The Power of God (Lk. 5:17-26)
Hear
Good morning, BCC!
The passage that we are covering today is familiar to many of us I’m sure. It’s the story of the paralytic and his friends who tear a hole in the roof of someone’s home so that they could get to Jesus. When this story is told, almost everyone goes right to the part about the paralytic and his friends. It’s understandable why we would do this, but if we move too quickly we can miss out on something very important.
I’ll show you what I’m talking about.
Let’s open our Bibles to Luke five and pick up where we left off last week with verse seventeen.
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.” (Luke 5:17–26, NIV)
God’s Power (Lk. 5:17)
The first verse of this section serves as an introduction, setting the stage for us. We’ll find out how this comes into play in a moment. For now, we have no idea what day this happened on or where they were when it took place. Luke doesn't tell us, but with the help of Matthew and Mark we can fill in the blanks.
If you read Matthew’s account, what you discover is that this took place in “...His own city” (Matthew 9:1, NKJV).
And according to Mark’s record, that would’ve been “...Capernaum...” (Mark 2:1, NKJV). And it’s quite possible that this could’ve happened in the home of Simon Peter (Mk. 1:29-31).
Let’s unpack this a little by taking another look at verse seventeen.
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. (Luke 5:17, NIV)
This verse is powerful because it addresses a truth we often overlook: God's power is always at work. He has power to heal, to restore, to give rest, to break yokes, to set free, and ultimately His power is to destroy the works of Satan and save those who are lost. If we will humble ourselves, then we will get to see the effectiveness of God’s power, but if not then we’ll certainly miss it.
As I mentioned last week, Luke doesn’t tell us what day this happened on because his focus is on theology; not timeline. The theology he wants us to understand has to do with the demonstration of God’s power.
Ok! We have to consider something important here. This is the first time that we see Jesus and the religious leaders together in Luke’s Gospel. This encounter is going to teach us something crucial about the power that God possess. These religious leaders are the powerbrokers of the Jewish community. However, the power that they possessed amongst the people would prove to be no match for the power Jesus held.
Most translations simply say that the power of God was with Jesus to heal. The NIV says “to heal the sick” and the NKJV says “to heal them”.
Now, whenever I read God’s Word, I ask three questions:
What does this say about God?
What does this say about people? (original audience, people in the story, and me).
What am I do to with this now? How do I respond to what God has shown me in His Word?
Looking at verse seventeen, I asked myself another question. Who are the sick? Who does them refer to?” We would rightly state that this is in reference to all those who have any type of malady. All along, Luke has been pointing out the great power that Jesus has to heal the sick and infirmed. Last week he zeroed in on the healing of a leper. And after the cleansing of that leper, we were told that
15 However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. (Luke 5:15, NKJV)
So again, what we read in Luke 5:17 definitely speaks of the sick in terms of physiological ailments. But, could the sick have another meaning at this specific location in Luke’s Gospel?
I think possibly so. Let me explain/
One day in Capernaum, probably at Simon Peter’s house (Mark 2:1-2; 1:29-31), Jesus is teaching when a crowd starts to form and who shows up, but the Pharisees and scribes. This next part is where you have to slow down as you read. Luke says something extremely profound in this verse, “And the power (might) of the Lord was present to heal them” (17). As we’ve already established, this certainly refers to the physically sick, but could it also be referring to the spiritually sick? And more specifically, it could be referring to the Pharisees and scribes? Maybe, and if so this is incredibly beautiful. This just shows the depth of love that God has for even the most ardent skeptic or opponent of the gospel. Not a single person is beyond the reach of God’s grace.
In Matthew’s account, after telling His disciples to watch out for the scribes and Pharisees and pronouncing woes against them, Jesus says this with the religious leaders in mind,
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! (Matt. 23:37, NKJV)
Oh man! The Pharisees and scribes missed a huge opportunity that day at Peter’s house. Here stood the Great Physician, the power and wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24), and these blind leaders of the blind missed it.
The power of God was present to heal them not just from physical ailments, but from the crippling disease of their own self-righteousness—from sin that sickens the soul.
How many people, just like those religious leaders, stand perpetually at the threshold of God’s limitless power but never dare to step over into its fullness? They may be physically present in the church, they may be familiar with the doctrines, and they may even know what God can do, yet they remain outside the experience of His transforming grace.
