it lawful to heal someone on the Sabbath?' There was a sea of raised eyebrows and alot of muttering between them all. Jesus continued ' If you have a donkey or an ox which you need because it works for you, and that animal falls into a well on the sabbath, do you leave it there to suffer because it's the Sabbath? No of course you dont' And with that he turned to me and put one hand on my head and the other over my heart. He leaned forward so his mouth was next to my ear and said very quietly ' Be healed and completely well'. And in that instant I felt a heat coming into my heart, a tingling running up and down my body from my head right down to my toes and I started to cry. My son gasped and fell on his knees taking my legs in his hands and shouting ' Look! look, the sweing is going!' And sure enough I felt the strength come into my legs as the heaviness left. I grasped Jesus's hand and kissed it thanking him over and over again. ' You are welcome friend' he said, ' Now go home, and dont forget to give your thanks to God in the synagogue for it is God who has healed you'
I looked around the room. Jonas, my neighbour who had seen me gradually getting less and less mobile ofer the past couple of years, was astunded and elated. He slapped me on the back and grinned at me as I practically skipped out of the house and down the road to my own. My wife was on the porch and just about fainted as she saw me jogging up the front path, my son almost running to keep up with me. I picked her up out of her seat and danced round the porch with her laughing and crying and celebrating. My other sons came out of the house on hearing the commotion and they joined in too. The party in my house went on for most of that evening. And has gone on ever since really. Because that day Jesus did more than heal my body. He healed my life. And for that I am so deeply grateful
.
I used to work as a lawyer and a scribe for the synagogue, but as my health deterioirated I was able to do less and less and spent much of my time at home sitting on my porch watching the world go by. But I always managed to get to synagogue on the sabbath and I had been particularly interested to hear Jesus teaching - I had heard the rumours about his outrageous claims and miraculous healings.
That day I was walking slowly home from synagogue after the service, supported by my son Simon who was pretty much always by my side. As we passed Jonas's house he came out and called to us to come in and share a glass of wine with him and his guests. We were happy to oblige and stepped into his rather fancy atrium. His house was twice the siaze of mine and built in the Roman style with an internal courtyard with a fountain in the middle of it. Off to one side I could see Jesus and some of his disciples deep in conversation with some of the leaders of the synagogue and the Sanhedrin.
I was offered a glass of wine and had just taken one sip when I heard Jesus say ' Excuse me sir' I looked up and saw that he was pointing at me. ' Would you mind coming over here for a minute?' He smiled at me and I instantly felt at ease. I shuffled across the room to stand close to him.
Jesus then turned to addess his audience and said ' Tell em friends, is it lawful to heal someone on the Sabbath?' There was a sea of raised eyebrows and alot of muttering between them all. Jesus continued ' If you have a donkey or an ox which you need because it works for you, and that animal falls into a well on the sabbath, do you leave it there to suffer because it's the Sabbath? No of course you dont' And with that he turned to me and put one hand on my head and the other over my heart. He leaned forward so his mouth was next to my ear and said very quietly ' Be healed and completely well'. And in that instant I felt a heat coming into my heart, a tingling running up and down my body from my head right down to my toes and I started to cry. My son gasped and fell on his knees taking my legs in his hands and shouting ' Look! look, the sweing is going!' And sure enough I felt the strength come into my legs as the heaviness left. I grasped Jesus's hand and kissed it thanking him over and over again. ' You are welcome friend' he said, ' Now go home, and dont forget to give your thanks to God in the synagogue for it is God who has healed you'
I looked around the room. Jonas, my neighbour who had seen me gradually getting less and less mobile ofer the past couple of years, was astunded and elated. He slapped me on the back and grinned at me as I practically skipped out of the house and down the road to my own. My wife was on the porch and just about fainted as she saw me jogging up the front path, my son almost running to keep up with me. I picked her up out of her seat and danced round the porch with her laughing and crying and celebrating. My other sons came out of the house on hearing the commotion and they joined in too. The party in my house went on for most of that evening. And has gone on ever since really. Because that day Jesus did more than heal my body. He healed my life. And for that I am so deeply grateful
.
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