Jesus Has The Authority To Forgive
Luke: The Person and Mission of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Good morning!
Thank you to the band for leading us this morning.
Comments about any testimony...
Last week we covered Luke 5:12-16 in which Luke tells the story of Jesus healing a leaper.
Luke was showing again that Jesus had the authority and power to heal.
But healing wasn’t the end goal of Jesus’ ministry.
The message was most important, but Jesus used the healing to prove that he was the Messiah.
Jesus desired outcome was for people to experience the oneness with God that we were created to have.
Last week I mentioned that Luke was going to make a shift as he began to tell the stories of Jesus’ ministry that began to cause controversy with the religious leaders.
Today we are going to see Jesus continue his teaching ministry and the response of the religious leaders that were there.
This morning Sayleigh is going to come and read our passage for us.
If you want to follow along, we will be reading Luke 5:17-26.
17 One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord’s healing power was strongly with Jesus.
18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus,
19 but they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
20 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”
21 But the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”
22 Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts?
23 Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’?
24 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”
25 And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home praising God.
26 Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!”
In this passage, we see Jesus doing the same things that he has been doing in the previous two sections in Luke 5.
He is teaching so that those that are there can understand the truth about God and understand the nature of the relationship that God wants to have with them.
What is different in this passage from the last two is the participants and their reactions.
Persons of note in this passage are the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.
The Pharisees were a sect within the Jewish faith that was completely focused and devoted to strict adherence to oral and written religious practices.
“Religious leaders” was a general term that could be a reference to the synagogue leaders, Sadducees, or Essenes.
The synagogue leaders functioned similarly to what we would call a pastor.
They either spoke or organized those that were speaking, as we saw in an earlier passage in Luke.
The Sadducees were also strict law followers, but they rejected the oral traditions, resurrection, and spiritual beings.
The Essenes aren’t mentioned very much by name, but they saw themselves as the true people of God and retreated to the desert to practice purity and devotion until the Messiah came.
There are similar to modern-day monks or nuns.
As an interesting side note, it is because of the Essenes that we have the Dead Sea Scrolls.
They hid them in caves to protect them from invading armies.
Luke makes a point to tell us that Jesus has been ministering in this area, the word has spread, and now these religious leaders have gathered to hear and see for themselves.
He is setting the stage for what is about to happen in this meeting by telling us that the power of God is in Jesus.
There is a lot to tackle in this passage, so let’s start with the first thing that happens.
There is a paralyzed man, and his friends bring him to Jesus to be healed.
The faith and action of these men stand out because of the impact it has on the paralyzed man.
1. The faith and action of these friends changed the paralyzed man’s life.
1. The faith and action of these friends changed the paralyzed man’s life.
Luke doesn’t give us the location of this event, but we know what region it is in.
We also know that the word of what Jesus was doing had been spreading.
It is obvious that these men, including the paralytic, heard about what Jesus had been doing and believed that Jesus was able to heal.
As they arrive, carrying this man on a stretcher, they realize that the crowds have already pushed into this building, and they can’t get in.
I can imagine this part of the scene in my mind, and we know from previous stories how hard people physically pushed in to get close to Jesus.
Upon approaching, they cannot get in because the onlookers are unwilling to move and make room for this man to see Jesus.
We don’t know the motivation or the reason that these people won’t let this man by.
Perhaps they are seeking healing as well, or maybe they want to hear the message.
We don’t get that information, but we do know is they refused to let this man in.
We need to take note that there are going to be people in our lives and in the world who are going to try and block us and others from experiencing Jesus.
We don’t always get to know their motivation, but the fact is, these people do exist.
But just because someone is in the way that seems most apparent doesn’t mean that we have no other options.
This man has some great friends because they don’t let the crowd’s unwillingness to move to stop them.
Their faith in Jesus and love for their friend push them to do something a bit crazy.
They tore the roof open of the house or building that Jesus was in and lowered him down.
Their obstinate persistence made way for forgiveness and healing.
Keep in mind that this was not like opening a sunroof or skylight.
They dismantled the roof which meant dust and debris were falling into the room and disrupting the teaching.
They did something edgy or even disruptive in order to make sure that their friend had the opportunity to be seen by Jesus.
But Jesus isn’t bothered by that; in fact, it is because of their persistent faith that Jesus forgives his sins.
