Luke 5:17 – Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
You would have to say that Jesus is the greatest example of the culmination of the word and the Spirit in His ministry of all. After all, Jesus is the Word of God; and on top of that He is the Messiah, the anointed One. Everything about Jesus from His birth to His life and ministry is a combination of the Word of God and the Spirit of God. Today’s scripture verse is just one example of the Word and Spirit in His life. He was teaching the Word of God and Luke described in his gospel that the power of the Lord was present to heal. Jesus demonstrated this by healing a man who was total paralyzed. It was a combination of the word and Spirit. Luke had described that the power of the Lord was present to heal, Jesus spoke the word, “Pick up your pallet and go home”. Immediately this man was healed and restored to his normal life. This is what Adam Clarke said about this moment.
“The mighty or miraculous power of the Lord, i. e. of Jesus, was there to heal them-as many as were diseased either in body or soul. Where the teaching of Christ is, there also is the power of Christ to redeem and save.”
In another example Jesus was reading the scrolls of the prophet Isaiah when He read this. Luke 4:18 – “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel…” Jesus was summing up in this message what His ministry would look like. He was anointed by the Holy Spirit and He was called to preach the gospel. Jesus was the prototype of what Christians are intended to do; we are to stay filled with the Spirit so we can also say the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Then we are to boldly declare His word. What will happen then? The poor will hear the gospel, the sick will be healed, the broken hearted will be comforted and restored, and those bound by addictions or demonic power will be set free. This is our life, walk in the steps of Jesus filled with God’s word and filled with the Spirit.
