Luke 5:17 ¶ And it came to
pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and
doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee,
and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal
them. 18 And, behold, men brought in a
bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring
him in, and to lay him before him. 19
And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon
the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into
the midst before Jesus. 20 And when he
saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to
reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins,
but God alone? 22 But when Jesus
perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your
hearts? 23 Whether is easier, to say,
Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? 24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath
power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say
unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. 25 And immediately he rose up before them, and
took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. 26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified
God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day.
The crowd now consists
of the Pharisee party, ultra-religious and right-wing, and teachers of the law,
called doctors in Luke just as the
Roman Catholic Church calls its greatest scholars, “Doctors of the Church.”
They came from the entire area, not only Galilee now but also all Judea and
Jerusalem.
Friends of a man with
palsy went to great lengths to get the man in front of Jesus, believing He
could heal the man. Jesus’ response, which confounded and upset the religious big
shots, was that the man’s sins were forgiven. They argued among themselves and
Jesus, knowing their thoughts, confronts them in their opinion that He was
committing blasphemy. To prove His point He orders to man to get up and take
the pallet he was brought in on and go home, which he did. This amazed everyone
and yet, filled them with fear, due to the miracle they saw Jesus perform and
what He had said.
Here the Pharisees and
doctors have unintentionally acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah by stating that
only God can forgive sins, and yet, Jesus proved His point by not only
forgiving the man’s sins but healing his broken body, showing He had the power to
back up His claim to being the Saviour.
Earlier, in Luke 4, He
declared the fulfillment of prophecy in Himself when He quoted Isaiah 61.
People have seen His power to heal disease and to cast out unclean spirits. He
has now done that and forgiven a man’s sins at the same time much as Paul
received the Holy Ghost and was healed from his own blindness at the same time
in Acts 9. The testimony of Luke declares that Jesus could read the thoughts of
men, as well.
Psalm 139:23 Search me, O
God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts
God knows our minds and knows us by our mind and what we think; mind and
heart.
Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of man is the candle
of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.
Ephesians 4:23 And be
renewed in the spirit of your mind;
The Jews require a sign
as it says in 1Corinthians 1:22 and their nation was born in signs and wonders
as it explains in Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 4:34 Or hath
God assayed to go and take him
a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs,
and by wonders, and by war, and
by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according
to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
One other thing of
note, and there are many things I probably have missed here that would make
good preaching material, is the response of the man. He glorified God in his
healing. Not everyone gives glory to God when they are healed. They often give
glory to their doctors or their own ability to recover and recuperate but not
to God, who actually controls all events and works through the physical world
of doctors and our bodies to accomplish a purpose, like healing.
No comments:
Post a Comment