Welcome to the “But first, Bible” daily devotional podcast with Dave Miers.
Our readings for today are Joshua 19-20 and Luke 5:17-39.
Let me read from Luke 5:17–19,
[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.
Word is spreading about Jesus. He continues to teach with great authority. The power of the Lord is upon him. People are being healed.
And so you can imagine this scenario: a man who is unable to walk gets wind of this miracle worker. And so his friends, knowing there is no hope for this man in that culture, carry him to go and see Jesus. Just like everyone else in Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem! But the crowds won’t stop this group of men from getting their paralysed friend to see Jesus. They climb the roof. They remove the tiles. They lower their friend into Jesus’ presence. It would have caused quite the commotion!
The man lay on the ground in front of Jesus – all eyes are on the paralysed man, all eyes are on Jesus. What will he do?
Luke 5:20 continues,
[20] And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
What? That’s not what they were expecting. His obvious need was to be healed so that he can walk! And yet Jesus forgives the man’s sin.
The religious leaders are angry about this, look at the next verse,
Luke 5:21
[21] And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
At the heart of every single sin is a heart attitude of rebellion against God. And so the Pharisees and scribes are right in their question. If all sin is ultimately against God, it is true, only God can forgive sin.
They can understand that when Jesus offers to forgive this man’s sins that Jesus is effectively claiming to be God!!
How does Jesus respond?
Luke 5:22–23
[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’?
Interesting question… it’s easier to say your sins are forgiven, because that can’t be seen, though it’s impossible to accomplish if you’re not God. Physically healing someone is easier to do, but it’s pretty easy to test to be true!
What does Jesus do?
He does the visible – healing, to show that he is able to do the invisible – forgiveness.
Look at Luke 5:24-26
[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.” (ESV)
Jesus forgives sin, Jesus heals paralysis. And people are amazed at the extraordinary things they have seen!
But don’t miss three big things from this passage:
- Jesus is claiming equality with God in claiming that he has the authority to forgive sins.
- Jesus offering to forgive this man’s sin before he heals him of his paralysis shows to us that the greatest need of all people is to have their sin forgiven by God. Before the healing of your illness, or ailment, you need to have your heart healed by the great physician.
- The good news is that Jesus can forgive sin because of his death in our place and for our sin at the cross. He can deal with our greatest need.
Have you come to Jesus for the forgiveness of your sin?
Until tomorrow, keep trusting Jesus.