And it came to pass on one of the days, that *he* was teaching, and there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, who were come out of every village of Galilee and Judaea and [out of] Jerusalem; and [the] Lord's power was [there] to heal them.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And lo, men bringing upon a couch a man who was paralysed; and they sought to bring him in, and put [him] before him.
Luke pauses on a small procession: men carrying a paralysed friend, looking for a way to get him in front of Jesus. Two questions shape the scene — what does his condition picture, and whose faith does the Lord answer?
Luke names a real disease. Commentators also read it as a picture of where man stands before God.
The Greek word, παραλύω, to loosen, shows that the disease was paralysis. Others carried people with this disease to the Lord on beds or couches. Matt. 9:2-6; Mark 2:3-10; Luke 5:18, 24; Acts 8:7; Acts 9:33. The paralysed stand for complete human helplessness, which God alone can relieve and raise up.
One writer sets this man beside the leper and reads the two cases together.
The leprous man shows what sinfulness is; the paralysed man shows what powerlessness is. Put the two cases together, and you get a very full picture of what a sinner is. His sinfulness exposes him to the judgment of God; his powerlessness shuts him up entirely to His mercy, for he has no resource in himself.
The "bed" here was not furniture as we picture it.
In the East the beds were simply mats. People rolled them up in the morning and put them away in any corner. That explains the command to the healed: "take up" your bed... No doubt light movable couches also served as bedsteads, and on one of these the man was let down through the roof. Luke 5:18.
The verse ends mid-effort — they were seeking a way. The obstacle did not weaken their purpose; it exposed how strong it was.
Sinful man is not only defiled and defiling, but also has no strength. The Lord proves Himself equal to meet this result of sin as much as the other. There were difficulties in the way; but what are these to the sense of need and faith?
One writer weighs what would have happened if these men had lacked faith.
They had an urgent desire to be healed and full confidence in the power and love of Jesus. Without that, the crowd in the way would have discouraged them. They would have turned back and said, "We will come again. We may be able to get to Him another time." But faith meets no difficulties. Its principles are these: we need to find the Saviour, to feel our misery, and to feel that Jesus alone can heal us. His love is strong enough to look on us in our wretchedness.
Luke records no word from these men. The Lord read their action.
There was no ceremony in this, none of the old distance kept at the temple, no waiting for an introduction. This little company felt their need. They knew the excellence of the Son of God. They believed that the two suited each other — indeed, that the Lord carried the one because needy sinners were carrying the other. It was a strong expression of faith, and I believe its strength matched the mind of Jesus. So, on seeing their faith, without further delay or more words, His heart and the grace it carried spoke out.
His friends brought him for one thing; the Lord gave him another. One writer ties that first word to the man's weakness.
"And when He saw their faith, He said, Man, your sins are forgiven you." Not, Man, your paralysis is healed; but, "your sins are forgiven you." This is very instructive. To reach the powerlessness of a sinner, he must be forgiven. Nothing leaves a man weaker in spirit than the lack of a sense of forgiveness. If I am to have the power to serve the living God, I must have the assurance that my sins are forgiven.
The Lord answered the faith of the carriers, not the sick man's. One writer turns that into a call for today.
Did He not give the highest praise to the zeal of the four men? Despite every difficulty they brought the paralysed man and laid him at His feet. "When Jesus saw their faith" — not his — "He said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven." We want such zeal now — hearts in earnest that would bring, in faith, poor paralysed souls to the place where the Spirit of God is working. Such zeal is sure to meet its bright reward.
The bearers also knew where to take him, and that judgement is itself part of the lesson.
The four friends who wanted to bring their paralysed friend before the Lord Jesus clearly saw the Lord as the focus of their attention and the resolver of their friend's need... Social improvement, advancing technology, improved housing, political rights, human means for personal advancement and all such things are no use to man's deepest needs.
- Helpless. Paralysis pictures a condition no effort of the sufferer can touch; only God can raise him up.
- Carried. What he could not do for himself, others did — they lifted him, and the Lord answered their faith.
- Undeterred. The crowd tested that faith; it did not stop it. Faith treats obstacles as things to get past.
- Forgiven. The Lord's first word dealt with his sins, because unforgiven sin keeps a person weak.
- Sent. The same zeal is wanted now — see a need, bring the person to Christ, and expect the bright reward such zeal is sure to meet.