There may be someone here today, you are on the very cusp of experiencing the life-altering power of God in your own life—the power to break addiction, mend relationships, to bring peace, and to grant true forgiveness of sins—but you will not take that final, crucial step of yielding to the might and majesty of God? Humble yourself under God’s mighty hand and call upon Him while He is near! (Isa. 55:6; 2 Cor. 6:2).
The power of the Lord is present to heal this morning!
Power to Forgive (Lk. 5:18-20)
Before Jesus heals anybody that day, He does something even greater - He forgives sin. The power of God was available to heal the religious elite, but they missed it. However, there was another group who would reap the blessing of God’s power that day.
18 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.
19 And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.
20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” (Luke 5:18–20, NKJV)
Let me just make three observations really fast.
Intercession
First, Mark is the only one to tell us that the paralytic was carried by four friends (Mk. 2:3). These are the man’s intercessors. We could spend the rest of our time together talking about the value and power of intercessory prayer. But I’ll just say this for now.
An intercessor is a “go-between”. Someone who takes up your case and brings it before the Lord in prayer. And let me tell you this, you need some friends who will carry you before the Lord. People who will lift up your needs before the God Who is more than able. You need a group of intercessors who can recognize the paralysis in your life and who will carry you before the Healer.
I shudder to think what my life would’ve been if I didn’t have people praying for me.
But guess what? At the same time, you need to be an intercessor. You need to stand in the gap for someone else. You need to get two or three spirit-filled friends to join you in carrying somebody else’s concerns to the Lord.
This is why Mike and I send out emails for you to pray for folks who are going into surgery, having babies, or struggling in life. This is why every Sunday at 4pm, Karen Douglas, Carolyn VanBebber, Jimmy Owenby and others meet at S.H.O.P. to bring the needs of this congregation before the Lord. Sometimes, I’ll drop a prayer in a text or group chat or email whenever someone asks for prayer. I’ll do that because I’m prone to forget or ignore it and I don’t want to be that person.
Overcrowded
My second observation is this: In the story of the paralytic, the four friends encountered an obstacle: there was a crowd preventing them from getting the man to Jesus. This crowd serves as a metaphor for the "overcrowding" of our own lives that often hinders our relationship with the Lord.
These obstacles, or "crowds," can take many forms:
It could be External Factors like: Time, money, or relationships.
It could be your own Emotional State in the form of: Anxiety, fear, or depression.
It may even be Internal Distractions: Minds overcrowded with desires, regrets, other people’s opinions, or excessive focus on non-essential things.
All of this, if we allow it to, can greatly hinder our path to a deeper and more meaningful relationship with Christ.
Faith
Here’s my final observation. Those friends could’ve gone home that day and said, “Well, we tried.” But they didn’t do that. They persevered. They had faith that Jesus could change their friend, so they went up on the roof and made a hole big enough for their friend to fit in and they lowered him into the presence of Jesus. Looking up, Jesus and everybody in the crowd could see the paralyzed man being lowered on a gurney. But Jesus saw something else that the crowd couldn’t see. Luke tells us,
20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” (Luke 5:20, NKJV)
What does that mean? What did Jesus see exactly? He saw their actions. The apostle James tells us,
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (James 2:17, NIV)
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. (James 2:20–22, NIV)
And in the same way, these four intercessors proved their faith in Jesus’ ability to heal their friend by busting a hole in the roof and lowering that man down into the presence of the Lord. You can’t prove to me that you trust God by just talking about Him. Your faith is going to have to do something! It requires some corresponding actions.
Because they fully believed in Jesus for a physical healing, He did something they never expected. He healed the man’s soul. Luke tells us that when Jesus saw their faith He forgave the man’s sins instead of healing his body. Why? Of course this is an object lesson for the Pharisees and scribes, but I believe there’s another reason. Forgiveness of sin was the greater need. Not just for the paralytic, also for the religious leaders and the crowd of onlookers.
I once told you guys about a missionary friend of mine who smuggled a Bible into the country of Morocco. He gave that Bible to a Muslim man named Badu who was a quadriplegic. Badu had been abandoned by his family because of his condition.
One night, Badu meets “the Man of the Book” and he surrenders. Months went by and my friend found out that Badu was a Christian as he listens to Badu tell him the story of his conversion.
As my friend listened to Badu’s story something didn’t set right with him. Badu was still paralyzed. When my friend asked Badu why he had not requested for Jesus to heal him Badu replied by boasting in his weakness. He told my friend, why would I ask him to take away the very thing that brought us together.
Folks, we are so averse to pain and discomfort that at the first hint of hardship, we crumble. And the most vital Piece to the puzzle of our lives - God - is the first to get lost amidst the rubble.
