Luke 5:17-26
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man
17 One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus.19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26 Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
Has anyone ever said to you, your sins are forgiven?...It would be unusual coming from a "normal" man to say these words...It is something though we should think about...Jesus regularly went around saying your sins are forgiven...Why do you think He would do this?...
Jesus recognized there is something wrong in our lives and went about fixing those wrong things...Here some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus...When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd around Jesus, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus...They were doing their best to get their friend near Jesus, so He could heal him...Interestingly enough when Jesus saw their faith, the first thing Jesus says is, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”...Why would He say this when all the friends and the man want was for him to walk?...Why would the first thing Jesus say to the crippled man, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”?...Jesus knows mankind is broke and needs fixed...We are sinners...
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy?...Who can forgive sins but God alone?”...The Pharisees, also, were wondering about this Man forgiving others of sins, when they did not even ask for it...They probably are wondering why the subject of forgiveness even came up in this healing...How can a Man, if He is only a Man, forgive a man or someone of their past sins?...Jesus knew what the Pharisees were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?...Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?...But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”...
Jesus tells us that He does have the authority on earth to forgive sins...So the paralyzed man must have sinned at some time, because Jesus forgave him of his sins...So Jesus said to the paralyzed man, after first forgiving him of his sins, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”...Immediately, the healed paralyzed man stood up in front of everyone there, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God...Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God...They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”...They not only heard some mighty words today, they had seen a mighty sign in the miracle healing...Yes, they had seen and heard something quite remarkable...
C. S. Lewis makes this point about Jesus forgiving others of their sins, and it is pertinent to this healing...Lewis writes, “He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured...He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned, the person chiefly offended in all offences...This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin.”...Jesus did not pursue the man or people the paralyzed man had sinned against...It seems not to concern Him...Jesus is acting like He is the One that the paralyzed man has sinned against...But how could He?...Jesus has never met the paralyzed man or his friends...
Let us not forget in all of this, the paralyzed man's main concern was getting healed...All his friends and paralyzed man wanted was to see if this remarkable Man in town could heal him of his paralysis...He may have not even had thought about asking Jesus for forgiveness (of his sins), had Jesus not brought it up...
Jesus is acting like a Divine Human Being here, and it upset the attending Pharisees...But what the Pharisees failed to realize, is that Jesus is not only a Divine Human Being, but He is God in the flesh...Jesus does unhesitatingly have the authority to forgive us (or any man) of our personal sins...He is the Party concerned, when we do sin...He is the Person chiefly offended in all our offenses...But this only makes sense when we believe that Jesus came from heaven...This only makes sense when we believe that Jesus is the Son of Man...This makes sense when we believe that He knows what we are thinking and what is in our hearts...This only makes sense if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose LOVE is wounded in every one of our sins...