And not finding what way to bring him in, on account of the crowd, going up on the housetop they let him down through the tiles, with his little couch, into the midst before Jesus.
The crowd around Jesus in Capernaum was too thick to push through. A paralysed man's friends could not carry him to Jesus, so they climbed onto the roof and lowered him through it. The verse raises two questions: what kind of house allowed this, and what kind of faith tries it?
Houses of that time made this possible in a way that sounds impossible now. One account reconstructs the scene, including what it cost the sick man himself:
The sick man agreed to bear the pain the plan would cost him. They went up an outside flight of stairs to the flat roof of the house. There they removed the tiling, or the thin stone roofing. This was not at all a difficult task, and it was easy to repair. Then they lowered the paralysed man on his bed, through the opening they had made, into the presence of the Master.
Luke's own word for what they opened points to a familiar kind of house.
Luke 5:19. — "Tiles": Luke's adaptation to the way in which a Roman house was constructed.
The paralysed man and the man with leprosy belong together, and each shows a different side of sin.
Now we see the other form in which sin appears. It is not so much its defiling influence here, but the powerlessness it produces — man's total helplessness under it. Sinful man is not only defiled and defiling, but also has no strength. The Lord accordingly proves Himself equal to meet this result of sin as much as the other. There were difficulties in the way; but what are these to the sense of need and faith?
Each of the two conditions has its own consequence.
If sinfulness is shown in the man with leprosy, powerlessness is shown in the paralysed man. His sinfulness exposes him to the judgment of God; his powerlessness shuts him up entirely to His mercy, for he has no resource in himself.
The friends could have decided to come back another day. Two things kept them from it.
Without an urgent desire to be healed, and full confidence in the power and love of Jesus, the difficulty of the crowd would have discouraged them. They would have gone back, saying perhaps, "We will come again, we may be able to get to Him another time." But there are no difficulties for faith. Its principles are these: the need of finding the Saviour, and of feeling our misery. Faith feels that Jesus alone can heal us, and that His love is strong enough to look upon us in our wretchedness.
What they did for a friend, we are meant to do for ours.
Let us not be too dismayed by whatever formidable difficulties there may seem to be in the way of our bringing helpless people to the Lord. Persistent, believing prayer will accomplish true results. Their faith was immediately rewarded.
The crowd was not only a physical obstacle. Verse 17 says teachers of the law were sitting there, and the Lord's power to heal was present. Not one of them received a thing.
There was greater energy in the faith of those who brought the paralysed man "into the midst before Jesus." They pressed through all difficulties and overcame all obstacles… They clearly had confidence both in the power and the heart of Christ… The contrast makes the need of faith stand out. After a description of the Pharisees and teachers of the law who were sitting by, we read that "the power of the Lord was with him to heal." Why, then, did none of them get the blessing? Because they had not faith.
They asked no permission and kept no formality, and He welcomed it.
He came into the world for sick and needy sinners to use Him. The faith that understood this and used Him that way was the fitting answer to it… There was no ceremony in this, none of the old distance kept at the temple, no waiting for an introduction. This little group felt their need, knew the power of the Son of God, and believed that the two suited each other.
Once the man lay before Him, the Lord did not start with the paralysis.
To reach a sinner in his powerlessness, the Lord must first forgive him. Nothing keeps a man weaker in his soul than not knowing his sins are forgiven. If I am to have the power to serve the living God, I must have the assurance that my sins are forgiven.
- Roof. Flat roofs, outside stairs and light tiling made the entry possible. Opening the roof was easy, and so was mending it.
- Helplessness. Paralysis pictures what sin does to strength. Set beside the man with leprosy, it shows a sinner who is both defiled and unable to move himself.
- Obstacle. The crowd stood between the man and Christ. Faith went over the top of it instead of coming back another day.
- Contrast. The Lord's power to heal was in that room. Only faith carried anything away from it.
- Result. Faith that pushes through gets more than it came for. The Lord began with the man's sins, not his paralysis.
And seeing their faith, he said, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.
A crowded house. A man who cannot walk. Four friends tear open a roof to get him in front of Jesus. Then the Lord says nothing at all about his paralysis. His first words go past the body to the man's sins. That raises two questions: whose faith was He answering, and by what right could He speak like that?
The room was full of religious teachers. None of them received anything. The four men carrying the paralysed man did. One writer explains the difference.
