It isn't hard to imagine the tense atmosphere that may well have prevailed as Jesus stood facing the Pharisees. See Luke 5:17-25. With healing compassion the Master had reached out to lift the sinful past from a man suffering from paralysis. With their entrenched views, the Pharisees resisted this effort to liberate the man. The man was not healed. And, for the moment, the repressive attitude of the Pharisees prevailed. Who was Jesus to claim such power!
But, of course, that isn't the end of the story. What happened next stands as a powerful lesson for all those today who, having turned to God in prayer, are still waiting for healing. The Gospel of Luke tells us that as Jesus faced this aggressive rejection of the healing action of the Christ, he "perceived" their thoughts. He clearly saw the mental hindrance that was flaring up. He recognized this age-old element of mortal mentality that would try to block the light, the spiritual illumination that reveals man as whole, healthful, perfect. And he faced it down. Literally, he held his ground and refused to back down. He knew that man's true nature has its origin in God, Spirit, not in matter. His life was such a full representation of the Christ, the spiritual idea of man's sonship with God, that he had no doubt of man's perfection—regardless of what seemed to be overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
It was this kind of spiritual conviction that gave Jesus an ability to recognize the fallacy and powerlessness of the Pharisees' willful opposition. And this spiritual certainty gave genuine authority to his command to the man, "Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house." With the resistance swept away, the healing occurred instantly: "And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God."