19 Since they could not find a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the roof tiles into the middle of the crowd before Jesus.
20 Seeing their faith he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
As soon as Jesus says this, thoughts are happening in the minds of those religious leaders and Pharisees.
I heard a commentator say this week that any time Jesus refers to what someone is thinking, it isn’t good.
21 Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to think to themselves, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
22 But perceiving their thoughts, Jesus replied to them, “Why are you thinking this in your hearts?
23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
24 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he told the paralyzed man, “I tell you: Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.”
What was the problem? Why were they questioning this?
2. The legalistic, religious elite did not approve of Jesus upending their power and authority over the people.
2. The legalistic, religious elite did not approve of Jesus upending their power and authority over the people.
We talked about these religious leaders a few moments ago and what they thought was important.
They thought that strict adherence to the law was more important than anything, and we are going to see how that viewpoint plays out in their lives and ultimately ends Jesus’ life as we go through this book.
According to the laws and oral traditions, there were a lot of things that had to happen in order to be forgiven by God of sins.
In their minds, all the processes and sacrifices were a form of payment for their sins.
I get the sense that this process had become very transactional for them.
This is why all three major sects of Judaism had their interpretation of how to keep the laws and which ones were important.
Their power over those processes gave them power and authority over the people.
This challenge of their authority is what was making them ask these questions and causing the tension we see in this passage.
The friction of the moment was evidence of God’s activity.
Jesus was challenging what they were confident that they already knew, which was how forgiveness was obtained.
Here is this unknown Nazarene carpenter who is telling people they are forgiven.
Imagine that a person whom you don’t know came to your job and informed everyone around you that you have been doing your job wrong and teaching people the wrong way to do it.
Not a super fun experience.
You can feel the tension between Jesus and these leaders.
But what do we do with that tension?
What do we do with the tension that we feel with Jesus corrects something that we have believed to be true?
What do we do when we experience friction between ourselves and other believers?
After all, isn’t friction and tension bad?
Yesterday morning I was reading the Tozer on Leadership devotional that is posted on biblegateway.com, and Tozer was addressing the church's desire for harmony and how that often waters the message down to nothing.
“What then is the conclusion of the matter? That problems are the price of progress, that friction is the concomitant of motion, that a live and expanding church will have a certain quota of difficulties as a result of its life and activity. A Spirit-filled church will invite the anger of the enemy.” - A.W. Tozer
Did you hear that?
“A live and expanding church will have a certain QUOTA of difficulties...”
As we are growing, we are going to face friction.
You cannot have motion without friction unless you live in a vacuum, and last I checked, none of us do.
This friction that Tozer is talking about is what is happening in our passage.
Jesus is challenging the status quo and those that believe they are in charge are not happy about it.
But before they even have an opportunity to express it in words, Jesus addresses the tension by proving that he, as the son of God, has the authority to forgive sins.
To be clear, Jesus is not saying that he is on equal footing with these leaders.
He is firmly showing that he is on a whole different level than them.
The leaders can only facilitate the process of forgiveness, and here Jesus is handing out forgiveness.
To deal with the friction, Jesus heals the man to prove that as God’s son, he gets to make the call on God’s behalf of what can bring forgiveness.
But why prove it this way?
Jesus shows his authority and power through these God-exclusive activities because words alone weren’t convincing them.
He has been teaching and healing people all through this region, but these men were going to need to experience it for themselves in order to believe.
So, Jesus showed them what they needed to see by healing this paralyzed man.
In doing so, Jesus proclaimed God’s goodness to all those that were present.
3. Jesus reveals the truth of God’s nature, and that truth brings healing to this paralyzed man.
3. Jesus reveals the truth of God’s nature, and that truth brings healing to this paralyzed man.
It is so important that we see the difference between what these leaders thought was truth and what Jesus was teaching.
Their view of God’s nature was reflected in how they facilitated their beliefs and lived their lives.
They were consumed with strict adherence to the law which is what we call legalism.
They believed that it was only through correct behavior that God would accept a person and forgive them.
Jesus flips this idea on its head by showing that God accepts and forgives a person solely based on their faith.
In sharing that truth, Jesus brings about spiritual and physical healing to the paralyzed man.
This is an incredibly powerful moment for all those that were listening.