The degree of faith may differ, but wherever there is faith it produces a response in the heart of the Lord... Clearly they had confidence both in the power and the heart of Christ. Their confidence was not misplaced. As soon as they succeeded we read, "And when he saw their faith, he said, 'Man, your sins are forgiven you.'" The contrast shows how necessary faith is. We read of those Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting nearby, and then that "the power of the Lord was present to heal them." Why then did not one of these get the blessing? Because they had no faith.
The older translation he quotes reads "to heal them"; the ESV has, "the power of the Lord was with him to heal."
What the Lord saw was the faith of the men carrying the stretcher. One writer, quoting Mark's account of the same scene, makes them a pattern for us.
Did He not give the highest praise to the zeal of the four men? They brought the paralysed man and laid him at His feet, despite every difficulty. "When he saw their faith" — not his — "he said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'" We need such zeal now... earnest hearts that would bring, in faith, poor paralysed souls to the place where the Spirit of God is working. Such zeal is sure to meet its bright reward.
The four came for a healing. They got something else first. One writer explains why forgiveness had to come first.
"And when he saw their faith, he said, 'Man, your sins are forgiven you.'" He did not say, Man, your paralysis is healed. He said, "your sins are forgiven you." This is very instructive. To reach a sinner in his powerlessness, he must be forgiven. Nothing keeps a man weaker in spirit than not knowing he is forgiven. If I am to have the power to serve the living God, I must have the assurance that my sins are forgiven... So the Lord's first word took up his deepest need. If that need went unmet, he would always be without strength.
That reading depends on how the two miracles in this chapter are paired — the leper before, the paralytic here.
In the third Gospel... the Holy Spirit led to placing the forgiven paralytic after the healed leper: the two striking pictures of sin as needing divine grace to cleanse, and of the known remission of sins for power to walk and serve rightly.
The teachers in the room were ready to object. What they missed was who had just spoken. One writer answers from Psalm 103, where forgiving and healing are both Jehovah's work. Jehovah is God's own name in the Old Testament.
He was sitting with teachers of the law who were ready to object to grace. They did not know how the Son of God had visited this sinful world as a man, with the power and the right of divine grace. A man sick with paralysis is brought to Him by faith. He goes to the root of all sorrow and says, "Your sins are forgiven you."... What is revealed here is Jehovah present in pure grace. As the proof and witness of this, the Lord does what Psalm 103 says Jehovah does along with forgiving sins: "who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases."
Commentators differ on how far the word reached. One writer concludes the man was ill because of his sins. On that reading, the word lifted God's discipline.
It was a silent appeal, but evidence of the faith of those carrying him. For when He saw their faith, He said, "Man, your sins are forgiven you." God's governmental dealing with him ended. His sins, because of which we may conclude he was afflicted, were forgiven. Healing therefore followed at once.
Another writer does not press the difference. He ties both readings to one event still ahead.
When Jesus came He could say to one man, "Man, your sins are forgiven you." To the poor sinner who washed His feet with tears He said, "Your sins are forgiven." Whether we call it governmental forgiveness or actual forgiveness, the sins of men were forgiven in view of the cross.
- Faith opens. The room was packed with religious experts. The Lord's healing power was there. Only the people who pushed through the obstacles went home with anything.
- Faith carries. He answered the faith of the men holding the stretcher — not the sick man's own. So bringing helpless people to Christ is still work worth doing.
- Forgiveness first. The Lord aimed past the paralysis at the sins beneath it. Nothing weakens a person more than not knowing he is forgiven.
- Forgiveness proves. Psalm 103 credits both forgiving sins and healing diseases to Jehovah. The Lord did both here, in pure grace. His words announced who was in the house.
- Forgiveness rests on the cross. Commentators differ. Was this the lifting of God's discipline, or full pardon? Both readings look to the same place: the cross still ahead.
And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason [in their minds], saying, Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who is able to forgive sins but God alone?
Jesus has just told a paralysed man that his sins are forgiven. The teachers of the law hear it and at once decide who He must be. Their starting rule was right. The conclusion they built on it was wrong.
A man standing in front of them had just forgiven sins. To their minds, He had stepped onto ground that belongs to God alone. One writer sets this beside the healing of the leper earlier in the chapter:
As God alone could heal a leper, so God alone could forgive sins; so far they were right. The great mistake was that they did not believe Jesus to be God.
