Knowing The Word in Luke 5:17-26, Jesus Heals a Paralytic

Jesus has become quite a stir to have the Pharisees travel so far north. The Pharisees were such serious keepers of the law, that they put a figurative fence around law to protect themselves from breaking it. For example, Jews were not to take the name of the Lord in vain. To keep this from happening, the Pharisees refused to pronounce the name of God at all. This hedge of protection, which is a the tradition of the elders and not a requirement of God, tended to externalize the religion. People spent a great deal of effort on outward appearances rather than loving God in their hearts.

In speaking to the invalid the four friends brought to Jesus on a bed, Jesus says, “your sins are forgiven.” These words deal with sin, not sickness. Jesus has turned the tables on them. The man and his friends want physical healing, not forgiveness of their sins. Jesus brings full not partial salvation that includes both spiritual and physical healing. At the heart of this story is the true identity of Jesus. He clearly sees himself as the Son of God because he can forgive sins. The miraculous healing is meant to show that he indeed is the Son of God. The cure is immediate. The bed had carried the man to Jesus. Now healed, he carries the bed as he walks away. God in Christ is recreating and reconciling what had gone astray. All the people give glory to God, not to the human Jesus. Human achievement could not explain what the people witnessed.

17 On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. 18 And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, 19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. 20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. 26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

Prayer: Accept my prayers, dear Father, for those who have no one to love them enough to pray for them. Wherever and whoever they are, give them a share of my blessings, and in thy love let them know that they are not forgotten.

A Saint Francis Prayer Book