I want to share a story with you about healing and it’s power.
I have lived in Grant Parish my entire life, born and raised there.
For as long as I can remember there has been talk, rumors, and stories of racist actions towards the black community.
Honestly, I never knew why that tension existed, but I could see it and feel it.
Even as a child, I was aware that it was there.
As I have grown in my relationship with God, that tension in me has completely gone away, but that is not the case for most of the people that live in Grant or even central Louisiana.
Back in April I had a relational meeting with Rev. Avery Hamilton who is the pastor at First Baptist Colfax.
When we got there he was exhausted and told me of the work that he and another man had been doing for the last several years.
That tension that has “always been there” literally goes all the way back to slavery.
At the end of the civil war there was a period called restoration.
The goal of the restoration was to give full citizenship and all the rights that go with it to those that had formerly been slaves.
To try and make a long story shorter, it didn’t work.
Not because the former slaves didn’t do what they were supposed to, but because the white people refused to let the former slaves exercise their rights.
In Grant Parish this all came to a head on Easter morning April 13, 1873.
The newly and legally elected black city government and many others were slaughtered because the former slave owners refused to believe that they lost the local elections.
The whites were apologetically promoting white supremacy and excerpting their dominance.
For almost 150 years, that event has been known and told as the Colfax Riot.
After a group of white men shot rode up and killed a black man, with no warning or reason, in front of his family, much of the black community went to the courthouse seeking shelter and protection from the new mayor and sheriff.
A large group of white men attacked those at the courthouse and seized the seat of power from the duly elected officials and murdered anywhere for 70-150 people.
They then retold the story so that it portrayed the black people as rioters and these white murders as hero’s.
There was even a state historical marker in Colfax telling this lie.
After doing some genealogy research, Rev. Hamilton discovered that the first man that was killed in front of his family was one of his great great great grandfathers.
In a remarkable series of events, the great, great, great grandson of the man that killed Rev. Hamilton’s grandfather met Rev. Hamilton and together they began working to uncover the truth of what really happened in Colfax on that Easter morning.
When they learned the truth they were determined to tell the truth so that the healing process could begin.
They started with getting the historical marker removed and in April they placed a memorial for those that lost their lives in defense of their freedom.
This memorial list the individual names of those men that lost their lives that day.
In talking to Rev. Hamilton, he told me that many in town asked him repeatedly to stop and let it be.
Even members of his family and church begged him to stop, but he couldn’t stand to let this lie continue.
The truth is that this event didn’t just affect us locally, it was the nail in the coffin of the entire restoration.
It wasn’t until the 1960’s and the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that civil rights were restored to the black community.
Our country and our parish need to heal and the only way this can happen is for the truth to be told.
I share this story because I want us to see that truth brings healing.
Jesus revealed God’s nature, the truth about God, and it brought healing to the paralyzed man.
We aren’t Jesus, but when we share the truth, the healing process begins.
Years ago, when we went through Ecclesiastes and lived through a pandemic, we wrestled with the idea that the world is broken.
This story is one small example of how profoundly broken it is.
Luke shares with us through this story today that in light of the brokenness, Jesus can and will bring healing.
This healing work didn’t just benefit one man.
Look at the response of those that witnessed It.
25 Immediately he got up before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.
26 Then everyone was astounded, and they were giving glory to God. And they were filled with awe and said, “We have seen incredible things today.”
The faith and action of Rev. Hamilton revealed the truth of what happened in Colfax and began the process of healing from the wounds that happened 150 years ago.
In spite of 150 years of lies and cover-ups by those that sought to control the narrative and a race of people, the truth was finally told.
That truth has begun the process of healing.
You may not be called by God to begin the healing of generations affected by systemic racism, but you are called to reveal the truth to the people in your lives so that healing can take place.
We are not Jesus, but that doesn’t mean we can help facilitate the truth being told.
In our story today, there were a group of friends who went out of their way; they tore a hole in a roof so that their friend could meet Jesus.
In our lives, we are going to have friends and family that need to meet Jesus, and that may require that we become obstinately persistent on their behalf.
We may have to fight for them so that they can hear the truth and receive healing.
We will experience our “quota of difficulties” as we do this on their behalf.
But in order for us to know Jesus and make Him known, it is worth the price that we will need to pay.
Let’s pray.
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