The failure was not in their doctrine but in what they did with it. One writer looks at the men themselves, and at the fact about Jesus they left out:
They were wise in their own eyes. They set themselves up as judges of the law and the gospel, but they neither kept the one nor believed the other. Their proud reason looked down on the blessed truth of God. Their proud self-righteousness hated the very grace they never knew they needed. There was the secret: the glory of Jesus was unknown, His divine dignity left out of the account altogether. The principle they urged was true, the application fatally false. How often this is the rock on which religious unbelievers split and perish!
The reasoning happened inside them, yet Jesus replied to it. That reply was itself the answer to the question they had asked — because reading the inside of a man is another thing only God does:
Jesus was present as the One who pardons sins and heals diseases (Psalm 103:3). But He was there as more than that. He is also the One who searches the hearts, tests the innermost being and knows the inmost thoughts (Psalm 94:11; Jeremiah 17:10). The One who saw the faith of the five men also read the reasonings of the scribes. He knew them by His own all-knowing spirit. It was not by a power lent to Him for the moment, as it might have been with a prophet. No one but God could reach into the secret workings of a man's spirit. Solomon said so in his prayer (1 Kings 8:39). By answering their thoughts, the Lord gave the Pharisees proof of the nature of His Person. Who else could "hear them thinking"?
One writer traces their reasoning back to something they never felt:
The reasoners are left without excuse, for the Lord goes on to give evidence of the glory of His Person. He shows that they are in the presence of One from whom no thoughts are hidden. They may have said nothing aloud, but the Searcher of hearts knew it all. He can say, "Why do you reason these things in your hearts?" What is the answer to their reasoning, and to all human reasoning? Surely this: where there is no sense of need, there is no realization of the glory of the Person of Christ.
Another writer points past their argument to the heart and the will behind it:
They were blind to the very last degree in not seeing that Jesus was God. The blindness of their heart would not let them see it. Man's will is a fierce tyrant. No one can subdue it, and it will not give up its place. It so blinded and deceived them that they could not see the veiled glory of God in the lowly Man in front of them.
The charge in the verse is their word, not His:
"This man speaks blasphemies." It amazes me — I cannot help saying it in passing — how fast and freely people use that word. Some people seem strangely at home with it. A word like that reveals the state of the person who says it. How little people think of that! "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."
The verse allows only two answers, and every reader has to take one:
The Pharisees were quite right in believing that no one but God can forgive. But when they heard Him grant forgiveness they denounced Him as a blasphemer. We conclude from it that He is God. We each have to face this sharp, clear-cut choice. It is a happy thing for us if we have made the right decision.
- Right premise. God alone forgives sins. The scribes had that rule right.
- Wrong person. They left out the one fact that changed everything: the One speaking was God, present on earth in front of them.
- Silent proof. They never said a word out loud, yet He answered them. Reading hearts is another thing only God does.
- No felt need. Where there is no sense of need, no one sees the glory of Christ's Person. The scribes felt no need, so they saw nothing.
- Forced choice. Either He blasphemed or He is God. The same two options stand in front of every reader, and only one of them is happy.
But Jesus, knowing their reasonings, answering said to them, Why reason ye in your hearts?
Jesus has just told a paralysed man that his sins are forgiven. The religious teachers in the room object without saying a word. Jesus answers words no one has spoken, and that answer exposes their hearts and shows them who He is.
The teachers of the law kept their objection to themselves. That silence is what makes the Lord's reply so pointed.
True it is, God only can forgive sins. Who, however, was there? They did not know what Peter had discovered, and what the cleansed leper had proved. God was on earth, in the person of the One who had just spoken to the paralysed man. And now the Lord would give them proof of this. It is God's prerogative to search hearts (Jer. 17:10). The Lord read their hearts. In front of everyone, He answered aloud the questions the teachers had never spoken. For Mark (2:6-8) tells us that they had not dared to say what was passing within them. Now the Lord exposed it.
Prophets sometimes knew hidden things because God told them. Here the knowledge came from within Him.
But Jesus was present not only as the One to pardon iniquities and heal diseases (Ps. 103:3), but also as the One who searches the hearts, tests the inward parts and knows the innermost thoughts (Ps. 94:11; Jer. 17:10). He who saw the faith of the five men also perceived the reasonings of the scribes. He did so in His own omniscient spirit (compare John 2:24; John 6:61), not by a power lent to Him for a time, as might have been the case with a prophet. None but God could see into the secret workings of man's spirit, as Solomon confessed in his prayer (1 Kings 8:39; 1 Chron. 28:9; 2 Chron. 6:30; Ezek. 11:5). By answering their thoughts, the Lord gave the Pharisees proof of the nature of His Person. Who else could "hear them thinking"?