Let me ask you a serious question. Would you be willing to remain in your weakened condition if it meant that your relationship with Jesus would grow stronger? Think about that. Which is of more value to you? To be physically healthy or spiritually healthy? The ability to run and jump and play or the privilege of walking with the Lord at a level you never imagined?
This is why the apostle Paul stated,
9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:9–10, NKJV)
It doesn’t matter what state we are in, what our condition, our status, our limitations or our achievements in this life, “ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” and everyone of us needs to know the saving power of Jesus to forgive our sins and make us right with God.
So Jesus tells the man, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Power to Heal (Lk. 5:21-26)
Now watch this. The Pharisees and scribes, the religious elite, who could’ve had their own healing that day, who could’ve had their sins forgiven, instead of responding in faith they respond with an incredible amount of theological arrogance and doubt.
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.” (Luke 5:21–26, NIV)
The Pharisees accused Jesus of blasphemy because He forgave the man’s sins and they believed that was something which only God could do. They’re technically right. Only God can truly forgive a person’s sins. This is important to note, because their are many people walking around today who are convinced that;
A. They have no sins.
And that line of thinking is completely antithetical to scripture. The word of God is emphatic in regards to the depravity of humanity.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Rom. 3:23, NKJV)
22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. (Gal. 3:22, NKJV)
B. If they admit to having sins then they believe they can work it off by doing some good deed or living what they consider to be a good life.
This too, stands in stark contrast to the Word of God.
16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. (Gal. 2:16, NIV)
6 ...And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags...(Isa. 64:6, NKJV)
The Pharisees and scribes knew their “Bibles”. They knew that God held the power to forgive a person’s sins, but David Garland points out a major flaw in their thinking. He says,
They may believe that only God forgives sins, but they also believe that God must work through the proper channels, which they want to oversee.[1]
So, Jesus knows that they are having a hard time accepting what they have just witnessed, so He turns to address them directly.
23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? Luke 5:23, NKJV
And He follows this up by making a very strong point regarding His identity which has been in constant question.
24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” Luke 5:24, NKJV
There are bookends in this story. The first is in verse seventeen and the second is in verse twenty-four. The NKJV translates both words as power - which technically is right. But the NIV and ESV use the better translation of power in verse seventeen and authority in verse twenty-four. In verse seventeen the word is used to talk about the might of God, but in verse twenty-four it is used to talk about the right of God. In verse seventeen we are talking about Jesus’ ability to do something and in verse twenty-four we are talking about His authority to do something. Jesus heals the man’s soul to prove that He can heal the man’s body. Sin is always and chiefly an offense against God; therefore, only God can finally and completely forgive sins. This is why the prophet Isaiah records the very words of God where He states,
25 “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins. (Isa. 43:25, NKJV)
“I, even I...” can be translated to say, “I’m the only One!” In much the same way, by forgiving the man’s sins Jesus was making the audacious claim that He is God.
Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile makes a great and convicting observation about what we just read,
Jesus has just done two incredible works: healing a man’s body and forgiving a man’s sins. The crowd watches the whole thing take place and they are amazed, but not a single person responds in faith asking Jesus to forgive their sins. “How often in our day is the gospel preached and sinners will not hear? How often do people say, ‘We heard a good sermon today,’ but no one says, ‘Forgive me my sins, Lord’?”[2]
Respond
My friends, I began this sermon by drawing our attention to the huge opportunity which the Pharisees and scribes missed. An opportunity that would’ve changed their entire lives and ministries - the opportunity to have Jesus heal their souls. Just like in Luke’s Gospel, the power of God that was present to heal then, is still available today. Don’t miss it. Don’t be like those guys.
Be like the four friends of the paralytic who would stop at nothing to get to Jesus. Show your faith today by stepping out into the aisle and allowing the power of God to restore you to health. I’m not just talking about your physical body, but your heart.
You don’t have to be ashamed. Ask your friend to grab a corner of your mat and walk down with you.
Do not leave this place having heard a good sermon, but without having asked the Lord to forgive your sins. Today is the day of salvation. The Son of Man has authority to forgive you. Come to Him while He is near.
Maybe you’re here today and you need prayer for the Lord’s healing power to be at work in your life. Whatever your concern, bring it before the Lord today, and trust Him for the outcome.
[1] David Garland, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Luke, p243.
[2] Thabiti Anyabwile, Exalting Jesus in Luke, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2018), 95..
