Luke 5:12-26 - Jesus' Authority over Sickness and Sin

Introduction

What are some things that we have seen so far in our study of Luke’s gospel?

John the Baptist’s miraculous birth

Jesus’ miraculous birth

Prophecies indicating the significance of John’s role as a preparatory prophet and the even greater significance of Jesus’ role as a light to the nations and glory for the people of Israel.

We have seen John’s preaching a gospel of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Literary Context

Luke 1-2 alternated between John the Baptist’s and Jesus’ births and the prophecies about them and their God given purposes.

Luke 3:1-4:13 narrates John’s early ministry, Jesus’ baptism, genealogy, and temptation.

Beginning in Luke 4:14, Luke writes of Jesus’ Galilean ministry.

This section is full of accounts of Jesus’ teaching, healing, casting out demons, other miracles, and calling of his disciples.

The key question that Luke wants his readers to consider throughout this section is: who is Jesus?

In today’s passage in particular, we will see Jesus demonstrate his authority over sickness and sin.

These two accounts of healing are sandwiched in between the account of Jesus calling Peter and Levi (Matthew) to be his disciples.

Who is this Jesus who calls men to forsake all and follow Him? Is He worthy of such sacrifice? The same question addresses us today because the same call is extended to us today.

Forsake all and follow Me! Is He worth such sacrifice? Luke’s narrative accounts will help us answer that question afresh this morning.

Luke 5:12-16

What is the setting of this narrative?

One of the cities. Where?

5:1 - Lake Gennesaret or the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus is in one of the cities there in Galilee, and a man full of leprosy approaches him.

What would this man’s social status been in the first century in Jewish society with a skin disease?

He would have been a socially ostracized outcast. He would have been unclean and untouchable.

Leviticus 13:45-46 - 45 “The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ 46 He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.”

We really need to pause and put ourselves in that culture. We can read over these accounts that we know so well and miss the emotion and the depth of meaning if we don’t slow down and put ourselves in their time and context.

This would have been someone whose only community would have been other outcasts. No one else would get close to him. People were afraid of him and would have worked hard to keep their distance.

And it wasn’t like he could go to the doctor and get an antibiotic in hopes of recovering. This would have been a lonely, hopeless, ostracized man.

So what does this leper do?

He sees Jesus and immediately falls on his face to beg him for healing.

What is significant about the way the leper phrases his statement to Jesus?

He calls him Lord. This would have been more than a normal, polite address. The man was acknowledging Jesus’ ability to do something about his situation.

He did ask Jesus if He was able. He knew the only question was if Jesus was willing.

So, is Jesus willing to help this broken, hurting, unclean man?

Read Luke 4:35 and 4:38-39

Jesus rebukes an unclean spirit and a fever. In both cases, he heals or delivers simply by speaking. Jesus does not have to touch people to heal them.

But how does Jesus choose to heal the leper?

He touched him, saying, I will, be clean.

Do you think Luke was trying to communicate something about Jesus with this detail? If so, what is he trying to communicate?

Jesus not only has the ability to cleanse and heal, but he has compassion for those who come to him in humility and brokenness, asking for his mercy and help.

Jesus has power to overcome that which is unclean, sinful, sick. Whereas your average Jewish man would become unclean himself in this encounter, Jesus demonstrates His superior power to be able to touch the unclean leper and make him clean.

After cleansing the leper, why does Jesus tell him not to tell anyone and to go to the priest in accordance with the law?

tell no one - Jesus was trying to restrict the spread of the news about his miracles. A consequence of the spread of the news, as we see in Mark 1:45, is that Jesus eventually had to remain in desolate places where people would come out to Him.

Jesus purpose was not to just run a miracle medical clinic. Jesus’ main purpose was to “preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns as well.” Luke 4:43

What role did Jesus’ miracles play in His ministry?

They served to demonstrate that the kingdom of God was breaking into this present age. There will come a day when healing and perfect health will be the norm for all God’s people.

They confirmed His teaching and His claims.

What is the response to Jesus’ healing and then His subsequent response?

The crowds continue to grow!

Jesus is not concerned with the fame. He still withdraws to desolate places to be alone with the Father in prayer.

His dependence upon God sets the example for His disciples. We must recognize our need for the Father’s work in our lives.

This pericope ends, with Jesus having demonstrated His authority over sickness and ritual uncleanness. In the next pericope, the stakes will be raised.

Luke 5:17-26

Read 5:17-19

What is the setting of this next account?

Jesus, on one of the days when He is teaching in Galilee, is teaching surrounded by Pharisees and teachers of the law.

This is the first mention in the Gospel of Luke of the Pharisees and the organized system of Judaism showing any official optimism to Jesus and His mission.

