Sermon Notes

5 17 One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and religion teachers were sitting around. They had come from nearly every village in Galilee and Judea, even as far away as Jerusalem, to be there. The healing power of God was on him. 18-20 Some men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for a way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. When they couldn’t find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. Impressed by their bold belief, he said, “Friend, I forgive your sins.”21 That set the religion scholars and Pharisees buzzing. “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemous talk! God and only God can forgive sins.” 22-26 Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking and said, “Why all this gossipy whispering? Which is simpler: to say, ‘I forgive your sins,’ or to say ‘Get up and start walking’? Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both. . . .” He now spoke directly to the paraplegic: “Get up. Take your bedroll and go home.” Without a moment’s hesitation, he did it—got up, took his blanket, and left for home, giving glory to God all the way. The people rubbed their eyes, stunned—and then also gave glory to God. Awestruck, they said, “We’ve never seen anything like that!”

We have all heard the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child,” However, after reading Luke 5 it should be said, “It takes a village—a group of dedicated, faith-filled and faithful people—to ensure a person is raised from their bed of disabling affliction. Because this man was in relationship with these four men with bold, persistent faith, he is ultimately healed and made whole by Jesus. The faithful actions of these men should cause us to ask the question: Do we have people in our lives who would do anything to ensure we are healthy and whole? Their story of persistence should also invoke a moment of personal introspection: Are we the kind of people who would do whatever is necessary to ensure someone is healthy and whole? As Luke masterfully displays in this gospel narrative, people need people to survive and thrive. The measure of a Christian is evaluated by our willingness to ensure people get before Jesus. It is there—in front of Jesus—that they can be healed, made whole, and set free from the afflictions of the world.

The Gospel of Luke is the first part of a two-volume work, Luke-Acts, that was separated early in the history of the Church, although its common authorship was acknowledged. While traditional Church history asserts Luke-Acts was written by Luke the beloved physician who was acquainted with Paul (Colossians 4:14), the earliest manuscripts of the Luke-Acts did not originally include an author’s superscription. This indicates the book probably was not written by Luke the physician. Regardless of authorship, Luke-Acts was likely written around 80-90 of the1st Century CE by a native Greek speaker due to the elevated forms of the Greek language employed in the gospel.
Because Luke writes to Gentiles, he is primarily concerned with portraying Jesus as the savior for all people. Luke’s Jesus goes beyond race and ethnicity, sex and gender, rich and poor. In fact, because Luke’s Jesus understands that his ministry is directed to the most vulnerable persons within first Century Palestine (Luke 4:18-19), he regularly challenged the rich, politically well-connected, religious leaders and religious teachers to rethink their assumptions about who was deserving of God’s grace. For Luke, the outsiders—the poor, the oppressed, women, lepers, and those who are paraplegics—move from the periphery to the center in God’s community, and become beloved insiders.
The lesson text for this week is part of a larger literary unit, Luke 5:1 – 6:16, which discusses the calling and training of the first disciples. In Luke 5:1-11, Jesus calls Simon, James, and John—the sons of Zebedee. In Luke 5:12-16, the pericope immediately before the printed lesson text, Jesus heals a leprous man. Luke highlights two details of note about this miracle. First, the leprous man appeals to Jesus’ will (v. 12). He says, “If you want to, you can cleanse me.” This is unique, because his statement lines up with traditional orthodox Jewish teaching that said leprosy was not just an ailment, but was a judgment of God against sin. From that perspective, it would be entirely consistent for this man to ask Jesus, to both heal him and make him “clean,” to remove from him the judgment for his sin. Jesus does not explicitly speak to the issue of sin in this man’s case. However, as he heals the man, Jesus employs the language, “Be Clean,” which everyone would have recognized as the verbal phrase indicating forgiveness of sins.
Second, Jesus shows extraordinary compassion with the leprous man. In concern, Jesus touched the man. This is important because it meant that Jesus was putting Himself in the place where this man was. As a leper, this man was ostracized from society, considered to be under God’s divine judgment. No one was to touch him, for fear of coming under the same judgment by the religious orthodoxy. This meant that it was entirely likely that this man had not been touched by anyone for some time. But as a part of his healing, Jesus identifies with this man through a touch and humanizes him. His actions make a bold statement to those who witness this event in 1st century Palestine, and to those who witness the event through the Lukan narrative. We cannot serve people until we are willing to forsake convention and identify with them where they are.
Verses 14-16 indicate Jesus’ intention in this healing the leprous man is to represent the power of God on display in the 1st century world. His actions would be a sign of the Messiah for the religious leaders and the people of Palestine. Spiritually, leprosy was symbolic of the presence of sin and God’s judgment. Jesus wanted the priests, religious leaders, and religion teachers to see this healing as evidence that he was God-sent and that possessed the Divine authority to heal and deliver. This is where the lesson text picks up.