Their objection was not bad theology. It was good theology aimed at the wrong target.
As God alone could heal a leper, so God alone could forgive sins; so far they were right. The great mistake was that they did not believe Jesus to be God. But then in both these miracles Jesus is man as well as God, and this comes out clearly here. For He asks them, "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'?" One was as plain as the other. He could have said either. He had a true and gracious spiritual motive for dealing with the real root of the evil first. The deepest necessity of man was not to rise and walk, but first of all to have his sins forgiven.
The same writer has watched this mistake repeat far beyond that room.
The principle they urged was true, the application fatally false. How often this is the rock on which religious unbelievers split and perish!
Why did they reason instead of believe? One writer traces it back past the argument itself to something missing in them.
The reasoners are left without excuse, for the Lord goes on to give evidence of the glory of His Person. He shows that they are in the presence of One from whom no thoughts are hidden. They may have spoken no word, but the Searcher of hearts knew it all. He can say, "Why do you reason these things in your hearts?" What is the answer to their reasonings, and to all human reasonings? Where there is no sense of need, there is no realization of the glory of the Person of Christ.
Many of us assume that an objection kept inside does no damage.
But perhaps we have comforted ourselves with this idea. As long as the objectionable things we would not like others to hear stay as thoughts only, no great harm is done. But is this argument not a delusion? Scripture says, "As he thinks in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7). And how often the Lord's knowledge of men's thoughts is recorded! Would He have answered them if they did not matter because they were never spoken? (Luke 2:35, Luke 5:22, Luke 6:8, Luke 9:47, Luke 11:17.) The word of God, too, is "a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Heb. 4:12).
He did not end their debate with more argument.
And I may just further note, that in our passages (Matt. 9:6; Mark 2:2; Luke 5:24) the Lord seeks to lead man away from his own reasonings and calculations to Himself and His works. He perceived that the scribes were "reasoning among themselves." Then He set before them what He was doing.
- Perceived — He answered an objection they never spoke, and said out loud what they had kept hidden.
- Prerogative — Searching hearts belongs to God alone. He did it in His own omniscient spirit, not by a power lent to Him as to a prophet.
- Principle — Their rule was right: only God forgives sins. Their application was false, because they left out who stood in front of them.
- Poverty — Where there is no sense of need, no one recognises the glory of the Person of Christ.
- Proof — Instead of arguing, He turned them from their own reasonings to Himself and His works.
which is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?
In their own minds the scribes had just called Jesus a blasphemer for forgiving a paralysed man's sins. He does not defend Himself; He answers with a question.
Their objection never left their heads. So how did Jesus come to answer it?
It is God's prerogative to search hearts (Jer. 17:10). The Lord read theirs, and answered out loud, and in front of everyone, the unspoken questions of the teachers. For Mark tells us that they had not dared to utter what was passing within them. Now the Lord exposed it... He showed that He was God, for He read and answered the thoughts of their hearts. He proved that as Son of man, He had authority to forgive sins.
So put the two sentences side by side. Which one could a man make good?
He appealed to them as to whether it was easier to convey forgiveness by a word, or a bodily cure. Which claim was readier? Who but a divine Person, or one wielding divine power, could say either the one or the other? They were equally easy to God, alike impossible to man... The outward sign of power guaranteed the gift of grace, and both showed that the One who spoke was the Son of man on earth.
Jesus' choice of the word "easier" is worth pausing over:
"Which is easier" — a beautiful word, that "easier": for with Him words must carry their full worth, nothing less, so that the word carries all the weight of the deed... Yet now His deeds will vouch for His words, if only it may win them to faith.
No argument settles the question. What happens next does:
The crucial point was not the actual words spoken, but what result followed from speaking them. Then the Lord gave them a visible assurance that His word was living and powerful. He had just shown it to be "sharper than a two-edged sword." He showed its power over physical weakness, so that by comparison they might know its power to grant pardon to the guilty.
The scribes were right that God alone forgives. Their mistake was about who stood in front of them:
This was not the teaching that God could pardon. They believed that. But God had stepped in, and pardon was present. They would no longer have to wait for the last day, nor for a day of judgment, to know their condition... Pardon had come, in the Person of the Son of Man come down to earth.
