“Your sins are forgiven." (Luke 5:17-26)
Today Jesus tells a paralytic: “Your sins are forgiven.” Luke 5:17. This is bigger than healing the blind and the deaf, the lepers and the lame. It is bigger because not everyone is blind, deaf, lame, or a leper. But everyone is a sinner. Everyone needs to hear Jesus say “Your sins are forgiven.”
Sinful, Sins, Sinners [0:50]
We have some great stories in this chapter. The great catch of fish by Peter, James and John. Jesus and the leper, which we talked about last week. The paralyzed man let down into the presence of Jesus through a hole in the roof. Matthew holds a banquet for Jesus at his house. A lot of great stories.
As we read through all of this we are overwhelmed with the power of Jesus. And rightfully so. It is easy to read all of this and miss something very important. There are three ugly words that tie all of these things together: sinful, sins, and sinners; sinful, sins, and sinners.
Peter was called to be a disciple. And when he caught the great catch of fish Peter fell on his knees before Jesus and said “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” (5:8) And Jesus said, “Do not be afraid.”
The leper begged Jesus to make him clean. And Jesus said, “Be clean.” And he was clean from his defilement.
And while Jesus was at Matthew’s banquet the Pharisees asked, “Why do you eat and drink with...sinners? (5:30) And Jesus said, “I have come to call...sinners to repentance.” (5:31)
So these words: sinful, sins, and sinners.
And these words: “Don’t be afraid.” “Be clean.” “I have come to call sinners to repentance.”
Don’t be so overpowered by the great catch of fish, the healing of the leper, and the lame man picking up his mat and walking, that you miss the words sinful, sin, and sinners.
Don’t be so beaten down by the words sinful, sin, and sinners that you miss Jesus’ encouraging words: “Don’t be afraid.” (5:10) “Be clean!” (5:13) “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” (5:20) “I have come to call...sinners to repentance.” (5:31)
Jesus in Capernaum [4:30]
So, let’s get to our story οf a parlyzed sinful man. (Luke 5:17) Jesus is in Capernaum. (Mark 2:1) A village on the Sea of Galilee and where he lived. And most of the miracles recorded in the gospels took place in Capernaum.
Jesus has been away, but he has come back. And people have come to hear him teach. Not just from Capernaum. From every village in Galilee. And from Judea. And from Jerusalem itself.
They are coming a long way! They are coming from everywhere––to hear Jesus. The common people. But also the Pharisees are there. And the teachers of the law are there. These teachers of the law are also called scribes. Scribes spent their entire lives making copies of the scriptures and other important things. Trained from the time they were boys to make copies of the scriptures. And so they were experts in the law and teachers of the law.
How much knowledge would you have of the Bible if you spent decades making copies by hand––letter by letter by letter. So the experts have come to listen to Jesus. They have come to judge what he has to say. And scribes also judged cases––like when they judged Jesus and sent him to the cross.
Men who will try to trap Jesus. Catch him in his words. Twist his words. Harass him. Accuse him. Luke tells us that the Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. Very interesting that Luke would point out that they were sitting. Why point out such a mundane observation: they were sitting? Well––when judges judged cases––they sat down to consider cases. So, to point out that the scribes were sitting seems to say their mindset is that of judges considering a case. Not here simply as men who are sitting down and want to hear the gospel––but here with the mindset of judges sitting hearing a case.
Your Sins are Forgiven [8:15]
And now to the paralytic. A paralyzed man has been brought to the house by his friends. Carrying him on his mat. But there is no way to get into the house. It is just packed! Well––you know the story. They go up on the roof and make a hole. A hole big enough to lower their friend. They tie ropes to the mat and lower him into the presence of Jesus.
And when Jesus saw their faith he said to the man, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” Perfect tense verb (apheontai).
Well that is quite a statement. The Pharisees are sitting and listening. The teachers of the law are sitting and listening. There is rejoicing in heaven. But the teachers of the law are not rejoicing. They are sitting and thinking Jesus has committed blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!
They are right, only God can forgive sins. But they are wrong to think that Jesus has committed blasphemy. He has not committed blashphemy because Jesus is God (Heb. 1:8). Because Jesus is God Jesus can forgive sins. When Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven,” his sins were forgiven.
Jesus knows it. The angels know it. God knows it. But the experts in the law do not know it.
God is well pleased with Jesus––but the teachers of he law are not happy: Jesus blasphemes!
Forgiveness and Healing [10:50]
Well, what can Jesus do? Is there any way to show that the man’s sins are really forgiven? It is not an easy thing to show. Men cannot see the forgiveness of sins. Well, there is something Jesus can do.
The man is paralyzed. It was believed that all of these kinds of disabilities that Jesus was healing were because of personal sin. It was believed that lepers were lepers because of a personal sin. The blind were blind and the deaf were deaf because the man had sinned against the Lord.
Jesus disciples thought this way. In the Gospel of John there was a man who had been born blind. The disciples asked Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (NIV, John 9:2) Jesus said neither.
This was the common teaching. Disabilities are the result of some kind of sin. And even more: when the sin was forgiven, the disability would be healed.
Here is a quote from an early rabbi: A sick man does not recover until his sins are forgiven. (Mishna, Nadarim 41a; Tyndale, John 9:2). Did the rabbis in Jesus’ day think this way? Probably. Probably.
Think about that: a sick man does not heal until his sins are forgiven. That would mean that this paralytic who was let down into the presence of Jesus could not be healed until his sins were forgiven.
Where did the rabbis get this idea? From Psalm 103: Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits––who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases. (NIV)
First forgiveness, then healing. Even James 5 has this to say: The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; and the Lord will raise him up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. (NIV, James 5:15)
Well––according to all of this––if the man’s sins have been forgiven then he should be healed of his paralysis. If Jesus can heal him it proves that Jesus forgave his sins!
With all of that in the background, Jesus said, “I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to fogive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” (Lk. 5:24)
And he did! The man was healed. And according to the rabbis he could not have been healed until he was forgiven. Jesus was not a blasphemer. When Jesus forgave his sins, his sins were forgiven. And when Jesus told him to pick up his mat and go home, he did.
The Authority of Jesus [16:07]
Jesus has shown his authority. That is what he said: “I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” Jesus showed his authority to forgive by showing his authority to heal.
I hear people say the healing miracles show us Jesus’ power. And I want to ask––power to do what? If I asked that question––power to do what––I think most people would say: power to heal. That answer would be right but it is lacking in understanding.
Here is what F.F. Bruck says in his book The New Testament Documents: Are they reliable? On page 70 he says this: The power that was effective in conquering these ailments was the same power that could prevail over evil in all its forms. So, then, all the miracles of healing are in a sense parables of the soul’s deliverance from sin, and therefore the prominent place they have in the gospel stories is justified.
Two things here. Every person Jesus healed was handicapped because of sin. Maybe because of his own personal sin. Or, because we live in a world where we are affected by the sins of previous generations. Like if a pregnant woman drinks a lot of alcohol and takes drugs and her child is born malformed and disabled. Whatever the case, every handicap, every deformity is somehow traced back to the sin of someone somewhere. I did it, my parents did, my grandparents, my great grandparents. Somewhere between me and Adam.
But, as F.F. Bruce says the miracles are about deliverance from sin in all of its forms. Remember that every time you read about the healing ministry of Jesus.
Jesus the friend of sinners. Jesus the Savior of the world.
Rick Walker
Vinekeeper Bible Podcast