17 One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and religion teachers were sitting around. They had come from nearly every village in Galilee and Judea, even as far away as Jerusalem, to be there. The healing power of God was on him. 18-20 Some men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for a way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. When they couldn’t find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. Impressed by their bold belief, he said, “Friend, I forgive your sins.”
In the first verses of the printed lesson text, Luke’s narrative transitions from Jesus’ miracle of healing the leprous man to a second miracle. In this act of healing, Luke emphasizes the faith of the man who is paralyzed, and the faith of the men who were carrying the paraplegic man, and their determination to reach Jesus. It is important to note that the Pharisees and religion leaders had traveled great distances—Jerusalem—to hear Jesus teach. However, they are not earnestly looking to be converted, healed or to hear a transformative word of teaching. As we will earn later, they are simply there to pick apart Jesus’ words and actions for the sake of tearing him down.
This healing event—predicted by the faithfulness of those who bring the paraplegic man—is evidence that people are beginning to take hold of the idea of the kin-dom of heaven. These five brothers come in full force, ready to take what they knew God was offering at that moment.
There are three remarkable and beautiful aspects of the faith exhibited here:
• They dared to do the difficult. It was not easy to bring this man to the Lord. They had to carry him through the streets of the city—perhaps many blocks. When they found the doorway blocked, they had to carry him to the roof. Yet these men managed this difficult task. They dared to do the difficult. It serves as an illustration for us about bringing men to Christ!
• They dared to do the unorthodox. They were not limited by the fact that it was not at all customary to break up a roof. They did what was necessary and risked the disapproval not only of the owner of the house, but also every person there by interrupting the meeting to get their friend to Jesus. The remarkable thing is that Jesus never rebuked them, never criticized their interruption. He never does. There is never an incident recorded in which Jesus got disturbed about an interruption by someone intent on receiving something from Him and pressing through to Him despite the disapproval of those around. This is a necessary quality of Christianity in the 21st century.
• They dared to do the costly. They laid it on the line—at cost to themselves. The roof would have to be repaired; it would have to be replaced. But the consideration of that cost did not give them pause. That was secondary. The primary concern was to get the man to Jesus. The need of the man was of greater concern than the cost, which to less motivated men, would have proven to be prohibitive.
It is evident from Jesus’ words that this paralysis is, at the very least, related to a there was a relationship between the physical ailment and the man’s spiritual predicament. Jesus understands instantly what is wrong and foregoing solely the physical, he goes right to the heart of the issue and says: “Your sins are forgiven.”
21 That set the religion scholars and Pharisees buzzing. “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemous talk! God and only God can forgive sins.” 22-26 Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking and said, “Why all this gossipy whispering? Which is simpler: to say ‘I forgive your sins,’ or to say ‘Get up and start walking’? Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both. . . .” He now spoke directly to the paraplegic: “Get up. Take your bedroll and go home.” Without a moment’s hesitation, he did it—got up, took his blanket, and left for home, giving glory to God all the way. The people rubbed their eyes, stunned—and then also gave glory to God. Awestruck, they said, “We’ve never seen anything like that!”
Jesus’ words of forgiveness immediately cause a problem for the religion scholars and Pharisees. They were thinking, “How can He say this,” and “who does he think he is? Jesus knew they were questioning his deed and his words; he discerned what was in their thoughts. They did not believe he had the authority to forgive sins. Jesus challenges them by asking, “Is it easier to say to this man ‘Your sins are forgiven?' Or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk?’” In this case, Jesus is connecting sin with infirmity and the forgiveness of sin with healing. While scripture makes it plain that this is not always the case (John 9), but sometimes it is. Jesus forgives the man’s sins intentionally, and without provocation—no one, not the paralyzed man or his companions, confesses to a sin—to draw attention to His authority and identity as the Messiah, not just another healer. Many other people during that time could perform healing, but only God’s Messiah could forgive sin.
It is important to note that when you look at this verse in the original Greek, Jesus says in the passive voice, apheontai (ἀφέωνταί), which literally means, “your sins have been sent away.” The grammar of the verb usage clearly indicates someone other than Jesus—that would be God—is actually performing the act of forgiving sins. However, the Pharisees and religion teachers think Jesus is claiming power for himself that he does not have. In verse 24, Jesus clarifies that he is working on behalf of God, and that he has the authority to forgive sins for God. In the NRSV, verse 24 reads, “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the one who was paralyzed—“I say to you, stand up and take your stretcher and go to your home.” This is what irritates the Pharisees and religion teachers: that Jesus has the audacity to claim he speaks and acts with the authority of God.
The man obeyed and was instantly healed. He stood up, picked up that thing which used to signify his debilitating condition, and went to his home all the while glorifying God. The people who witnessed the man’s healed body rejoiced, and also gave God the glory. However, the Pharisees and religion teachers say nothing. What amazed the people was not merely the healing of the paraplegic man, but Jesus' understanding of the predicament of human nature—the need to healed and whole; to be in relationship and reconciliation with God.
The most important theological component in this story is that the faith of the four men prompted Jesus to declare forgiveness for the paraplegic man. It was their faith in Jesus’ ability to heal that enabled forgiveness, healing, and wholeness for their companion. Where the Pharisees and religion teachers only saw tradition, orthodoxy, and clearly delineated parameters for who should have access to Divine authority, the men only saw the power of Jesus. Their faith and persistence made all the difference to the man who was paralyzed, and should motivate 21st century believers to have the same persistent faith.

i) See Demetrius K. Williams, “Acts as a History of the Early Church,” in Gale A. Yee’s Fortress Commentary on the Bible, (Fortress Press: Kindle Edition).
ii) See Barbara Reid and Shelly Matthews, Luke 1-9, Wisdom Commentary Series Book 43, (Liturgical Press: Kindle Edition).