Their presence here shows that the news about Jesus is spreading quickly and has “reached the highest levels of Judaism.”

vs. 17b- Do you think that Jesus did His miracles out of the power of His own divine nature? Or, do you think that Jesus did miracles in His humanity by the power of the Spirit?

Luke 4:18

Acts 10:38

1 Peter 3:21-23

The idea here is that because Jesus lived His life in His humanity in dependence upon the Father and the Holy Spirit, that He sets the example for how we are also called to live and demonstrates the way that we are called to live.

vs. 18 - 19 - What other people are introduced into the narrative in vs. 18-19?

A paralyzed man

His friends

the crowd

The conflict in the narrative is that there is a paralyzed man who wants to be healed, and whose friends want for him to be healed. But they cannot get to Jesus.

As I wrote that sentence, I could not help but think about the millions of people around the world today without the gospel. They cannot get to Jesus. They need someone to bring Jesus to them. They need someone who will have enough compassion to find a way to overcome the obstacles keeping them from Jesus.

How do the friends get the paralyzed man to Jesus?

they go up on the roof and lower him down through the roof

Luke 1:1–9:50 (2) Faith: The Paralytic Through the Roof (5:18–19)

The typical house in Palestine had two stories, with the roof area serving as the second story. Steps up to the roof often lay in the open (Safrai 1976a: 730–32). The roof was usually somewhat flat and about six feet above the ground. Wooden beams were laid across the top of the stone or mud walls, with a layer of reeds, thorns, and several inches of clay on top of them. Such a roof was the answer for the blocked path to Jesus

Luke 1:1–9:50 (2) Faith: The Paralytic Through the Roof (5:18–19)

What is clear is that this man’s friends went to great lengths to get him before Jesus. Not only did they clear the roof, they also had to rig a way to lower him. Obviously, Luke gives these details to underline their faith’s persistent character. With this effort, the man gets to Jesus.

Let’s read vs. 18-19 again and just try to imagine you are reading these words for the first time. You don’t know what is about to happen.

Can you feel the anticipation? This paralyzed man whose friends have gone to great links is now sitting before Jesus. How will He respond? What is He going to do?

What does Jesus do in vs. 20?

He sees the faith of the friends AND

He forgives the man’s sins.

They were coming to Jesus because they believed that He could graciously meet their friend’s need. They knew from the stories about Jesus that He had the authority to tell their friend to get up and walk.

But Jesus here offers more than just physical healing. Here, Jesus shows why Peter’s statement in Luke 5:8 is not a deal breaker!

What does Peter say in Luke 5:8?

How does Jesus respond in vs. 10?

Did you notice that Jesus doesn’t offer a solution to Peter’s sin in that verse? But here, Luke has constructed the narrative such that our lingering question over Peter’s sin is now answered.

If Jesus has the authority to forgive sins, then those who humbly come to Him don’t have to fear or flee from Jesus as a result of their sin. Rather, they can come near to Him!! He stands ready to help the humble and broken who come to Him for rescue.

But not all present are overjoyed as Jesus’ claim to authority. How do the scribes and Pharisees respond?

they accuse Jesus of blasphemy. He is defiling the divine name by claiming to have authority that only God Himself has.

Do you see how Luke is building up the question of Jesus’ identity?

As the reader, we continue to be confronted with these acts of Christ that help us to see more clearly who He is.

How does Jesus respond to the thoughts of the scribes and Pharisees in vs. 22-24?

He asks them why they question. Then He offers a demonstration of His authority.

Jesus’ point is that logically, it is easier to claim authority that does not require demonstration to be proven than it is to claim authority that requires demonstration.

So, in order to prove His authority to forgive sins, He also heals the lame man.

In healing the paralyzed man, Jesus demonstrates that He has authority to forgive sins.

Now this title, Son of Man, that Jesus uses, although it was an Aramaic phrase that could idiomatically refer to oneself in a general way, develops through Jesus’ use of it in reference to Daniel 7:13-14.

Jesus is the one who receives the authority, the dominion, from the Ancient of Days, from God Himself.

Luke 1:1–9:50 (5) Explanation: The Son of Man’s Authority (5:22–24)

By his actions, Jesus reveals himself as the Son of Man and indicates the extent of the authority he possesses. If the paralytic walks, the miracle talks about the Son of Man’s authority to forgive sin. If the Son of Man possesses such unique authority, then who is the Son of Man other than God’s unique agent of salvation? That is the question that the miracle raises.

What is the result of and the response to Jesus’ healing of the paralytic?

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Application

How should we view the broken, beaten down, and outcast of society?

As we serve God, we ought to be people of dependence upon God’s power demonstrated by a life of consistent prayer.

We should point people to the compassionate Savior who has the power and authority to forgive their sins and bring true life.

We should glorify God as we see His salvation in Christ!