Luke 5:24-25, ,
“Get up, take your mat and go home.”.”
At once the man stood before them. He took up the mat
he had been lying on and went home praising God.
Luke 5:27-28
“Follow me.”
So Levi, leaving everything, got up and followed
Jesus.
Luke 5:31-32
“Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I have come to call to repentance; I call sinners, not
the righteous.”
John 13:8
“If I do not wash you, you can have no part with me.”
---- My Own, to the extent that you are willing to empty yourself, to the extent that you are willing to give up your will and embrace Mine, to the extent that you are willing to give up all that holds you back from following Me in complete freedom without any encumbrances, to that extent alone will you experience the fullness of My love and grace.
The paralytic was unable to get up because his sins were a weight that held him down. The tax collector was caught up in transactions that muddied his soul and he suffered greatly because he was denounced as an outcast and a public sinner. He believed himself to be worthless and there was nothing he could do about it.
The invitation to the paralytic and to the tax collector is one I make to you. Rid yourself of the things that weigh you down, all attachments, affections, and desires that deprive you from receiving all that I desire to give; which is all of Me. Take heart that you are a sinner, for if you believed that you were sinless then I could do nothing with you. I came for the weak, the sick, the helpless, those who have fallen low and can do nothing to raise themselves again.
You belong to those who are privileged to have been cleansed in the waters of baptism. I have washed your feet and I have given you an example of what you are to do and how you are to live. Follow Me, imitate Me, permit Me to have free rein of your will and your life and you will know true happiness and lasting joy.