Why does forgiveness come paired with "Rise and walk"? One writer answers:
In this incident we take a big step forward, for two things stand out: (1) sins forgiven, (2) power given... He shows His ability to forgive sins by His ability to free the sinner from the consequences of his sin. I don't mean the physical consequences of sin. I mean the moral consequence: complete powerlessness to walk for God. No one can see that another person has had his sins forgiven, but the proof of it — ability to walk for God — can be seen.
Commentators differ on the emphasis. Some see the healing mainly as proof for unbelieving teachers. Others see it as the pattern of new strength given to the forgiven.
- Exposed. Jesus answered thoughts the scribes never spoke aloud. By reading their hearts He already met their objection that God alone forgives.
- Equal. Both sentences are impossible for a man and easy for God. The choice between them proves nothing about difficulty — and everything about who is speaking.
- Weighted. With Christ a word carries the full weight of a deed. Even so, He let His deeds vouch for His words.
- Visible. A paralysed man stands up, and the same word and the same authority guarantee the pardon no one can see.
- Present. Forgiveness was no longer a teaching to hope for at the last day. It came near in Person, and it gives back the power to walk that sin had taken away.
But that ye may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralysed man, I say to thee, Arise, and take up thy little couch and go to thine house.
Jesus has just told a paralysed man that his sins are forgiven, and the religious teachers in the room are silently calling it blasphemy. So He answers with a command, not an argument: a public healing that proves a pardon no one can see.
These teachers were right that only God forgives sins. Their mistake was about who had just spoken.
It is true: only God can forgive sins. But who was there? They did not know what Peter had discovered, and what the cleansed leper had proved. God was on earth in the person of the One who had just spoken to the paralysed man. And now the Lord would give them proof of this. Searching hearts belongs to God alone. The Lord read their hearts, and answered out loud, in front of everyone, the unspoken questions of the teachers.
Where the ESV says "authority", the older translation these writers use says "power". The claim to forgive and the claim to heal stand or fall together.
Who could say either one, except a Divine person or someone with Divine power? They were equally easy to God, and alike impossible to man. "But that you may know," He says, in clear reference to Psalm 103, "that the Son of man has power [the right as well as the ability] on earth to forgive sins."… The outward sign of power guaranteed the gift of grace. Both showed that He who spoke was the Son of man on earth.
He could have claimed the right as God. He claims it under the title that ties Him to the human race — and that widens who may receive it.
This is instructive. He has proven He is God by reading men's thoughts. Still, it is in Manhood that He has authority from God to forgive sins. As Man He has come in pure grace to take man's place in making atonement for sins. More than this, the term "Son of Man" reaches further than His connection with Israel. It speaks of His relationship to all mankind: He can forgive Gentiles too.
Two small words carry the weight here: "on earth". Jesus is not promising a pardon that arrives later, in heaven.
He did not say, "That you may know that God in heaven will one day forgive sins." He said, "that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins." Jesus is God. But here it is as the rejected Messiah, the Son of man, that He has power on earth to forgive sins. He has authority from God, and He is God. Yet it is as Son of man that He forgives, and that adds greatly to the grace of His ways.
This matters for anyone who thinks they must wait until death to know where they stand.
Our Lord also preached the precious truth that sins are forgiven now. You can know it too, not only on a deathbed, but today… not "shall be when you come to die", but "are forgiven".
No one can see a pardon. Everyone can see a man walk. That is why Jesus gave the command.
Clearly this man's paralysis was the result of his sin, and the Lord dealt with the root of the trouble before turning to the fruit. This is the way grace always takes, for there is never anything shallow about its methods. The criticising Pharisees could no more free the man's body from the grip of paralysis than they could free his soul from the guilt of his sins. Jesus could do both. No one could watch the wonder of forgiveness happen, so He proved His power to do it by performing the wonder of healing right before their eyes.
Notice which blessing came first. That order is not an accident.
The load of unforgiven sin is too great for anyone to lift and still find power to walk in a way acceptable to God. Once His pardon is sure, the soul rises with the strength found in this new joy in Him. Everything is changed for it. The path is now a path with Him, not a path to find Him… The legal principle "do and live" could never be carried out. It has given way to the gospel principle, "live and do."
These teachers were reasoning within themselves. Jesus does not argue them out of it. He points them to what He is doing.
In our passage the Lord seeks to lead man away from his own reasonings and calculations to Himself and His works. … Religiousness, or man's religion, gives the soul many serious thoughts about itself, and many devout thoughts about God. But faith, or God's religion, gives the soul Jesus, and the works and words of Jesus.
- Root before fruit. Jesus dealt with the sin before the paralysis; grace never works on the surface.
- Pardon on earth. He forgives here and now; He does not put it off to a later day in heaven.
- Proof in public. The healing everyone could see proved the pardon no one could see.
- Reach through the title. He forgives as Son of Man — as one belonging to mankind, so the pardon extends beyond Israel.
- Power to walk. Forgiveness came first and strength followed; the man carried the bed that once carried him.
And immediately standing up before them, having taken up that whereon he was laid, he departed to his house, glorifying God.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And astonishment seized all, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to-day.
Luke closes the healing of the paralysed man with the crowd rather than the man. They are amazed, they praise God, awe falls on them, and they go home calling the day extraordinary — but what had they seen, and did they understand it?
The crowd had just heard Jesus tell a man his sins were forgiven, and then watched that man get up and walk. One commentator points out that the shock was not the idea of pardon but its arrival in Person. Nathan was a prophet God once sent with a message of pardon.
This was not the teaching that God could pardon. They believed that. But God had stepped in, and pardon was present. They would no longer have to wait for the last day, or for a day of judgment, to know where they stood. A Nathan would not be needed to come and announce it on behalf of a God who was in heaven while His people were on earth. Pardon had come, in the Person of the Son of man come down to earth. ... The Son of man stood there before their eyes, in grace, to use this power — a proof that God had visited them.
The healing sealed a gift the crowd could not see. One writer spells out what the man went home owning:
Forgiveness of sins is his now. It is not something offered on strict conditions. It is not something you only learn when you are called to meet God. It is his "on earth," assured beyond doubt and made his own, with the new life flowing through him as the seal of it. That is what the rejoicing man now owns. This is also the good news published in him to the crowd around. "The Son of man has" this "authority" ... No wonder they were amazed and glorified God for it!
The crowd praised God, yet their words show they were still guessing. Had they read their own Scriptures with open eyes, they would have known exactly what they were looking at:
His less critical observers went home saying, "We have seen strange things today." Their spiritual sight was dimmed. Otherwise they would have recognised that Psalm 103:3 had been fulfilled in front of them: "who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases." Every tongue would then have cried, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits." These wonders happened again and again in favoured Capernaum, and still the people did not believe. That unbelief made Him say later, "And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades." ... Privileges not valued bring the severest judgment from God.
Another writer reads their fear — the awe Luke describes — as a real, if partial, response:
They did not have the sense of forgiveness, but at least they were filled with fear. It was a new thing in Israel.
The next thing Luke records is the call of Levi, a tax collector. One writer sets the two events side by side:
The people had said "We have seen strange things today," when they saw the helpless man take up his bed and walk home on his own legs glorifying God. But they saw a stranger thing when greedy Levi was set free from the passion that ruled him. He followed Jesus. His heart overflowed with new and generous feelings, and he gathered into his house a great company of tax collectors and others to hear the voice that had freed him. He had stopped collecting coins and had begun to select souls. Yes, Levi received a greater miracle than his paralysed neighbour did. It was a moral and spiritual miracle, and it changed his very nature.
Miracles pass. One writer presses the point that the word of forgiveness has not passed with them:
Let me plead with you who have sins and cannot escape the dread of judgment. Why should you not take hold of such words of divine grace? They are for every person who believes. They were not limited to that age or race or land. They are written in the word of God that never perishes. They are for guilty people wherever they are, so that they may believe and be saved. So He came, not yet to judge, but to say still, Your sins are forgiven. Miracles may cease. But the love never fails that forgives sins to every needy sinner who believes.
- Pardon arrived. The new thing was not that God forgives. It was that pardon stood on earth in Person — no waiting for a day of judgment to learn where you stood.
- Proof walked. The man carried his bed home. His new strength was the seal on a gift no one could see, and it published the news to the crowd.
- Praise fell short. They glorified God and called the day extraordinary. Psalm 103 had already named it: "who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases."
- Privilege judges. Capernaum saw the most and believed the least. Privileges no one values bring the heaviest judgment.
- A stranger thing followed. Levi's changed nature was the greater miracle. The word behind it — "Your sins are forgiven" — still stands for anyone who believes.